Keeping a Change Log When an Agency Edits Your Campaigns: Practical Tips

Editorial team Spend Ledger

Treat the Log as Part of Campaign Operations

When an agency edits a campaign, a change log helps your team understand what was altered, when it happened and what the change was intended to do. This is useful whether the edit concerns a budget, audience, creative, schedule or tracking setup. Without a reliable record, a shift in results can be difficult to connect to the work that preceded it.

A log is not a substitute for the advertising platform’s own records, nor is it proof that a particular edit caused a performance change. It is an operational aid: a shared account of decisions, context and follow-up. Used alongside platform history and campaign reporting, it makes handovers easier and supports more focused conversations with an agency.

Agree on the process before work begins. Decide who records changes, where the shared log will live, which edits require an entry and who reviews it. Keep the arrangement practical enough that the agency can maintain it as part of normal campaign work, rather than treating it as paperwork to complete much later.

Check the Platform’s Activity History

Start with the advertising platform’s built-in activity or change history. It may show account actions, the timing of an edit and, depending on the platform and the action, information about who made it. The available detail and retention can vary, so check the platform’s own help materials and current policy pages to understand what its history includes.

This record is valuable because it is generated within the platform. It can help verify whether a change was made and provide details that a manually maintained log may miss. But activity history may not explain the business reason for the change, the hypothesis behind it or whether the agency expected a particular effect. It may also present technical edits without enough context for someone outside the day-to-day account work.

Use the platform history as the source for checking account activity, not as the only place to document decisions. If an entry in the shared log does not match the platform record, raise the difference with the agency and clarify it. Do not assume that either record alone explains the full situation.

Keep a Shared Log Beside the Platform Record

Maintain a shared change log in a location that the advertiser and agency can access under the agreed working arrangements. It can be a simple document or table. The important qualities are clarity, consistent upkeep and a straightforward way to connect an entry to the relevant campaign or platform activity.

Avoid relying on a private note held by one person or a message thread that is hard to search. Those records can be useful for discussion, but they are not a dependable central log. Agree how the agency will notify you of consequential changes and where the final entry should be recorded. For routine work, the process can allow entries to be grouped where appropriate, provided the individual edits remain understandable.

Keep the shared log factual and neutral. Record what changed and why it was approved or considered, rather than using it to assign blame when results move. If there is a disagreement, note the different explanations and the follow-up needed. The purpose is to preserve a useful account of the work, not to turn the log into a verdict on performance.

Record the Details That Make an Edit Understandable

A useful entry should identify the campaign or account area affected and describe the change in plain language. “Audience updated” is too vague on its own. Note what aspect changed, such as a targeting setting or exclusion, without copying sensitive information into a record that does not need it.

Include the timing of the edit, who made it and the reason or working hypothesis. If the change was requested by the advertiser, note that context. If it was an agency recommendation, record the intended objective and any assumptions that informed the decision. Distinguish between a planned adjustment and a correction made to resolve a setup problem.

For budget edits, capture the affected campaign or budget setting and whether the change was intended to support a test, respond to delivery or reflect a revised business decision. For creative edits, identify the asset or version and what changed in the message or format. For tracking changes, describe the relevant setup area and the reason for the adjustment. Do not include credentials, unnecessary personal information or other sensitive access details.

Also record the expected observation or review point in general terms: what the team plans to monitor and when it will discuss the effect. Do not imply that the change guarantees a result. If the agency cannot explain why an edit was made, note that the rationale is pending and ask for clarification.

Set Clear Rules for Logging and Approval

Not every small operational action needs a lengthy explanation, but consequential edits should not disappear into an informal workflow. Agree in advance which types of changes require a separate entry and which can be recorded together. Budgets, audience settings, creative direction and tracking are usually worth documenting clearly because they can affect how a campaign is delivered or measured.

Clarify who is authorised to request, approve and carry out different kinds of work. This matters particularly when an agency manages an account on the advertiser’s behalf or when several people can make edits. The arrangement should explain how urgent fixes are handled, how the advertiser is informed and how the reason for an urgent action is recorded afterward.

The log does not replace written agreements about account access, ownership, responsibilities or approval procedures. If the agency uses an account structure that the advertiser does not control directly, agree in writing how activity will be reported and how records will be shared. Keep the discussion within the platform’s rules and the terms of the working relationship; do not use account changes to evade restrictions, checks or verification requirements.

Review the Log as Part of Campaign Meetings

Review the change log regularly enough that entries remain connected to current work. The right rhythm depends on campaign activity and the agency’s reporting process. A review may fit naturally into an existing performance meeting or handover. When work is active, check recent entries more often; during quieter periods, a less frequent review may be sufficient.

During a review, look for missing reasons, unclear descriptions, edits that were not discussed and changes whose expected follow-up has not happened. Ask the agency to distinguish platform-recorded activity from its interpretation of why that activity occurred. If the entry refers to an approval, test plan or business decision, confirm that the relevant context is also available to the people who need it.

Keep the review focused. The aim is not to challenge every adjustment, but to make sure the account’s history is intelligible and that the team can connect decisions with later observations. If the log is consistently incomplete, revisit the process: perhaps responsibilities are unclear, the format is too cumbersome or the agency needs a defined point in its workflow to make the entry.

Use the Log When Results Move Unexpectedly

When performance shifts, start by describing what changed in the results and the period being examined. Then compare that period with the platform activity history, the shared log and any relevant changes in measurement or reporting. Look for edits made near the shift, but treat timing as a clue rather than proof of cause.

Several changes may have occurred close together, or results may have moved for reasons the log does not capture. Delivery conditions, measurement differences and wider business factors can all affect interpretation. Ask the agency to explain which changes it considers relevant, what evidence supports that view and what else should be checked. If tracking was edited, confirm whether the reporting basis remained consistent before drawing conclusions.

Avoid making a chain of reactive edits before the team understands the issue. Record the investigation, the explanations considered and any agreed next action. If the team decides to reverse or adjust a change, log that decision too, including its rationale. This preserves a clear sequence and reduces the chance that later reviewers mistake one version of the setup for another.

Keep Records Useful, Secure and Honest

A change log works best when it is concise enough to maintain and detailed enough to interpret. Use consistent wording, separate confirmed facts from hypotheses and correct errors transparently rather than silently overwriting the record. If an entry is amended, make it clear that it was updated and why.

Limit access to people who need the information for campaign operations, oversight or handover. Avoid storing account credentials, payment details or personal data in the log. Follow the platform’s rules and the organisation’s own data-handling requirements, and use the platform’s official support or appeal channels if a platform decision or account issue needs to be addressed.

The most useful log is not the longest one. It is a shared record that lets the advertiser and agency reconstruct what happened, understand the reasoning available at the time and decide what to examine next. Paired with the platform’s activity history, it supports better questions, clearer accountability and more disciplined campaign management without pretending to explain every change in performance.