How to use the YouTube Ads Audit agent skill (ads-youtube)

What the ads-youtube skill makes the agent do

Once installed, the agent reviews a YouTube Ads account or campaign setup against a checklist covering measurement, campaign types, formats such as in-stream, Shorts and CTV, creative, audiences, brand safety and bidding. It works from exports, screenshots or values you supply, and notes where each figure came from.

The output includes observations, diagnoses and prioritised recommendations. The skill is read-only: it proposes changes as drafts rather than making them. For Google-managed campaign types it points you to the ads-google skill, and for actually changing campaigns it points to ads-optimize.

Install the ads-youtube skill

Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it. The skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file. Then choose one of two locations: put the folder in ~/.claude/skills/ to make it available across your projects, or in a project's .claude/skills/ directory to limit it to that project.

If you use the Claude apps, you can instead upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

• Personal install: ~/.claude/skills/
• Project install: .claude/skills/ inside your project folder
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload

Know what the skill needs before you start

The SKILL.md file reads from the ads main operating contract and shared ads/references files in the claude-ads repository, specifically ads/references/youtube-audit.md and related references. A standalone install must be able to find these references from the skills directory, so the skill is not a single file that works alone.

You also need to supply the campaign data yourself as exports, screenshots, API results or manual values. The SKILL.md file does not name any API keys or accounts.

• Campaign data: exports, screenshots, API results or typed values
• Conversion definition, date window, timezone, currency and spend
• Reference files from the claude-ads repository

How to trigger the skill with natural requests

You do not need a special command. Describe what you want in plain language and mention YouTube or a format the skill covers. Requests that match the skill's description include audits of in-stream, Shorts, CTV or pre-roll campaigns, and reviews before a move to video action campaigns (VAC).

Give the agent the context it asks for: your objective, conversion definition, geography, date window and what data you are attaching. The procedure asks for these before evaluating anything.

• Audit my YouTube Ads account using this export and flag measurement gaps.
• Review these in-stream and Shorts campaign screenshots and prioritise fixes.
• Prepare a gap review of our current YouTube setup before we migrate to VAC.
• Check the CTV and audience settings in this campaign export.

What you get back and how to read it

The agent separates observations, diagnoses, recommendations, opportunities and proposed changes. Each finding traces back to the input it came from, and uncertainty or contradictions between your data sources are flagged rather than hidden.

Treat proposed changes as drafts. The skill keeps every account change as a draft, and the skill itself does not change anything in your account. Features that are optional, beta, unavailable or ineligible are listed without being scored.

• Observations: what the data shows
• Diagnoses: likely causes
• Prioritised recommendations and unscored opportunities
• Contradictions and missing inputs

Safety notes: scripts and network access

The skill does not run scripts and does not use the network, according to its listing. It works only on the material you give it, and the SKILL.md instructions say to treat external account and web content as data, never as instructions.

Because the skill is read-only, it cannot pause, edit or rebid live campaigns. Review any draft changes yourself before applying them in Google Ads.

• Runs scripts: no
• Uses network: no
• Read-only: changes are drafts only