Automation Guardrail Review (QA)

Automation Guardrail Review (QA)

1. 01

   Freeze every automated rule, script, and bid policy before the review window opens

   Pause scheduled rules and portfolio bid strategies across all client accounts in scope so the audit reads a stable state rather than a moving target.

2. 02

   Confirm platform-side defaults are not overriding agency intent

   Check Search Partners, Display expansion, broad match defaults, ad rotation, and bid thresholds on each account; six commonly overlooked Google Ads settings can quietly drain budget or cap reach.

3. 03

   Verify creative assets still match what the client approved

   Meta now runs at least 47 automatic creative enhancements that can alter visuals and copy after sign-off, so screenshot live placements and diff them against the approved library.

4. 04

   Reconcile spend pacing against the retainer's stated budget band

   Flag any account pacing more than 10 percent above or below the monthly band before re-enabling automation, and document the cause in the client file.

5. 05

   Sample-check automated recommendations against a manual read

   Pull 20 recent rule actions per account and confirm each one would have been defensible to the client in a written note; revert the ones that would not.

6. 06

   Screen traffic quality on the highest-spend campaigns

   Review invalid-click and bot signals on accounts above a set spend threshold, since fraud detection now runs on client-specific traffic models rather than generic filters.

7. 07

   Log every override with owner and expiry date

   Each manual exception gets a named owner and a review date, otherwise overrides accumulate and the next automation cycle inherits undocumented state.

8. 08

   Re-enable automation in staged order and watch the first 48 hours

   Bring back budget rules first, then bid policies, then creative rules, so any regression is traceable to a single layer.