Hiring a Google Ads management company is a big decision. These are the people who will be looking after your paid advertising and determining the results your campaigns deliver.
Getting this decision wrong can result in you losing money and in the very worst scenario it could result in you giving up on Google Ads altogether.
In this article we will be looking at ten things you should always consider before hiring a Google Ads proffesional to set up and look after your campaigns.
1. Are they a qualified Google Ads management company?
This is the first thing you should be checking with any Google Ads company. Any qualified company will have an Adwords Partner badge on their site that proves they are recognised by Google as a fully qualified Google Ads specialist.
The Google Ads Partner badge looks like the image below and should be clickable with a link to the Agencies Google Partner profile.
When a company is a Google partner you know 3 things:
- They have completed all the necessary Google Ads exams.
- They currently manage accounts and have spent more than the equivalent of $10,000 USD over the last 3 months.
- The existing accounts they do run are using best practices (this is reviewed by Google)
If the company you are considering doesn’t have this badge on their site, then you know they are not qualified. Therefore, there is a good change they are not going to be the best people to manage your budget.
2. Is this company your web designer?
This one isn’t going to be relevant to every company you are considering, but it is a very common problem we see over and over again.
The thing is, many businesses have a good relationship with their web designer. As a result they often consider them their go to solution for anything web related. However, in reality this is often not the case, in fact this goes back to point one, is your web designer a certified Google Ads partner? If not, then they are probably not the best fit.
If on the other hand your web designer is an qualified Google Ads partner, do they have their own dedicated PPC managers looking after account? If not, there is a good chance that they are not completely focused on Google Ads management. In this case it is more likely that they just offer this service as an add-on.
Think about it this way, who would you rather have looking after your account?
- A company who spends 80% of their time on web design, 10% on SEO, and 10% on Google Ads?
or - Someone who is 100% focused on Google Ads management?.
3. Will you have direct contact with your account manager?
This is a very important thing to consider, for example will they offer telephone support? Will they offer email support? And will you actually be talking to the person who manages your account?
Some agencies will give you access to the exact person working on your account. However, others may have some kind of manager between you (the client) and the actual campaign manager. Some companies don’t even manage your accounts in house, they actually outsource to a third party. This is more commonly known as white label PPC. in this case it is very rare you will speak with the person managing your account.
None of these options are wrong and all can be effective. Therefore, you need to decide what you expect from your Google Ads management company.
4. Will you be locked into a contract?
Contracts are quite common when you outsource Google Ads PPC. However, not all agencies will require a contract and for the ones that do, the duration they require you to sign up for can vary quite a bit.
Here are a few things to consider when a Google Ads company want you to sign a contract:
- Will you will be committed to paying for management until the contract expires?
- Will you be able to cancel if you are not happy with the results?
- If you take a break from advertising , will you still be required to pay the full management fee?
Here at CPS Media we do not lock any of our clients into contracts. The reason for this is simple, we have a very high client retention rate without contracts, our clients, remain working with us based on “results”, this means that we don’t have to lock people in.
5. Will You Get regular Campaign Reports?
Getting regular reports for your campaigns is essential. Without regular reporting how will you know what work is being done in your account?
Depending on the size of your account yu should be should be recieving monthly reports and for higher spending business, it may even be beneficial to have weekly reports. This enables you to keep up to date with the progress of your campaigns.
Things that we share in our client reports include:
- Changes that have been made in the account and the reason for these changes.
- Month to month improvements, including how they were achieved.
- And finally, plans for future improvements, to show what we intend to do with campaigns going forward.
When choosing a Google Ads company, remember to ask about the sort of reports they provide. Be sure to ask for a sample, as this will show you the sort of report you will be receiving.
6. How much will a Google Ads management company cost?
Generally the fee for account management will be charged on a monthly basis. The price that you end up paying each month can vary for a number of reasons, for example:
- The amount of products or services you sell – Campaigns with multiple products or services will require more work.
- Your monthly budget – campaigns with higher budgets tend to take more time to manage and in many cases an PPC management companies will charge a percentage of spend.
- And finally the type of Google Ads Management Company you hire – in our experience we would say that there are 3 general types:
- Low price (prices £99 – £199 month) – These are generally lower quality and you get what you pay for. With this type of company, they are rarely qualified.
Also, it is common to see the large companies with lower prices to tempt you into lengthy contracts. - Finally, you are unlikely to get much in terms of reporting and customer service at this price range.
- Middle of the road pricing (£200 – £1999 month) – Once you start to move up to the next level of Google Ads management , the quality is generally much higher. In this price bracket, you are generally going to find, more qualified partners, Freelance Adwords consultants and smaller agencies that specialise in Google Ads (just like the team here at CPS Media). You will also find many full service agencies at this price range. However, as we have mentioned in previous points you should always look into whether these companies have dedicated, staff that deal with their Ad clients.
- High priced agencies (£2000 – £10,000+ month) – These types of agency tend to be full service. This means they offer a full suite of digital marketing services. Often, they will have dedicated teams for each service, meaning the quality of work you receive will generally be high. However, unless you are spending high £xx,xxx – £xxx,xxx+/month, and need lots of hand holding, the inflated prices wont be worth it. It is very unlikely that they will offer a better service than a smaller Google Ads specialist.
- Low price (prices £99 – £199 month) – These are generally lower quality and you get what you pay for. With this type of company, they are rarely qualified.
7. Will there be a set up cost?
Most of the Google Ads companies you talk to will have some kind of set up cost. Whether this is to build your new account or to restructure an existing account.
Some agencies on the other hand will not charge any set up fee. However, this comes back to “you will often get what you pay for”. In fact, this is a very common tactic used by larger companies, who offer cheap monthly payment plans. In this scenario you are locked into long monthly contracts.
Obviously not all companies who offering a free set up are bad. Some wil use it as a promotional tool to attract more business . The main thing to remember, is to do your due diligence and make sure that there are no strings attached.
8. Have they worked with clients in the same or similar industries?
This point isn’t necessarily a deal breaker, particularly if your business is in a less common industry. In fact it is often better to look at this slightly broader than just your specific industry. For example, Lets assume you want to advertise a local construction business, where your main goal is to generate phone calls. In this case, finding a Google Ads management company that has clients with a similar advertising model would be beneficial.
An agency that wouldnt be a good fit for the above example would be one that specialises, in ecommerce. The way these businesses are generating conversions is completely different. One is service based and looking for leads/enquiries. The other is selling products from a store online. The way these buisnesses is advertised woul dbe completely different.
As a rule most Google Ads companies will specialise in a variety of industries. So remember to ask about their existing clients, ad those they have worked with in the past.
9. Do they offer a free audit or account review?
If you already have an active Google Ads account, you should always see if the company you are considering offers a free account audit (review). This allows the Google Ads expert temporary access to your existing account. There are a couple reasons that taking advantage of an account audit can be a good idea:
- Audits are generally a free no obligation service, which can uncover potential problems in your account. If you don’t decide to hire them you will still know how you can make improvements.
- You can get first-hand experience of what it would be like to work with the company, for example, do they complete your audit in the time they specified? Is the review they provide thorough? Do you actually like the person you are dealing with? And can you see yourself working with them over a longer period of time?
The majority of management companies will offer a free Google Ads account audit up front If they don’t simply ask, and the majority will be happy to perform one.
10. Will you have access to your account?
This can be a big problem! At CPS Media, we have taken over many accounts where the previous Google Ads company did not give account access to the client. When this happes everything needs starting from scratch and we have to fully rebuild there account.
So why do some companies do this? and why is it such a big problem? Below are a couple of reasons some management companies don’t give their clients access to accounts:
- The first is quite reasonable and understandable in some ways. They want to avoid the client logging in and making changes. When this does happen, it can be disruptive to the ongoing improvements and success of the campaigns.
- The second reason is slightly more immoral, they don’t want to give you ownership of the account, and they don’t want you having access to the data.
The reason the latter is simple, they want to make it harder for you to leave and stop using their service. If they control your account and won’t give you access, this means when you do leave, you will have to start over again. Not only that, but you won’t have any data from your old account.
Here at CPS Media we completely disagree with this practice. As a result, we are 100% transparent with our clients and give full access to accounts. This means if you were to work with us and then leave in th efuture , you are free to take your campaigns with you.
We hope you have found these 10 tips useful and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Also, take advantage of our Free Google Ads audit. Click th elink below to get in touch with a memberof the team now