# Pedal Performance > Pedal Performance is a performance marketing agency born into the AI era, built by the team behind Pearmill (which has managed $500M+ in ad spend). Pedal specializes in performance media, growth ops (SEO, analytics, CRO, automation), and web design for businesses whose customers research before they buy — medical and cosmetic practices, e-commerce and DTC brands, educational institutions, and B2B platforms. Pedal is operated by Pearmill Inc. (d/b/a Pedal). The agency focuses on turning ad spend into booked appointments and customers, with its deepest vertical expertise in elective and aesthetic medical practices. Its approach is three-part: Integrate (embed with the client's team, learn SOPs and KPIs), Augment (AI workflows for bid management, ad testing, and reporting), and Advise (ongoing strategy and tuning as platforms shift). Key facts: - Parent company: Pearmill Inc. - Website: https://pedal-performance.com - Email: hello@pedal-performance.com - Services: Performance Media, Growth Ops, Web Design & Development - Specialties: Medical & Cosmetic (med spas, plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry, hair replacement), E-Commerce & DTC, Education & Institutions, Platforms & Partnerships - Pricing: Starter ($2,500/mo flat fee, up to $10K ad spend), Growth (15% of ad spend, $10K-$50K), Scale (custom, $50K+) - Contracts: Month-to-month, no long-term contracts, no setup fees - Asset ownership: Clients own all domains, ad accounts, website code, and data from day one --- ## Homepage Pedal Performance | AI-Native Performance Marketing for Medical, DTC & Growing Businesses AI is like a bike. Get the right fit — and you'll go further than you thought possible. Pedal is the bike shop for your marketing. We set you up, tune your system, and get you moving — so every dollar you spend actually works. Built by the team behind Pearmill. Book a free call: 30 minutes. No pitch deck. No pressure. ### The Problem — You've been through this before. Running a great business shouldn't mean fighting your own marketing. But for most small business owners, it does. - Your ad spend is a black box — You're spending thousands on Google and Meta every month. The reports show impressions and clicks. But you can't tell what's actually driving appointments — or what's being wasted. - Your agency went quiet — You signed up expecting a partner. What you got was a monthly PDF, a recurring charge, and radio silence. No new ideas. No strategy calls. Just a bill. - You don't own your own stuff — Your last agency built your site on their platform. They control your domain, your ad accounts, maybe even your CRM. If you ever leave, you start from scratch. - Slow months that spiral — January goes quiet. Then February. Suddenly you're covering payroll from savings and wondering if this is ever going to feel predictable. Most marketing agencies aren't built for businesses like yours. We built one that is. ### Why Pedal World-class methodology. Without the enterprise price tag. We spent years at Pearmill running performance marketing for companies managing $500M+ in annual ad spend. We built Pedal to bring the same methodology and accountability to businesses like yours. - Pearmill pedigree — The same methodology that runs $500M+ in ad spend, now available to local businesses. - AI-native delivery — We use AI across research, creative, reporting, and execution — big-agency output at a fraction of the cost. - Vertical depth — We specialize in your category. We know your buyers, your funnels, and your competitive landscape. - You own everything — Your domain, ad accounts, and website code. All yours from day one. No lock-in, ever. ### How We Work: Inspect. Tune. Ride. Every engagement starts the same way: we look at everything, fix what matters most, and build the system that keeps improving. The same process a good bike mechanic uses — and it works just as well for your marketing. 1. Inspect — We look at everything. Before we change a single thing, we audit your full setup: Google Ads and Meta campaign structure, conversion tracking and event setup, landing page messaging and layout, lead flow (forms, calls, booking links), and reporting. 2. Tune — We fix the highest-impact things first. We prioritize by impact: campaign structure and bidding strategy, conversion tracking and attribution, landing page copy/layout/CTA, creative (ad copy, visuals, offers), and budget allocation across channels. 3. Ride — You get a growth system that compounds. Monthly priorities and testing roadmap, performance reporting you can actually read, continuous campaign and creative testing, CRO recommendations on live pages, and budget/channel guidance as you grow. ### Who We Serve Deep expertise where it matters most. Our core clients are elective and aesthetic medical practices. - Med Spas & Cosmetic Clinics — Botox, filler, laser, body contouring. We know how to fill a consultation book. - Plastic Surgery — High-consideration procedures, long decision cycles. Trust-first funnels that convert. - Cosmetic Dentistry — Veneers, whitening, Invisalign. The right acquisition system changes your economics. - Hair Replacement Therapy — FUE, FUT, PRP, and non-surgical options. We intercept motivated clients at the right moment. ### Results Our team built its track record at Pearmill, managing $500M+ in ad spend. Med Spa, Austin TX: Consultations up 3.2x in 90 days. Cost per consultation dropped from $310 to $94. Cosmetic Dentistry, Scottsdale AZ: Lead-to-consultation rate jumped from 11% to 34%. Monthly consultations doubled while ad spend stayed flat. (Figures representative of results based on team experience.) ### Testimonials Rachel M., Glow Med Spa, Austin TX: "Within 60 days, my cost per consult was cut in half and I stopped dreading slow months." Dr. James K., Renew Cosmetic Surgery, Denver CO: "With Pedal, I have full access to everything from day one." Dr. Sarah L., Bright Cosmetic Dentistry, Scottsdale AZ: "Pedal sends me a report I can read in five minutes. My schedule has never been fuller." ### Pricing - Starter: $2,500/month flat fee (up to $10K/month in ad spend). Paid search campaign management, conversion tracking setup and monitoring, dedicated growth advisor, monthly strategy check-in. - Growth (Most Popular): 15% of monthly ad spend ($10K–$50K/month). Everything in Starter, plus landing page design and optimization, weekly strategy calls, creative testing and iteration. - Scale: Custom ($50K+/month in ad spend). Everything in Growth, plus email and SMS marketing, senior growth advisor + dedicated support, custom CRO and bi-weekly strategy calls. No setup fees. Month-to-month. You own everything from day one. ### FAQ Q: What if I've tried marketing agencies before and it didn't work? A: You're not alone — most of our clients came to us after a bad agency experience. We integrate with your team first, we report on revenue and booked appointments — not impressions — and you own everything from day one. Q: How long until I see results? A: Paid search typically shows meaningful data within 30 days and strong performance within 60–90 days. We set milestone expectations during onboarding. Q: Do I own my website and ad accounts? A: Yes. Always. Your domain, Google Ads account, Meta Business Manager, and website code — all yours from the moment we set it up. If you ever leave, you take everything. Q: Is this HIPAA compliant? A: We build all campaigns and landing pages with HIPAA considerations in mind. We don't collect protected health information through ad forms, use compliant tracking methods, and follow industry best practices for patient privacy. Q: What's the minimum commitment or contract length? A: Month-to-month. No long-term contracts, no cancellation fees. Q: What types of businesses do you work with? A: Our deepest expertise is in elective and aesthetic medical practices — med spas, plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry, and hair replacement. Our methodology works for any local business whose primary revenue driver is booked appointments. Q: What does the onboarding process look like? A: After your strategy call, we audit your current setup and build a custom plan. Once approved, campaigns are typically live within 2–3 weeks. ### Booking Book a free 30-minute call. We'll look at your marketing and tell you honestly whether we can help. Prefer email? hello@pedal-performance.com --- ## Med Spa Marketing Performance marketing built for med spas and cosmetic clinics. Your med spa deserves a full consultation calendar. Pedal is built by the team behind Pearmill, with deep expertise in med spa and cosmetic clinic marketing. The Problem: Med spa marketing has unique challenges. Franchise budgets, seasonal cycles, lead-to-consultation drop-off, and underused before/after content. Services: Performance Media, Growth Ops, Web Design & Development — all focused on filling your consultation calendar. Results: Austin TX med spa saw consultations increase 3.2x in 90 days. LA med spa grew from 18 to 47 monthly consultations in four months. Free Audit: Request a free med spa marketing audit with your name, email, business name, website URL, and monthly ad spend range. Contact Form: Get in touch with your name, email, business name, phone (optional), and message. --- ## Plastic Surgery Marketing Performance marketing for plastic surgeons and cosmetic surgery practices. We convert high-consideration patients into booked surgical consultations. The Problem: Patients research for months. Long decision cycles, brand sensitivity, poor conversion tracking, and competition from large cosmetic surgery groups. Services: Performance Media, Growth Ops, Web Design & Development — all focused on surgical consultation bookings. Results: Denver facial plastic surgeon rebuilt campaigns with procedure-specific landing pages and proper conversion tracking. Free Audit: Request a free plastic surgery marketing audit with your name, email, business name, website URL, and monthly ad spend range. Contact Form: Get in touch with your name, email, business name, phone (optional), and message. --- ## Cosmetic Dentistry Marketing Performance marketing built for cosmetic dental practices. We fill your schedule with veneer, whitening, and smile makeover consultations. The Problem: DSOs outspending independents, leads that don't convert, websites that don't showcase work, and lack of procedure-level tracking. Services: Performance Media, Growth Ops, Web Design & Development — all focused on cosmetic dental consultations. Results: Scottsdale practice saw lead-to-consultation rate jump from 11% to 34%. Monthly consultations doubled while ad spend stayed flat. Free Audit: Request a free dental marketing audit with your name, email, business name, website URL, and monthly ad spend range. Contact Form: Get in touch with your name, email, business name, phone (optional), and message. --- ## Hair Restoration Marketing Performance marketing for hair restoration and hair replacement practices. We connect you with patients who are ready to act on hair loss. The Problem: Competition from big-brand clinics, deeply researching patients, underused before/after photography, and the need to market male and female hair loss differently. Services: Performance Media, Growth Ops, Web Design & Development — all focused on hair restoration consultations. Results: Houston clinic rebuilt campaigns with procedure-specific targeting and proper conversion tracking, significantly increasing consultation bookings. Free Audit: Request a free hair replacement marketing audit with your name, email, business name, website URL, and monthly ad spend range. Contact Form: Get in touch with your name, email, business name, phone (optional), and message. --- ## Hopkin AI Marketing Copilot Hopkin is Pedal's AI marketing copilot. Built by Pedal to run client ad accounts, now opened up to the public — either self-serve with a 1-week free trial, or bundled into a Pedal-managed engagement at no extra cost. Connects paid media accounts (Meta, Google, LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit, Google Search Console, Mailchimp) to Claude and other MCP-compatible AI assistants. Positioning: "Hopkin by Pedal — your ad accounts, inside your AI." Replace dashboards. Keep the insight. The Problem: Dashboard sprawl across paid channels, slow answers from stale exports, no clean read across creative and media, and budget waste hiding in plain sight. What Hopkin Does: - Cross-platform performance reports (spend, conversions, CPA, ROAS) across every channel in one prompt - Creative breakdowns and fatigue surfacing - Demographic and device cuts - Waste detection — surface the bottom 20% of ads by efficiency - Read-only via OAuth, no password storage, data fetched live (not warehoused) How It Works (3 steps): 1. Connect your ad accounts via OAuth (Meta, Google, LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit — no API keys) 2. Open your AI assistant (install Hopkin MCP server in Claude, Notion Custom Agents, or any compatible assistant) 3. Ask anything — pull reports, rank creatives, spot waste in natural language Two Ways to Use Hopkin: 1. Self-serve — start a 1-week free trial (no card), connect ad accounts via OAuth, install the MCP server in Claude. For in-house teams, founders, and operators. Affordable monthly plans after trial (pricing coming soon). 2. Pedal-Managed — Pedal runs performance marketing end-to-end with Hopkin bundled in at no extra cost. For practices and brands that want growth, not homework. No trial needed; Hopkin is part of the engagement. Why Pedal Built Hopkin: We tried every reporting tool on the market. Most produced slow, brittle PDFs nobody read. So we built Hopkin — the analytics copilot that lives where our analysts already work, inside Claude. It's how Pedal runs client accounts daily (weekly performance pulls, creative ranking before strategy calls, monthly waste audits) — now opened up. Pricing (Early Access — final amounts coming soon): - Hopkin Starter: Early Access (1-week free trial, one ad account, unlimited seats) - Hopkin Pro: Early Access (1-week free trial, multiple ad accounts, unlimited seats, no spend limits) - Pedal-Managed: Custom (full-service performance marketing, Hopkin bundled at no extra cost) FAQ Highlights: - Read-only, OAuth, no passwords stored, data not warehoused - Works in Claude, Notion Custom Agents, and any MCP-compatible AI assistant - Supported platforms: Meta, Google, LinkedIn, TikTok, Reddit, Google Search Console, Mailchimp - Free trial is 1 week, no credit card required to start; post-trial pricing coming soon - Self-serve users can switch to Pedal-managed later — accounts stay yours - Pedal-managed plans bundle Hopkin at no extra cost (no separate subscription) - Pedal has zero visibility into self-serve Hopkin accounts unless explicitly added as a manager - Setup typically under an hour; month-to-month, no contracts CTAs: - Try Hopkin (start free trial): https://hopkin.ai - Have Pedal Run It For You: book a call at https://cal.com/team/pedal/introductory-meeting --- ## Resources Pedal publishes guides and field notes for paid media owners and operators at https://pedal-performance.com/resources/. Currently published: ### Guide: How to Set Up Google Business Profile, Analytics 4, Tag Manager & Ads URL: https://pedal-performance.com/resources/guides/google-marketing-setup/ Updated: 2026-06-02 Beginner-friendly, step-by-step setup guide for the six core Google marketing tools, written for new businesses and businesses taking digital seriously for the first time. Covers Google Business Profile, Google Search Console, Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager, Google Ads, and Google Merchant Center. Each section includes a "you'll need / time / cost" header, exact click paths, and verification steps. Core principle: set up the **free four** first (Business Profile, Search Console, Analytics 4, Tag Manager) — they cost nothing and form the foundation. Add Google Ads when ready to spend on paid traffic. Add Merchant Center only if selling physical products online. Order matters: each step's outputs feed the next. Critical prerequisite: own everything under a business-controlled Google account (free Gmail or paid Google Workspace) — never a personal Gmail, never an outside agency/freelancer's account. Roughly half of new-client onboardings at Pedal involve recovering accounts from prior owners. Google Business Profile (free) — 30 min setup + 5–14 days for postcard verification (or instant via video for many categories). Create or claim listing at google.com/business. NAP consistency (Name/Address/Phone) is critical: match character-for-character across website, directories, and license. Complete profile to 100%: hours, services, 10+ photos, attributes, description, booking link. Ongoing: respond to every review within 48 hours, post weekly updates. Google Search Console (free) — 20 min setup. search.google.com/search-console → Add property → choose Domain (not URL prefix) → verify via DNS TXT record at your domain registrar. Submit sitemap. Wait ~1 week for data to populate. Most useful screens: Performance (queries + position), Pages (indexing status), Core Web Vitals, Mobile usability. Google Analytics 4 (free) — 15 min setup. analytics.google.com → Admin → Create Account + Property. Pick reporting timezone and currency carefully (revenue events depend on currency). Add a Web data stream → capture the Measurement ID (G-XXXXXXXXXX). **Do not paste the GA4 snippet directly** — load it through Tag Manager instead, or you'll double-count. Turn on Enhanced Measurement (covers page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, downloads, on-site search for free). Change Data Retention from default 2 months to 14 months. Google Tag Manager (free) — 30 min setup + first-time developer help for the snippet install. tagmanager.google.com → Create Account + Container. Install two snippets (<head> + <body>) on every page — most platforms (Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, Webflow) have built-in fields or free plugins. Add a Google Tag pointed at your GA4 Measurement ID with All Pages trigger. Preview → confirm tag fires → Submit + publish. From here on, every future tag (Ads pixel, Meta pixel, LinkedIn, Hotjar) is added in the GTM UI with no code changes. Google Ads (pay-per-click, you set the budget) — 45 min setup. ads.google.com → Start now → **switch to Expert Mode** (skip Smart Campaigns — they can't be converted later and hide critical controls). Lock in timezone + currency carefully (both immutable). Add billing. **Link to GA4** (Tools → Data manager → Product links → Google Analytics) — this is the most under-done step and unlocks proper conversion measurement. **Import GA4 conversions** (Tools → Conversions → New → Import from GA4) and mark at least one as Primary. Optionally link to Search Console for paid-vs-organic analysis. Stop here if not ready to spend — campaign building is a separate topic. Google Merchant Center (free, e-commerce only) — 1–2 hours. **Skip if service business**. merchants.google.com → Get started → verify website (reuse Search Console verification for one-click site claim) → upload product feed (Shopify Google & YouTube channel, WooCommerce plugin, BigCommerce/Wix/Squarespace built-in integrations, or custom CSV/XML feed file). Link to Google Ads. Wait for product approvals; fix disapprovals in Products → Diagnostics. How the tools fit together: GTM installs GA4. GA4 sends conversions to Google Ads. Search Console verifies the domain (reused by Merchant Center). Business Profile handles Maps independently. Hopkin (Pedal's AI marketing copilot) can read across GA4, Google Ads, and Search Console once they're set up — answers questions like "which campaigns drove the most appointments last month" without opening a dashboard. Common mistakes audited from real client setups: personal Gmail owning everything, skipped GBP verification, installing GA4 twice (hardcoded gtag.js AND GTM tag), forgetting to link Ads to GA4, forgetting to import conversions, wrong locked timezone/currency in Ads, inconsistent NAP, agencies/freelancers owning accounts under their own login. FAQ topics covered: do you need all of them, what each costs, GA4 vs GTM order, whether you need a developer, moving ownership later, what to check on existing setups, total setup time, the single most important thing not to mess up (double-installed GA4). CTA: Book a 30-minute intro at https://cal.com/team/pedal/introductory-meeting for an audit of an existing setup. --- ### Guide: How to Connect Your Ad Accounts to an Agency Manager (Meta, Google, TikTok, Shopify) URL: https://pedal-performance.com/resources/guides/connect-ad-accounts-to-your-agency/ Updated: 2026-07-07 Step-by-step guide for granting partner-level agency access on the three platforms most local and small businesses run ads on: Meta Business Manager (Facebook + Instagram), Google Ads via a Manager Account (MCC), and TikTok Business Center, plus Shopify collaborator access for businesses that sell online. Core principle: agencies should be added as *partners* to client accounts, not the other way around. Clients keep ownership. Agencies get role-based access that can be revoked in a single click. Never share passwords; never transfer account ownership to an agency. Three access models compared: 1. Password sharing: never do this. No audit trail, security risk, platform flags foreign logins. 2. Transferring ownership: never do this. Lose all historical data, pixel signal, custom audiences when the engagement ends. 3. Partner access (correct): client owns assets, agency owns its own manager, partnership is role-scoped and revocable. Meta Business Manager (Facebook + Instagram): five assets are assigned separately: ad account (Manage), Facebook Page (Create content + Advertise), Instagram account (Manage account), pixel/dataset (Manage), catalog (Manage if applicable). Done from business.facebook.com/settings → Users → Partners → Add. Agency provides a 16-digit Business ID. Google Ads (MCC): Manager Account (legacy name: My Client Center / MCC) is a parent account. Client provides 10-digit Customer ID. Agency sends link request from their MCC. Client approves in their Google Ads account at the notification bell. Four access levels: Read-only, Standard, Admin, Email-only. Recommend Admin for an active engagement (covers user management + billing reconciliation). TikTok Business Center: client BC must send the partner request to agency BC (TikTok does not support inbound agency-initiated requests). Asset types: ad account (Operator), TikTok account (Manage), Pixel/Events Manager (Manage), catalog (Manage). TikTok's audit log is the most readable of the three platforms. Shopify: agencies connect via a collaborator account, not a staff seat (collaborators don't count against the plan's staff limits). Store owner finds the 4-digit collaborator request code under Settings → Users → Security and sends it to the agency; the agency submits the collaborator request from its Shopify Partner dashboard; the owner approves and scopes permissions. Pedal requests: Online Store/themes (pixel placement + landing-page checks), customer events (tracking install/QA), Products (Google Merchant Center + Meta catalog feeds), Orders view-only (conversion reconciliation). All-permission collaborator requests are over-scoped and a red flag. Common failure mode: owner says the ads aren't working while the ad platform records conversions; 90% of the time the cause is conversion tracking set up improperly years ago by a former agency or developer. Store access is non-negotiable for data confidence ("garbage in, garbage out"). Pre-flight checklist (5 minutes): confirm Admin access on each platform; have 10-digit Google Customer ID ready; confirm BC exists on TikTok; confirm billing card is in business name. Verify after access is granted: Meta: all five assets visible in agency BP; Google: MCC link shows "Linked"; TikTok: partnership status Active; Shopify: collaborator listed with scoped permissions and store visible in agency Partner dashboard; billing card in client's name; conversion tracking fires on a test event. What Pedal does once granted access (within 7 days): waste audit (typically 18–24% of spend redirectable), pixel/conversion-tracking audit (drops cost-per-lead 15–25% on its own when broken), creative-performance breakdown ranked by ROAS, and a 30-day plan with specific pauses/tests/budget shifts. FAQ topics covered: data visibility, password sharing, what happens when an engagement ends, who controls billing, removing previous agencies, recovering accounts from former employees, timeline, which Meta assets are required. CTA: Book a 30-minute intro at https://cal.com/team/pedal/introductory-meeting. ### Blog: How to Read a Google Ads Audit URL: https://pedal-performance.com/resources/blog/how-to-read-a-paid-search-audit/ Published: 2026-06-03 Author: Chad Hilyard, Founder, Pedal Performance Most paid search audits are written for the agency that wrote them, not the operator who has to act on them. They open with a number, present a list of recommendations, and end with "let's discuss." What they don't do — most of them — is tell the operator which three things to fix on Monday morning. This post walks through the five sections a real audit contains and the red flags that tell you the audit was a checkbox exercise. Six sections: 1. Start with the scorecard, not the recommendations. A real audit opens with a section-level structure — not a single number. The structure matters more than the number; an account scoring 70% with one critical section is different from an account scoring 70% with three. Red flags: pass/fail with no nuance; "everything looks good" on a below-break-even account. 2. Find the workhorse. A workhorse is the campaign carrying the account by spend share, conversion share, and efficiency. Concrete example: Brand Search at 9.14x ROAS on 9% of budget producing 74% of conversion value. The audit must name yours and answer two follow-ups: is it appropriately funded, and what protects it from breaking? 3. Find the drains. A drain is a campaign consuming budget without earning back. Concrete example: Performance Max (unbranded) at 0.34x ROAS consuming 79.6% of budget, no ROAS floor configured. Distinguish earned drains (decay; need new creative) from default drains (Google-recommended settings that never had a chance; fix structurally). The single most common SMB drain pattern is PMax with no ROAS floor at 60-80% of budget — if your audit misses this on a PMax-heavy account, it missed the headline. 4. Conversion tracking is where audits earn their keep. If tracking is broken, the ROAS numbers are fiction. Three checks: are conversion actions counted once or multiple times per real-world outcome (Shopify Shopping App Purchase double-counting is common); are local-action "conversions" (direction clicks, phone-call clicks, GBP interactions, $1 attributed values) being counted as revenue (3-10x inflation); is CAPI configured (iOS attribution leakage means pixel-only Meta tracking under-reports by 20-40%). 5. Recommendations should be ranked, not listed. A real recommendation has four parts: what to change (specific, not "explore PMax optimization"); estimated dollar impact ("approximately $900/month of misallocated spend"); time horizon and prerequisites; priority class (P0/P1/P2). Unranked recommendations push the prioritization onto the operator, which is the auditor avoiding commitment. 6. The closing question. The most useful question to ask of any audit: "Which three fixes would you do this week?" If the audit answers clearly, you can execute Monday. If it doesn't — or answers differently than the body suggests — the audit is incomplete. A good audit treats the closing question like a contract; bad audits treat it like a postscript. CTA: Book a 30-minute call to discuss whether a Pedal audit makes sense for your account — https://cal.com/team/pedal/introductory-meeting. ### Blog: The 5 Questions a Real Google Ads Audit Answers That Google's Recommendations Won't URL: https://pedal-performance.com/resources/blog/5-questions-a-real-audit-answers/ Published: 2026-06-05 Author: Chad Hilyard, Founder, Pedal Performance Google's Recommendations tab is a feature, not a strategy. Its job is to suggest changes Google can scale your account against — more keywords, broader match, higher budgets, more auto-apply. That's a legitimate job for an advertising platform, but it is not the same job as auditing an account. This post walks through the five questions a real paid search audit answers explicitly, which Google's Recommendations tab will not surface because answering them is not in its interest. Five questions: 1. What's the single campaign carrying the account? A real audit identifies the workhorse first — the profitable campaign keeping the lights on, almost always Brand Search (example: 9.14x ROAS on 9% of budget producing 74% of conversion value). Google instead suggests enabling Performance Max alongside it, cannibalizing the workhorse. 2. Where is budget being wasted right now? A real audit identifies drains explicitly, with dollar impact. The common SMB drain is a default-settings Performance Max campaign (example: 79.6% of budget at 0.34x ROAS). Google's recommendations are reliably additive and rarely tell you to pause or reduce. 3. Are your conversions counting what you think they're counting? Three common failures: Shopify Shopping App Purchase double-counting (~2x inflated ROAS), local-action "conversions" (direction/phone-call clicks valued at $1 rolled into revenue), and Meta CAPI not configured (pixel-only misses 20-40% of iOS conversions). A real audit reconciles the conversion model against actual revenue first. 4. Which competitors are eating your branded traffic? A real audit pulls the search-terms report and quantifies competitor/irrelevant query leakage in dollars (example: an indoor-golf account at ~$540/month leaking $145/month — 26% of spend — to queries like "topgolf near me"). Google's negative-keyword suggestions almost never include the high-impact competitor brand names. 5. What's the next dollar going to do? A real audit gives a ranked list of marginal-spend opportunities with dollar-return estimates ($200 into Brand Search at 9x returns ~$1,800; $200 into PMax at 0.34x returns ~$68). Google's automation cannot make this comparison because it has no idea what your business needs the next dollar to do. The Recommendations tab does what it is designed to do: suggest changes Google can scale your account against. That is a feature, not a strategy. A paid search audit's job is to answer the five questions Google will not. CTA: Book a 30-minute call to see if a Pedal audit makes sense for your account — https://pedal-performance.com/#booking. --- ## Authors ### Authors hub URL: https://pedal-performance.com/authors/ The people behind Pedal Performance. Field notes, guides, and strategy posts from the founding team. - Chad Hilyard — Founder, Head of GTM & Account Management. Writing on paid-media strategy for SMB and local-service brands. - Justin Griffiths — Co-Founder, Head of Strategy & PR. Writing on agency strategy, partnerships, and the infrastructure behind Pedal's audit and reporting stack. ### Chad Hilyard URL: https://pedal-performance.com/authors/chad-hilyard/ Founder, Head of GTM & Account Management — Pedal Performance. Founder of Pedal Performance, focused on paid-media strategy for SMB and local-service brands. Pedal runs audits, builds remediation queues, and operates accounts for clients who want their next dollar to actually earn back. Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadhilyard/ Recent articles: - How to Connect Your Ad Accounts to an Agency Manager (https://pedal-performance.com/resources/guides/connect-ad-accounts-to-your-agency/) ### Justin Griffiths URL: https://pedal-performance.com/authors/justin-griffiths/ Co-Founder, Head of Strategy & PR — Pedal Performance. Co-Founder of Pedal Performance, leading strategy and PR. Justin shapes Pedal's positioning, partner relationships, and the technical infrastructure behind the agency's audit and reporting stack. Recent articles: Justin's first articles for Pedal Performance ship soon. --- ## Contact - Email: hello@pedal-performance.com - Book a call: https://cal.com/team/pedal/introductory-meeting - Website: https://pedal-performance.com - Legal entity: Pearmill Inc. d/b/a Pedal © 2026 Pearmill Inc. d/b/a Pedal. All rights reserved.