Choose a Google Ads agency by asking who owns the ad account, who works on it day to day, how many accounts that person handles, and what happens when results are bad. Good agencies answer those four plainly. Weak ones talk about awards and Google Partner badges instead. Everything else on this page is a longer version of that test.
Almost every agency website says the same things. Certified, data driven, results focused. None of it separates a good shop from a bad one, because the bad ones use the same words.
What separates them is how they answer specific questions under a little pressure. Below are 12 to ask on the first call, with what a good answer sounds like and what a bad one sounds like.
What are the 12 questions to ask a Google Ads agency?
Ask them in this order. The first three are the ones that protect you if the relationship ends.
1. Who owns the Google Ads account?
Good answer: “You do. We set it up under your business and you add us as a manager account.” Bad answer: “We run everything through our own account, it’s simpler.” That means the history, the conversion data, and the bidding learning belong to them, not you.
2. Can I see the account any time I want?
Good answer: “Yes, here is your login, look whenever you like.” Bad answer: anything involving “we’ll send you a report instead” or “the interface can be confusing”. You are paying for that spend. You should be able to see it live.
3. What happens to the account if we part ways?
Good answer: “We remove our access and you keep everything, including the campaigns and the conversion history.” Bad answer: vagueness, or a mention of the campaigns being “our intellectual property”. Get the answer in writing before you sign, not after.
4. Who actually works on my account day to day?
Good answer: a name, a role, and an offer to put them on the next call. Bad answer: “our team handles it.” The person you are talking to in the sales meeting is often not the person touching the account. Meet the person who is.
5. How many accounts does that person manage?
Good answer: a real number, and an honest note on how they keep up. Bad answer: avoiding the number entirely. There is no magic threshold, but someone carrying a very large book of accounts cannot review your search terms weekly, and search terms are where the waste hides.
6. What will you report on?
Good answer: leads, cost per lead, and where possible revenue and return on ad spend. Bad answer: impressions, click through rate, and “engagement” at the top of the report. Those are inputs. You cannot deposit an impression.
7. How do you define a conversion?
Good answer: a specific list, such as form submissions, calls over a set length, and booked appointments, with duplicates removed. Bad answer: “the tracking handles it.” If nobody can tell you what counts, the number in the report is decoration. Our guide to Google Ads conversion tracking covers the ways this quietly breaks.
8. What is your notice period?
Good answer: a short commitment up front, usually around three months so bidding can gather data, then 30 days notice. Bad answer: a twelve month term with no exit for poor performance. Long lock ins protect the agency, not you.
9. Have you worked in my industry?
Good answer: either yes with specifics, or an honest no plus what they would do to get up to speed. Bad answer: “we work with everyone.” Industry experience is useful but not essential. Pretending is the problem, not the gap.
10. What would you look at first in my account?
Good answer: a concrete list, usually search terms, negative keywords, conversion tracking accuracy, and campaign structure. Bad answer: “we’d need to do a full audit first.” A person who has done this a hundred times can tell you their first three checks without seeing anything.
11. What is not included in the fee?
Good answer: a clear list. Landing page builds, creative design, website changes, and other ad platforms are commonly separate. Bad answer: “everything’s included.” Nothing is everything. You want the exclusions named now, not discovered in month three.
12. How do you handle it when results are bad?
Good answer: they describe an actual process, a call, a diagnosis, a change of plan, and they mention a time they lost an account. Bad answer: “that doesn’t really happen to us.” It happens to everyone. An agency that cannot describe a bad month has either not had one or will not tell you about it.
Why is account ownership the single most important question?
Because it is the only one where the wrong answer can cost you everything you built. If the agency owns the account, leaving means starting from zero.
You lose the conversion history that automated bidding runs on. You lose the search term history where all the negative keyword knowledge lives. You lose your audience lists. A new account has to learn it all again, and that learning period usually costs more per lead.
The fix takes ten minutes. Create the account yourself under your own business and billing, then accept the agency’s manager request. They get full working access. You keep the asset. If an agency pushes back, that is your answer about the whole relationship.
Why is “we guarantee page one” a red flag?
Because nobody controls the auction. Your ad position depends on your bid, your Quality Score, and what every competitor does that day. Google explains in its own Quality Score documentation that ad rank is built from expected click through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience, and all three move.
There is a second problem. Position is easy to buy and worthless on its own. Any agency can put you at the top tomorrow by raising bids. That is not skill, it is your money.
The same goes for a guaranteed lead count or cost per lead in month one. Any promise of a specific outcome is a sign the agency is selling certainty it does not have. What a good agency can promise is process: what they will do, how often, and what they will report.
What numbers should you ask them to compare you against?
Before the call, get your own cost per click and cost per lead from the last 90 days. Then ask the agency how your numbers compare to the category average and what they would attribute the gap to.
These are the 2026 all industry averages from WordStream’s Google Ads benchmark study, based on 13,474 US search campaigns run between April 2025 and March 2026:
| Metric | All industry average, 2026 | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Click through rate | 6.64% | “If mine is below this, is it the ads or the keywords?” |
| Cost per click | $5.42 | “Is my category above or below this, and why?” |
| Conversion rate | 8.18% | “Is this an ads problem or a landing page problem?” |
| Cost per lead | $66.69 | “What would you change first to move this?” |
What this means for you: the averages are a conversation starter, not a target. Cost per lead across confirmed industries in that study ran from about $26.84 in arts and entertainment up to about $131.63 for attorneys and legal services. A good agency will tell you your category sits high before you find out yourself.
How do you test an agency without signing a year?
Run a paid trial month, or better, a paid trial quarter with a clear exit. Pay for the work rather than asking for it free, because free work gets junior attention.
Set the trial up like this:
- Agree the scope in writing. Account structure review, search term cleanup, conversion tracking check, and a set number of new ads.
- Agree what gets measured. Cost per lead and lead volume, defined the same way by both sides before day one.
- Keep account ownership. Non negotiable, even for a trial.
- Book the review call now. Put a date in the calendar for the end of the trial so it does not roll on by default.
- Expect a dip. Rebuilt campaigns often cost more per lead for the first few weeks while bidding relearns. Judge the trend, not week one.
One more thing before you talk to anyone. Read the agency’s own material and see whether it teaches you anything. Look at how they describe their work with other businesses and who is actually on the team. If the whole site is claims and no explanation, that is a preview.
Common questions
How much should a Google Ads agency cost?
It depends on the model and the complexity of the account. Fees are usually a flat monthly amount, a percentage of ad spend, or a mix with a performance element. We break down what each model rewards the agency for in our guide to Google Ads management pricing.
Does a Google Partner badge mean an agency is good?
It means they meet Google’s requirements on spend, certifications, and performance thresholds. It is a floor, not a ranking. Plenty of badged agencies are average, so use it to rule out the unqualified rather than to pick a winner.
Should I hire a local agency or does it not matter?
For most businesses it does not matter, because the work is done in an interface, not on site. Local can help if your category depends on knowing the area, or if you simply prefer meeting in person. Responsiveness matters far more than the office address.
How long before I should expect results?
Give it a full quarter before judging. Automated bidding needs conversion data before it works well, so the first 30 to 60 days often cost more per lead than the months after. What you should see early is activity you can verify in the account, not just a report.
What if I already have an agency and I am not sure they are doing anything?
Log in to your Google Ads account and open the change history. It shows every edit, who made it, and when. If the account has barely been touched in months, you have your answer without needing an argument.
What does a Google Ads agency actually do all month?
The recurring work is search term review, negative keywords, ad testing, bid strategy adjustments, conversion tracking checks, and reporting. We describe the full scope in what a PPC agency does.
Want to run these questions on us?
Take the 12 questions above to every agency on your shortlist, including this one. We would rather answer them on a first call than have you find out the answers six months in.
If you want a straight read on your current account first, our Google Ads team will look at where the spend is going and tell you what we would change, whether or not you hire us. Get in touch and we will set up a call.
