What do I need to get started?

A Google Ads account with some recent ad spend and conversion tracking configured. You'll need admin or standard access to authorise the connection. The whole process takes under two minutes. Accounts with very little data (zero spend in the last 30 days, or all campaigns paused) are flagged before reporting begins.

What's in the welcome report?

The welcome report is your full 100-point grade with detailed breakdown across five categories: Account Foundations (30-40%), Performance Efficiency (25-40%), Optimisation Responsiveness (15%), Growth & Scaling Readiness (10%), and Best Practice Compliance (5-10%). Weights adapt to business model. Lead generation accounts weight foundations higher (40%); e-commerce weights performance efficiency higher (40%). When an account has fewer than 30 conversions, half the efficiency weight shifts to foundations because efficiency metrics aren't yet meaningful. You get campaign-level grades, prioritised recommendations by tier (Critical, Efficiency, Growth, Behavioural), and specific action items.

What's the difference between the welcome report and monthly reports?

The welcome report is your initial deep-dive analysis: full 100-point grade, campaign breakdown, and prioritised recommendations. Monthly accountability reports track what changed since last month, whether recommendations were implemented, and whether those changes actually worked. Welcome report sets the baseline; monthly reports track progress.

How does recommendation tracking work?

Every recommendation is logged with a timestamp and tracking ID. Each month, viaCMO compares your account's change history against outstanding recommendations. When a change matches a recommendation, it's marked as implemented and enters the "Did It Work?" validation queue. Manual implementations you mark as "Acknowledged" are also tracked.

What does "Did It Work?" show?

For every implemented recommendation, viaCMO compares before-and-after performance metrics over a measurement window matched to the change type — creative changes need 14 days, bidding 21 days, budget 14 days. You see whether CPA went down, CTR improved, or conversion volume increased, with directional thresholds applied to filter noise. No guessing. Just the evidence of what the change did to performance.

What's the difference between a health check and the pre-audit?

They use the same 25-point framework. The free pre-audit runs at sign-up across four areas: account setup, campaign settings, keyword setup, and ad and extension setup. Health check credits in paid plans let you re-run the same 25 checks between monthly reports if you make significant changes and want to see the impact immediately.

What is an ad-hoc report?

An ad-hoc snapshot report is a point-in-time 100-point grade you can run anytime outside your monthly cycle. Useful when you've made major changes and want immediate feedback, or when you need a current score for a client meeting or board presentation.

Can I access viaCMO on mobile? Can I share or download reports?

The viaCMO dashboard is fully responsive and works on mobile browsers. Reports can be shared via a public link (no login required for viewers; links expire after 30 days) or downloaded as PDF. Monthly reports are automatically emailed to your registered address. You also receive email alerts after repeated Google connection failures and when session execution encounters issues.

How It Works

How viaCMO Works: Audit, Grade, Recommend, Execute, Measure

A structured accountability loop, not a one-time snapshot. Value compounds month after month.

Six Steps. One Accountability Loop.

Connect

OAuth connection. 60 seconds. Your account is analysed, never touched. Action plan subscribers can approve changes through VIA sessions.

Connect

Select Accounts

Business Details

Audit Results

Secure OAuth. Nothing changes without your approval

60-second setup. Connect and get results in minutes

Revoke access anytime from your Google account

Free 25-Point Health Check

Key check areas. Traffic-light results. Score out of 25, plus projected grade after first-round fixes.

Pre-Audit Results

18/25

11 passing, 6 warnings, 1 critical

Account Setup

42–

Campaign Settings

411

Keyword Setup

12–

Ads & Extensions

21–

Full Report & 100-Point Grade

Five weighted categories. Deterministic algorithm, not AI interpretation. Hard caps for critical failures.

Account Grade

Score

47/100

Score Breakdown

Account Foundations

40%48

Performance Efficiency

25%45

Optimisation Responsiveness

15%52

Growth & Scaling Readiness

10%35

Best Practice Compliance

10%48

Lead gen weights shown. Adapts to your business model

Prioritised Recommendations

Four tiers: Critical / Efficiency / Growth / Behavioural. Fix what's suppressing performance most.

Recommendation Queue

BID STRATEGY

Align bid strategy with campaign objectives

NEGATIVE KEYWORDS

Reduce wasted spend on irrelevant search terms

EXTENSIONS

Complete ad extension setup

BUDGET

Increase budget on Emergency Plumber campaign

Execute via VIA

Review each recommendation and decide: execute it, handle it manually, reject it, or defer it if there's a measurement conflict. Nothing runs until you confirm the batch. A session report shows what succeeded and what was blocked.

viaCMO|

OPTIMISATION SESSION

1/4

BID STRATEGYAlign bid strategy with campaign objectives

Switch Hot Water Systems campaign from Maximise Clicks to Target CPA at $130

Evidence

Current StrategyMaximise Clicks

Conversions (30d)34

Current CPA$148

Target CPA$130

CampaignHot Water Systems

Impact: CPA reduction from $148 to ~$130 within 2-3 weeks

Reject

Nothing executes until you confirm the full batch

Monthly Accountability Report

Monthly reports detect what changed, match it against recommendations, and validate whether it worked. Grade attribution shows what moved your score. The loop repeats.

Grade Trend

47/100

+25 pts

Current

B+

72/100

Your account grade improved by 25 points

Accountability Scorecard

83%implementation rate

5 of 6 recommendations implemented

Did It Work?

3Improved

1Declined

1Inconclusive

0Pending

How the 100-Point Grade Is Calculated

Account Foundations

35%

Is the account built correctly? Structure, tracking, keywords, audiences.

Performance Efficiency

30%

Outcome quality: CPA, CVR, CTR vs benchmarks. Only counts with statistical volume.

Optimisation Responsiveness

15%

Contextual reaction to performance shifts. Not activity frequency.

Growth & Scaling Readiness

10%

Expansion opportunities, budget constraints, impression share loss.

Best Practice Compliance

10%

Google guidelines, asset completeness, policy risks.

Baseline weights shown above. Foundations weighted highest because efficiency metrics are lagging. Bad foundations cap algorithm learning permanently. Weights adapt based on business model. Lead generation accounts weight foundations to 40%; e-commerce accounts weight performance efficiency higher.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions About How It Works

Find Out What Your Google Ads Are Actually Doing

Free 25-point health check. No credit card. Results in minutes.

Get Your Free Audit

Nothing changes without your approval.