Choosing a PPC Agency: Criteria, Transparency and Red Flags

Choosing a PPC agency looks simple, until you notice that every agency makes the same promises. “More clicks, lower costs, better positions.” The difference is not in what they promise, but in how transparently they handle your budget and whether they steer on customers instead of clicks. In this article you will find the criteria that really matter, how to recognise transparency, and which red flags you are better off avoiding.

Do the maths yourself: calculate your ROAS and your break-even point with our free ROAS calculator.

What exactly does a Google Ads agency do?

A Google Ads agency sets up your ads, manages your bids and optimises your campaigns so that your budget reaches the right people. But a good agency does far more than press buttons in the ad platform.

The real work sits in the strategy: who do you want to reach, which keywords bring in customers (and which only cost money), and how do you make sure a click turns into an enquiry. Want to understand the basics first? Read what SEA is and how a Google Ads campaign is built.

Which criteria should you use to select an agency?

A strong agency stands out on a handful of points:

• It steers on revenue, not on clicks. Clicks and impressions are vanity numbers. What counts are leads, customers and ROAS.
• It understands your B2B context. An agency that only works with webshops thinks in transactions. B2B revolves around longer cycles and qualified enquiries.
• It shows previous results. Not vague cases, but concrete numbers with context.
• It is reachable and involved. You want a point of contact who knows your situation, not a ticketing system.
• It dares to say no. Sometimes Google Ads simply does not pay off in your market. An honest agency will tell you so.

Budget transparency: what should you look for?

This is where many agencies go wrong. You should always know where your money goes. A transparent agency separates your media budget (what Google receives) from the fee (what the agency receives).

Ask concrete questions:

• Do I get direct access to my own Google Ads account?
• Can I see exactly how much goes to ads and how much goes to management?
• What happens to my account and my data if we stop?

If an agency stays vague about this, or “manages your account for you” without giving you access, that is a warning in itself.

The questions you should ask an agency

A good introductory meeting is a test. Not of their pitch, but of how honestly they answer uncomfortable questions. In practice we see that the sharpest agencies are also the calmest when faced with these four questions.

”Who owns the account?”

The answer you want to hear: the account is in your name, in your own Google Ads account, and the agency works underneath it through a manager account (MCC). That way you keep the history, the data and the conversion tracking if you ever stop. An agency that locks you inside its own account effectively holds your history hostage. Read why account ownership with an agency is not negotiable.

”What do you steer on?”

Ask concretely: which numbers do you optimise on week after week? A strong agency talks about cost per enquiry, lead quality and ROAS, not about clicks and impressions. Buying clicks is easy. Turning them into customers is the work. We steer on leads and revenue, not on vanity dashboards, because a full dashboard is not the same as a full sales pipeline.

”What does the reporting look like?”

Good reporting tells a story: what we did, what it delivered, and what we will do differently next month. Not an automatic export of 40 metrics that nobody reads. Ask for a sample report before you sign. More on this in Google Ads agency reporting.

”Who will actually do the work?”

At the pitch, the senior often joins the table. After that, your account sometimes ends up with a junior or an intern. Ask who manages your campaigns day to day and how many accounts that person runs. See who manages your Google Ads, a junior or a senior, for what to watch out for.

This table sums up what a strong answer sounds like next to a red flag:

Red flags you should not ignore

Some signals are a direct reason to walk away:

• Guarantees on positions or results. Nobody can guarantee a number one position. Google runs an auction, not a set of agreements.
• You get no access to your own account. You pay for it, so it is yours. Full stop.
• Reporting on clicks and impressions. Pretty numbers that say nothing about customers or revenue.
• Long contracts without an exit clause. A good agency holds on to you with results, not with legal lock-in.
• A percentage of your media budget as a fee. The agency then earns more when you spend more, even when that is unwise.

Fee models: fixed rate or percentage?

Many agencies charge a percentage of your advertising budget. The problem: their interest and yours drift apart. The more you spend, the more they earn, regardless of whether it pays off.

A fixed rate or a performance-based model matches what you actually want: an efficient budget and more customers. Optimisation then pays off for the agency too, because less waste no longer means lost revenue for them. Read more about Google Ads costs and what you can realistically expect.

What does the right choice deliver?

The right agency lowers your cost per enquiry and gets more out of the same budget. Not by shouting louder, but by steering more sharply: better keywords, stronger ads and a higher quality score.

For Facilicom, our focus on quality score delivered a media saving of 25%. How that score influences your cost per click is explained by Google on quality score. The same result, with less budget. That is what a good agency should do: treat your money as if it were its own.

How do you finally make the choice?

Put your shortlist side by side and judge three things: the answers to the questions above, the way they talk about your market, and the terms under which you can stop. Do not choose on the lowest fee alone, but on who reasons most sharply about your cost per customer. Do not let yourself get stuck in practice: always check the notice period and read the small print of the Google Ads agency contract before you sign. Still torn between two candidates? Run the same questions to ask a Google Ads agency past both and compare the honesty, not the promises.

Frequently asked questions

What does a Google Ads agency cost?

That varies a lot per agency and model. Some charge a fixed monthly rate, others a percentage of your media budget or a performance-based rate. More important than the amount is the structure: do you know exactly what goes to Google and what goes to management? Read more about Google Ads costs and what is realistic for your budget.

Do I get access to my own Google Ads account?

Yes, that should always be the case. Ideally the account is in your name and the agency works underneath it. That way you keep your data and history if you ever stop. An agency that refuses this is a red flag in itself.

How long does it take for Google Ads to pay off?

Count on a few weeks for the first signals and usually a few months for a stable picture, depending on your budget, market and sales cycle. An honest agency does not promise results within a week, but explains how it steers step by step towards a lower cost per enquiry.

Not sure whether to outsource your Google Ads?

Not every company needs an agency, and not every market suits Google Ads. Want to know whether it pays off for you? Read outsourcing Google Ads first, or simply put your situation to us.

We are a small team, so we move fast and tell you honestly when something is worth it and when it is not. Book your free intake.