Ads

---
name: ads
description: >
  Comprehensive paid advertising audit and optimization for any business type.
  Performs full multi-platform audits (Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, TikTok
  Ads, Microsoft Ads), single-platform deep analysis, conversion tracking health
  checks, creative quality assessment, budget allocation optimization, bidding
  strategy evaluation, and compliance verification. Industry detection for SaaS,
  e-commerce, local service, B2B enterprise, info products, mobile app, real
  estate, healthcare, finance, and agency. Triggers on: "ads", "PPC", "paid
  advertising", "Google Ads", "Meta Ads", "Facebook Ads", "LinkedIn Ads",
  "TikTok Ads", "Microsoft Ads", "Bing Ads", "ad audit", "campaign audit",
  "ROAS", "conversion tracking", "creative fatigue", "bid strategy".
argument-hint: "audit | google | meta | youtube | linkedin | tiktok | microsoft | creative | landing | budget | plan <type> | competitor"
allowed-tools:
  - Read
  - Grep
  - Glob
  - Bash
  - WebFetch
---

# Ads — Multi-Platform Paid Advertising Audit & Optimization

Comprehensive ad account analysis across all major platforms (Google, Meta,
LinkedIn, TikTok, Microsoft). Orchestrates 11 specialized sub-skills and
6 subagents.

## Quick Reference

| Command | What it does |
|---------|-------------|
| `/ads audit` | Full multi-platform audit with parallel subagent delegation |
| `/ads google` | Google Ads deep analysis (Search, PMax, YouTube) |
| `/ads meta` | Meta Ads deep analysis (FB, IG, Advantage+) |
| `/ads youtube` | YouTube Ads specific analysis |
| `/ads linkedin` | LinkedIn Ads deep analysis (B2B, Lead Gen) |
| `/ads tiktok` | TikTok Ads deep analysis (Creative, Shop, Smart+) |
| `/ads microsoft` | Microsoft/Bing Ads deep analysis (Copilot, Import) |
| `/ads creative` | Cross-platform creative quality audit |
| `/ads landing` | Landing page quality assessment for ad campaigns |
| `/ads budget` | Budget allocation and bidding strategy review |
| `/ads plan <business-type>` | Strategic ad plan with industry templates |
| `/ads competitor` | Competitor ad intelligence analysis |
| `/ads creative` | Cross-platform creative quality audit + brand context setup + creative generation |

## Orchestration Logic

When the user invokes `/ads audit`, delegate to subagents in parallel:
1. Collect account data (exports, screenshots, or API access details)
2. Detect business type and identify active platforms
3. Spawn subagents: audit-google, audit-meta, audit-creative, audit-tracking, audit-budget, audit-compliance
4. Collect results and generate unified report with Ads Health Score (0-100)
5. Create prioritized action plan with Quick Wins

For individual commands (`/ads google`, `/ads meta`, etc.), load the relevant
sub-skill directly.

## Industry Detection

Detect business type from ad account signals:
- **SaaS**: trial_start/demo_request events, pricing page targeting, long attribution windows
- **E-commerce**: purchase events, product catalog/feed, Shopping/PMax campaigns
- **Local Service**: call extensions, location targeting, store visits, directions events
- **B2B Enterprise**: LinkedIn Ads active, ABM lists, high CPA tolerance ($50+), long sales cycle
- **Info Products**: webinar/course funnels, lead gen forms, low-ticket offers
- **Mobile App**: app install campaigns, in-app events, deep linking
- **Real Estate**: listing feeds, property-specific landing pages, geo-heavy targeting
- **Healthcare**: HIPAA compliance flags, healthcare-specific ad policies
- **Finance**: Special Ad Categories declared, financial products compliance
- **Agency**: multiple client accounts, white-label reporting needs

## Brand Context

Brand context personalizes creative briefs, ad copy, and audit recommendations.

**Detection:** `./branding.md` in the project root.

**How it gets created:** When you run `/ads creative`, it checks for `./branding.md`.
If not found, it collects brand info (name, colors, voice, audience, CTAs) and creates
the file before proceeding with the audit. All other ads sub-skills can then reference it.

Brand context is **optional but recommended** for all commands. It is **required** for
`/ads plan` creative brief generation (CREATIVE-BRIEF.md). For audits, brand consistency
is advisory only (not scored).

See `references/brand-context.md` for the full branding.md format specification.

## Quality Gates

Hard rules — never violate these:
- Never recommend Broad Match without Smart Bidding (Google)
- 3x Kill Rule: flag any ad group/campaign with CPA >3x target for pause
- Budget sufficiency: Meta ≥5x CPA per ad set, TikTok ≥50x CPA per ad group
- Learning phase: never recommend edits during active learning phase
- Compliance: always check Special Ad Categories for housing/employment/credit/finance
- Creative: never run silent video ads on TikTok (sound-on platform)
- Attribution: default to 7-day click / 1-day view (Meta), data-driven (Google)
- Attribution overlap: if 2+ platforms active, run cross-platform attribution checks (XP-01 to XP-06)

## Data Quality Gates

Before scoring any platform, validate data sufficiency. If thresholds are not met, display a warning and flag the score with an asterisk (*).

| Platform | Minimum Data | Minimum Conversions | Minimum Spend |
|----------|-------------|--------------------| --------------|
| Google Ads | 30 days | ≥15 conversions/30d for bidding checks | Active spend |
| Meta Ads | 30 days | ≥50 conversions/week for learning checks | Active spend |
| LinkedIn Ads | 30 days | ≥15 conversions/month | ≥$50/day |
| TikTok Ads | 30 days | ≥50 conversions/week per ad group | ≥$50/day campaign |
| Microsoft Ads | 30 days | ≥10 conversions/30d | Active spend |

**If insufficient data:**
1. Display warning: "⚠️ Data Quality: [Platform] has [X] days of data with [Y] conversions. Score marked with * — re-audit after 30+ days."
2. Mark affected scores with asterisk (e.g., "Google Ads: 72*/100")
3. Proceed with audit but caveat bidding/learning phase checks as unreliable
4. Never mark a check as FAIL solely due to insufficient data — use N/A instead

## Reference Files

Load these on-demand as needed — do NOT load all at startup.

**Path resolution:** All references are installed at `~/.claude/skills/ads/references/`.
When sub-skills or agents reference `ads/references/*.md`, resolve to
`~/.claude/skills/ads/references/*.md`.

- `references/scoring-system.md` — Weighted scoring algorithm and grading thresholds
- `references/benchmarks.md` — Industry benchmarks by platform (CPC, CTR, CVR, ROAS)
- `references/bidding-strategies.md` — Bidding decision trees per platform
- `references/budget-allocation.md` — Platform selection matrix, scaling rules, MER
- `references/platform-specs.md` — Creative specifications across all platforms
- `references/conversion-tracking.md` — Pixel, CAPI, EMQ, ttclid implementation
- `references/compliance.md` — Regulatory requirements, ad policies, privacy
- `references/google-audit.md` — 74-check Google Ads audit checklist
- `references/meta-audit.md` — 46-check Meta Ads audit checklist
- `references/linkedin-audit.md` — 26-check LinkedIn Ads audit checklist
- `references/tiktok-audit.md` — 25-check TikTok Ads audit checklist
- `references/microsoft-audit.md` — 21-check Microsoft Ads audit checklist
- `references/creative-volume.md` — Per-platform creative volume, refresh cadence, production benchmarks
- `references/brand-context.md` — Brand.md format specification and integration guide

## Scoring Methodology

### Ads Health Score (0-100)

Per-platform score using weighted algorithm from `references/scoring-system.md`.
Cross-platform aggregate weighted by budget share:

```
Aggregate = Sum(Platform_Score x Platform_Budget_Share)
```

### Grading

| Grade | Score | Action Required |
|-------|-------|-----------------|
| A | 90-100 | Minor optimizations only |
| B | 75-89 | Some improvement opportunities |
| C | 60-74 | Notable issues need attention |
| D | 40-59 | Significant problems present |
| F | <40 | Urgent intervention required |

### Priority Levels

- **Critical**: Revenue/data loss risk (fix immediately)
- **High**: Significant performance drag (fix within 7 days)
- **Medium**: Optimization opportunity (fix within 30 days)
- **Low**: Best practice, minor impact (backlog)

## Sub-Skills

This skill orchestrates 12 specialized sub-skills:

1. **ads-audit** — Full multi-platform audit with parallel delegation
2. **ads-google** — Google Ads deep analysis (Search, PMax, YouTube)
3. **ads-meta** — Meta Ads deep analysis (FB, IG, Advantage+)
4. **ads-youtube** — YouTube Ads specific analysis
5. **ads-linkedin** — LinkedIn Ads deep analysis
6. **ads-tiktok** — TikTok Ads deep analysis
7. **ads-microsoft** — Microsoft/Bing Ads deep analysis
8. **ads-creative** — Cross-platform creative audit + brand context setup + creative generation via infographic-v2
9. **ads-landing** — Landing page quality for ad campaigns
10. **ads-budget** — Budget allocation and bidding strategy
11. **ads-plan** — Strategic ad planning with industry templates
12. **ads-competitor** — Competitor ad intelligence

## Subagents

For parallel analysis during full audits:
- `audit-google` — Google Ads checks (G01-G74)
- `audit-meta` — Meta Ads checks (M01-M46)
- `audit-creative` — Creative quality for LinkedIn, TikTok, Microsoft
- `audit-tracking` — Conversion tracking health across all platforms
- `audit-budget` — Budget, bidding, structure for LinkedIn, TikTok, Microsoft
- `audit-compliance` — Compliance, settings, performance across all platforms