A practical PPC agency workflow separates account work into daily risk checks, weekly optimization decisions and monthly planning. Every check should have a named owner, an escalation rule and a written record so another buyer can cover the account without guessing.
Daily work protects delivery and catches problems. Weekly work turns new data into controlled changes. Monthly work connects account decisions to the client's goals, budget and next set of tests.
Build the account record before building the checklist
A checklist is useful only when the buyer knows what good performance means for that client. Start with a one-page operating record that sits beside the account, not inside somebody's memory.
At minimum, record:
- The primary business goal
- The account-level target used as a fallback
- Campaign-level CPA or ROAS targets where they differ
- The current budget and pacing expectations
- Offers, expiration dates and landing pages
- Conversion actions that matter
- Known tracking limitations
- Changes that require client approval
- Areas the buyer must not touch
- The primary buyer and backup buyer
- The reporting schedule
- Open tests and the date of the next read
Targets should match how the account is actually managed. A single blended target may be useful at the top, but it should not erase meaningful differences between campaigns.
Example: say a campaign has a $50 target CPA because it promotes a higher-value service. Another campaign in the same account may have a different target. The record should preserve both targets instead of forcing the buyer to judge every campaign against one account average.
Write constraints just as clearly as goals. A constraint might say that branded search must remain funded, a seasonal offer must stop on its expiration date, or a particular campaign cannot change until the client approves new copy.
This record becomes the source for coverage. If the primary buyer is unavailable, the backup buyer can see what matters, what is protected and what has already been decided.
For a broader look at building repeatable capacity, see how to scale a PPC agency without hiring a media buyer for every new client.
Daily checks: protect delivery and find urgent exceptions
The daily pass is not a complete account review. Its job is to find anything that could waste budget, stop delivery or corrupt the data used for later decisions.
Confirm that campaigns are delivering
Check whether active campaigns are spending close to plan. Look for campaigns that stopped, accelerated unexpectedly or shifted spend into places the buyer did not intend.
Review pacing in context. Low spend can come from a billing problem, a rejected ad, limited audience availability, a bid constraint or a planned schedule. The checklist should prompt the buyer to find the cause before changing anything.
Check access, billing and policy warnings
Confirm that the required users and managers still have access. Review billing warnings, failed payments, expired cards, rejected ads and account restrictions.
These are operational checks, but they deserve explicit ownership. A warning that sits between finance, the client and the media team can remain unresolved because each person assumes somebody else owns it.
Use a simple escalation record:
| Check | Owner | Escalate when | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billing warning | Account lead | Delivery is affected or payment details are needed | Warning, account and next owner |
| Rejected ad | Media buyer | The rejection blocks an active offer | Reason, affected campaign and response |
| Access change | Operations owner | The buyer cannot complete the daily pass | Missing access and requested action |
| Tracking warning | Measurement owner | Primary conversion data may be incomplete | Time found, affected source and scope |
Verify conversion signals
Look for missing conversions, sudden duplication or changes in the relationship between clicks and recorded actions. Do not treat every movement as a tracking failure, but do flag anything that makes the performance data unreliable.
The daily note should separate confirmed problems from open questions. “Form submissions stopped after the landing-page release” is different from “Conversions are lower today.” The first points to a specific event. The second still needs investigation.
Review material performance changes
Scan for meaningful changes in CPA, ROAS, conversion volume, CPC, CPM, frequency and budget use. Compare each campaign with its own target and recent operating context.
This is where a ranked exception list helps. A buyer should see the items that deserve attention first, rather than opening every campaign in every platform in the same order.
Close the pass with ownership
Every flagged item needs one of four outcomes:
- Act now.
- Assign it to another owner.
- Add it to the weekly decision list.
- Record why no action is needed.
“No action” is a decision, not an empty box. Write the reason so the next buyer does not repeat the same investigation tomorrow.
Weekly checks: turn observations into controlled decisions
The weekly pass is where the buyer evaluates patterns, approves changes and manages tests. It should start with the unresolved daily items, then move through budget, performance, creative and landing-page alignment.
Reconcile budget pacing
Compare planned spend with actual spend by account, platform and campaign group. Look ahead far enough to see whether the current pace is likely to miss the plan.
Avoid solving every pacing issue by changing budgets. Check whether the cause sits in bids, audience size, inventory, creative approval, tracking or an expired offer.
When reallocating budget, document:
- Where the budget is moving from
- Where it is moving to
- The target behind the decision
- The maximum change allowed today
- The date when the result will be reviewed
- The condition that would trigger a rollback
Evaluate campaigns against the right targets
Use the account target only as a fallback. Where campaign goals differ, judge each campaign against its own CPA or ROAS target.
Groups of campaigns may also need a shared rule. Example: all TikTok prospecting campaigns could be evaluated on link cost per click during an early traffic test. Label that as a temporary operating rule and record when the team will replace it with a deeper conversion measure.
Review search terms, placements and audience quality
Inspect where traffic came from and whether it matched the campaign's intent. Add exclusions or refine targeting only when the data and the client's constraints support the change.
Keep the decision note plain:
Example: Excluded a search term because it describes a service the client does not offer. Review search volume and lead quality at the next weekly pass.
That note is more useful to a backup buyer than “cleaned up search terms.”
Check creative as an asset, not just an ad
The same creative may run in several campaigns or on several platforms. Review it as one asset so the team can see its combined role.
Look for fatigue signals such as frequency rising while CPM or CPC rises and CPA gets worse. If staged replacement creative is available, record a recommendation to swap it in. Keep approval and execution separate so nobody assumes a recommendation has already been applied.
Read landing pages and offers
Confirm that the ad still matches the landing page, price language, offer and expiration date. A campaign can be technically healthy while sending people to a page that no longer supports the promise in the ad.
Include landing-page changes in the decision log. Buyers need to know when the destination changed because it can affect how they interpret subsequent performance.
Maintain the test register
For every live test, record:
- The question being tested
- The original and the new version
- The success measure
- The start date
- The planned reading dates
- The minimum evidence needed for a decision
- The next action if the result is inconclusive
“Inconclusive” is a valid outcome. It means the available data does not support a call, and the record should explain what is missing.
Monthly checks: reset the plan with the client goal in view
The monthly review is not a longer weekly pass. It is the point where the team confirms that the account structure, budget and testing plan still serve the client's current business priorities.
Reconfirm goals and constraints
Ask whether the offer, sales priority, service area or budget has changed. Update the operating record before evaluating the next month.
A stale target can produce tidy optimization work in the wrong direction. The buyer needs one current set of instructions that covers both the goal and the boundaries around it.
Review the combined media picture
Compare Google, Meta and TikTok as parts of one budget. Look at the contribution and constraints of each platform without assuming that budget must remain where it started.
Platform recommendations are inputs. The buyer still decides how they fit the client's goals, measurement limits and operating rules.
At the top of the monthly view, include combined metrics across platforms and MER. Then let the buyer move into platform and campaign detail when a number needs explanation.
Decide what to continue, stop or start
Finish the review with three clear lists:
| Decision | What belongs here | Required note |
|---|---|---|
| Continue | Campaigns, creative and tests still serving the plan | Why the current approach remains valid |
| Stop | Work that no longer fits the goal or has enough evidence against it | Reason, date and any follow-up |
| Start | New tests, creative, landing pages or budget moves | Owner, approval status and first review date |
This creates the next month's work queue. It also prevents reports from becoming a history lesson with no operational decision attached.
Review workload and coverage
Use tracked time and change volume to see which accounts require more attention. Do not impose one time allowance on every client.
Check whether the backup buyer could take over from the written record alone. If the answer is no, fix the documentation while the context is fresh.
A sound PPC agency workflow should survive a handoff. The backup buyer needs the current targets, constraints, recent decisions, open tests and pending approvals, not a long transcript of everything that happened.
When evaluating tools for this process, PPC management software for agencies: what to look for before you buy provides a practical set of questions.
Frequently asked questions
What should a PPC manager check every day?
Check delivery, tracking, account access, billing warnings, rejected ads and material changes in cost or conversion performance. The daily pass should find urgent problems and record who owns the next action.
What is a weekly PPC checklist?
A weekly PPC checklist covers budget pacing, campaign and search-term performance, audience quality, creative fatigue, landing-page alignment and open tests. It should end with a ranked action list, named owners and written reasons for every material decision.
What should happen monthly on a PPC account?
The monthly review should compare results with the client's current goals, confirm the next budget plan and decide which tests to continue, stop or start. It should also review tracking, offers, landing pages and any account rules that need to change.
How do agencies keep PPC work consistent across buyers?
Use the same checklist, account brief, decision log and escalation rules for every buyer. A second buyer should be able to see the targets, constraints, recent changes and pending decisions without relying on a verbal handoff.
How much time should each client account take per week?
There is no useful fixed answer because account complexity, spend, campaign volume and change activity differ. Track actual time by task, then set a service plan that gives high-risk and high-opportunity accounts the attention they need.
Where Ads Arsenal fits today
Ads Arsenal reads Google, Meta and TikTok accounts against your targets all day. It skips a pass when nothing new is worth acting on, then ranks recommended changes in one Insights queue with the reasoning and account numbers behind each item. Nothing changes until a person approves it.
Each client can have its own property, or one property can cover a group of lookalike accounts. Properties appear together in a portfolio view, while each account is still judged by its own targets. Teams can start read-only, and approved changes are written to the account, checked a few minutes later and tracked afterward. Changes can be rolled back with one click.
Ads Arsenal is in a free design-partner beta for agencies and in-house teams running real spend on Google, Meta and TikTok. Become a design partner.