Ad QA Checklist

1. Purpose

Runs before a campaign or ad goes live. A checklist pass returns green to launch, yellow (launch but fix within 24h), or red (block launch). Every item is machine‑checkable — no human judgment required. The goal is to catch the silent failures that waste the first 48h of budget: a broken pixel, a 404 landing page, a Reels ad uploaded at 1.78:1.

2. Checklist Categories

🎯 Tracking & Attribution

| Check                           | Severity       |
| :------------------------------ | :------------- |
| Pixel fires on landing page     | 🔴 Block       |
| Conversion API server event OK  | 🔴 Block       |
| Conversion event mapped correctly (Purchase / Lead / etc.) | 🔴 Block |
| All UTM params present (`source`, `medium`, `campaign`)    | 🟡 Warning |
| `utm_content` unique per ad (no cross‑ad collision)        | 🟡 Warning |
| Pixel test event received in last 24h                      | 🟡 Warning |

🏷 Naming & Org

| Check                                                                              | Severity   |
| :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :--------- |
| Campaign name follows convention (e.g. `[Brand]_[Objective]_[Audience]_[Date]`)    | 🟡 Warning |
| Ad set name includes audience identifier                                           | 🟡 Warning |
| Ad name is unique within the ad set                                                | 🟡 Warning |
| No `test`, `tmp`, `copy` in production names                                       | ℹ️ Info    |

📱 Placements

| Check                                                                | Severity   |
| :------------------------------------------------------------------- | :--------- |
| Selected placements match campaign objective                         | 🔴 Block   |
| Creative asset exists for every selected placement aspect ratio      | 🔴 Block   |
| No placement‑blocklist violations (e.g. Audience Network off for B2B)| 🟡 Warning |

🎨 Creative Specs

| Check                                                   | Severity   |
| :------------------------------------------------------ | :--------- |
| Image/video dimensions match placement spec             | 🔴 Block   |
| Video duration within platform limits                   | 🔴 Block   |
| File size under platform cap                            | 🔴 Block   |
| Safe‑zone respected (no critical text in crop zone)     | 🟡 Warning |
| Logo/brand visible in first frame or top‑third          | ℹ️ Info    |

🔗 Landing‑Page Match

| Check                                                               | Severity   |
| :------------------------------------------------------------------ | :--------- |
| LP URL reachable (no 404/5xx)                                       | 🔴 Block   |
| LP loads in < 3s on 4G                                              | 🟡 Warning |
| LP headline reinforces ad promise (offer, price, audience)          | 🟡 Warning |
| LP has a visible CTA matching the ad's conversion event             | 🟡 Warning |
| LP is mobile‑responsive                                             | 🟡 Warning |

3. Severity Rules

| Severity    | Meaning                                                           |
| :---------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 🔴 Block    | Launch must NOT proceed until resolved                            |
| 🟡 Warning  | Launch allowed; item must be fixed within 24h of going live       |
| ℹ️ Info     | Advisory — worth reviewing, not required                          |

Overall status is the highest severity present: any 🔴 = BLOCK, any 🟡 = PROCEED WITH FIXES, otherwise GREEN.

4. Operational Output: Preflight Report

Preflight — Summer Launch — Traffic → Ad Set LAL 1% Purchase

Result: 🔴 BLOCK — 2 blockers, 3 warnings, 1 info

🎯 Tracking & Attribution

• 🔴 Pixel Purchase event not firing on test click to LP
• 🟡 utm_content missing from AD_554

🏷 Naming

• ℹ️ Ad set name LAL 1% Purchase missing date suffix — convention is [Brand]_[Objective]_[Audience]_[Date]

🎨 Creative Specs

• 🟡 AD_554 aspect ratio 1.78:1 works for Feed, fails Reels spec (expected 9:16) — upload a 9:16 variant or exclude Reels

🔗 Landing Page

• 🔴 https://example.com/summer-offer returns 404
• 🟡 Message match: ad promises "50% off" — LP headline reads "Welcome", no offer reinforced

Action: fix the 2 blockers (pixel, LP URL) before launch. Warnings have a 24h SLA after go‑live.

5. UTM Parameter Inventory (Required)

Beyond the pass/fail checks in §2, every preflight run must produce a UTM inventory listing every ad in the batch with its current destination URL and a proposed URL with standardized UTMs. This is a required transformation — the reviewer should be able to copy each Proposed URL straight back into the ad set.

5.1 Required UTM Parameters

| Parameter       | Value source                                                          | Required |
| :-------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------- |
| `utm_source`    | Ad platform — `meta` · `google` · `linkedin` · `tiktok`               | ✅       |
| `utm_medium`    | Channel type — `paid_social` · `paid_search` · `display`              | ✅       |
| `utm_campaign`  | Campaign name, slugified (lowercase, hyphens)                         | ✅       |
| `utm_content`   | Per‑ad identifier — ad ID or ad‑name slug. **Must be unique per ad.** | ✅       |
| `utm_term`      | Audience or keyword (required for Search, optional for Social)         | ⚪       |

5.2 URL Transformation — required table

For every ad in the batch:

| Column           | Content                                                                                                 |
| :--------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Ad**           | Ad ID · Name                                                                                            |
| **Current URL**  | Destination URL currently set on the ad (may be missing UTMs or have wrong values)                      |
| **Proposed URL** | Same destination + all required UTMs appended (existing UTMs replaced if misaligned)                    |
| **Delta**        | What changed — `+all UTMs` · `utm_campaign fixed` · `utm_content collision resolved` · `no change`     |

5.3 Transformation Rules

• Preserve non‑UTM query params (e.g. ref=, plan=) — append UTMs after them; don't strip them.
• Resolve collisions — if two ads would end up with the same utm_content, append a suffix (-v2, -v3) and note it in Delta.
• Flag broken bases — if the current URL returns 404/5xx, still produce the Proposed URL for when the LP is fixed, and cross‑reference the 🔴 Block in the Landing‑Page check.
• Never strip fbclid / gclid templates — platform‑injected at click time.
• Slug conventions — lowercase · ASCII only · spaces → - · strip punctuation · collapse repeat hyphens.

5.4 Example

UTM Inventory — Summer Launch — Traffic · 3 ads

| Ad | Current URL | Proposed URL | Delta | | :----------------------------- | :----------------------------------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------ | | AD_554 Notes App Hero | https://acme.com/summer-offer | https://acme.com/summer-offer?utm_source=meta&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=summer-launch&utm_content=ad-554-notes-app-hero | +all UTMs (were missing) | | AD_388 Founder UGC Hook | https://acme.com/summer-offer?utm_content=ugc | https://acme.com/summer-offer?utm_source=meta&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=summer-launch&utm_content=ad-388-founder-ugc-hook | +source / medium / campaign · utm_content specialized | | AD_412 Founder UGC Hook v2 | https://acme.com/summer-offer?utm_content=ugc | https://acme.com/summer-offer?utm_source=meta&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=summer-launch&utm_content=ad-412-founder-ugc-hook-v2 | collision resolved — was duplicating AD_388's value |

Action: copy each Proposed URL into its ad's destination field before launch.