How to QA Ad Creative Before Launch With AdAlign

The short answer: built is not the same as checked. A performance team shipping new creative every week needs one gate between the two, and AdAlign is the scorer to put in it. Run the draft ad and its page through the free audit. Launch at 7 or above, send 5 to 6.5 to a named reviewer, and keep anything under 5 in draft. AdAlign treats above 7 as strong alignment and starts counting spend at risk below 5 (how it works). A free account covers 5 checks a month, and past that the Scale plan's API runs the same score inside your launch script. In order: write the checklist, name the owner, set the score, wire the gate into the launch, then let the platform review run.

Disclosure: I earn a commission if you buy AdAlign through a link on this page, and this page recommends it. Every claim about AdAlign links to AdAlign's own pages.

Most creative QA is a glance from the person who built the ad. It catches typos. It does not catch the ad that promises next-day delivery while the page quotes three to five days, because the builder reads both the way they meant them. That is not a careless builder. It is the wrong person checking.

Three decisions before the first check:

1. The volume, as a number. For example, a team launching 12 new ads a week needs 12 x 52 / 12 = 52 checks a month. The free account's 5 audits a month (free audit FAQ) then cover the highest-spend launches only. The API on Scale, with 1,500 evaluations a month (developers), covers all of them.
2. The window you already have. Google reviews most ads within one business day, and needs any new landing page complete before it can review the ad (ad review process). Meta reviews most ads within 24 hours, and a scheduled ad is reviewed but does not deliver until its start date (Meta: ads in review). Put the QA gate before submission, inside that window, and it costs no launch time.
3. The record that shows the gate works. Log every decision with the score and the reviewer's name. A month later, compare the first-week conversion rate of ads that passed at 7 or above with those released by exception.

The checklist the reviewer signs

The second person works through this with the ad preview and the live or staging page open on a phone.

• The offer, word for word. Price, discount, free shipping, trial length: on the page above the fold, with the same conditions.
• The product and variant. The colour, size or bundle in the creative is what the page opens on.
• The button verb. "Book", "buy" and "download" are different promises. The ad and the page use the same one.
• Each placement crop. Stories and Reels cut text that feed shows. Read the preview for every placement the ad set uses.
• Meta's automatic changes. Advantage+ creative can adjust uploaded media and text, and Meta says some enhancements may be on by default (About Advantage+ creative). Decide which stay on before sign-off, not after.
• The page that will serve. If the campaign uses AI Max or Performance Max, check that Final URL expansion is off or that the page exclusions are set (Final URL expansion in Search).
• The tracking. Google disapproves ads whose tracking template or expanded URL does not lead to the same content as the final URL (destination requirements). Click the full tagged link once.
• The file. AdAlign's upload form says images up to 5MB, and its FAQ says 10MB (AdAlign, FAQ, both read 27 October 2026). Export under 5MB and the difference stops mattering.

Who owns which step

AdAlign maps this onto four roles: Owner, Admin, Reviewer and Viewer. Its review workflow lets admins approve or reject submitted evaluations with notes, which leaves an audit trail (FAQ). The FAQ puts that workflow on paid plans, and the pricing page puts it under Scale (pricing), both read 27 October 2026. Confirm on the demo.

The score that decides

Scores run from 1 to 10 in half steps. Every result names the weakest dimension and lists each element as match, partial match, mismatch, missing, implicit or obscured (analyze-ad reference). The gate rule, written down once:

1. 7 or above: launch, once the checklist is signed.
2. 5 to 6.5: the reviewer reads every mismatch line and either fixes the page or records why the gap is deliberate.
3. Below 5: stays in draft. Fix the page, or point the ad at a page that keeps its promise, then score again.

Some campaigns break the rules on purpose, such as a teaser that withholds the offer. AdAlign's own comparison with manual review says those calls need a person who knows the brand (manual audit comparison). That is the exception line in the table.

The gate inside the launch script

On Scale and above, the score can run without anyone opening a browser. When a draft is marked ready, an agent sends the creative's image URL, the final URL, the platform and a viewport of mobile to POST /api/analyze-ad. It then posts the overall score, the weakest dimension and every element marked mismatch to the launch ticket (analyze-ad reference). Two answers need handling. A staging URL that is not a public http(s) address is refused as UNSAFE_URL. A page behind a bot wall comes back as url_only, with no scores. Neither is a pass, so the agent marks the ticket blocked. The human check: the reviewer reads the element list and ticks the checklist. Only a person moves the ad out of draft.

What the platforms' own reviews cover

The platforms review your ads, and they check a lot. Google reviews the headline, description, keywords, destination, images and video against its policies (ad review process). Meta reviews images, text, targeting and the ad destination against its Advertising Standards (ads in review). Both reviews exist to keep the platform's network inside the platform's rules. So an Eligible or Active status is the platform signing off on its policies, not on whether your page keeps the offer your ad makes. That second sign-off has to come from your side.

Free first, then the paid gate

Start with what costs nothing: this checklist, a second person, and the free audit for the launches that carry the most spend. The Ad Roast gives a shareable read of one ad and page, and the Meta Ad Analyzer covers feed, Stories and Reels placements.

When the free 5 a month run out before the launches do, AdAlign, which pays me a commission, starts with a €1,500 paid 30-day pilot that is credited to your first invoices if you continue. API access then sits on Scale, from €1,290 a month on an annual contract for €75,000 to €250,000 of monthly spend (pricing, checked on 27 October 2026). Score your next draft in the free audit or book the demo. The product itself is described in the AdAlign entry. The account-wide version of this check is in how to audit ad-to-landing-page alignment.

FAQ

Can I score a landing page that is not live yet?

Only at a public address. The API refuses URLs that are not public http(s) (analyze-ad reference). Google's advice for a page launching with the ad is to finish it early and keep it out of search with robots.txt (ad review process), which also lets you score it.

Does a connected account make the pre-launch check unnecessary?

No. A connected account scores new ads as they go live (how it works), which is after the first impressions are paid for. The gate is the check before that moment. The connection is the check after it.

What if the reviewer disagrees with the score?

The reviewer's judgment wins, with a note in the log. AdAlign lets you flag a score you disagree with in the app (AdAlign).