Is your Google Ads agency doing a good job? 8 questions to find out

You can tell whether your Google Ads agency is doing a good job without becoming an expert. Ask eight questions, and check each answer yourself in the account: who owns it, what you're paying, what counts as a conversion, which searches you're paying for, what changed and who changed it, which automated recommendations were accepted, what each lead and customer costs, and what's being tested next. A good agency answers all eight quickly and is glad you asked. Vague answers, or a reluctance to give you access, tell you more than any monthly report. Set aside an hour, log in with your own Google account and work through the list below.

Before you start: get your own login

Everything below assumes you can sign in to the Google Ads account yourself. If you can't, that's the first finding. Google's transparency rules for third parties require agencies to give customers their Google Ads customer ID on request, and many agencies will also add you as a user. Ask for Admin access if the account is yours, or at least Read-only for this review.

The ownership question

Who owns the account, and who has admin access?

Why it matters: if the agency opened the account under its own manager account and billing, leaving can mean starting over with no history. Years of data on what worked, what didn't and what converted stay behind.

Where to check: in Google Ads, open Admin, then Access and security. Google lists five access levels: Email-only, Billing, Read-only, Standard and Admin. Only Admin users can grant or change access, link and unlink manager accounts, and manage payment methods.

Good answer: your business is the payment profile on file, at least one person at your company has Admin access, and the agency works through a manager account link you can remove.

Red flag: "We keep the account under our agency for simplicity," with no plan to hand it over.

The money questions

What exactly are you charging, and is it separate from my ad spend?

Why it matters: some agencies blend their fee into the media cost, so you can't tell what Google received and what the agency kept.

Where to check: compare your agency invoices with the billing summary in Google Ads (Billing, then Summary or Transactions). Google's transparency requirements say agencies must tell new customers about management fees in writing before the first purchase, show the fee on every invoice, and report Google costs as the exact amount Google charged, excluding their own fees.

Good answer: a clear management fee line on each invoice, and spend figures that match the account to the dollar.

Red flag: a single "advertising" line that's higher than the spend shown in Google Ads.

What does each lead cost, and what does each customer cost?

Why it matters: a low cost per click and a low cost per conversion mean nothing if the conversions aren't customers. The number that matters to your business is cost per real lead, and ideally cost per sale.

Where to check: the Conversions and Cost / conv. columns at campaign level give you cost per conversion. To get cost per customer, compare that against your own records: how many of last month's ad leads became jobs? If your agency imports offline conversions or connects your CRM, the account can show this directly.

Good answer: the agency knows your close rate and talks about cost per customer, not just cost per click.

Red flag: reports built around impressions, clicks and click-through rate, with conversions mentioned briefly or not at all.

The measurement question

What counts as a conversion in this account?

Why it matters: this is where most underperforming accounts go wrong. If a page view, a click on a phone number or a visit to the contact page counts as a "conversion," the account reports great results while the phone stays quiet. And automated bidding optimizes toward whatever you tell it is a conversion, so the wrong definition steers the whole budget.

Where to check: open Goals, then Conversions, then Summary. Look at each conversion action and whether it's Primary or Secondary. Google uses primary actions for bidding and shows them in the "Conversions" column; secondary actions are observation-only and appear under "All conversions."

Good answer: primary conversions are real enquiries (form submissions, calls longer than a set duration, booked appointments), each counted once, and the agency can explain each one.

Red flag: half a dozen primary actions including page views or button clicks, or a conversion count far higher than the leads you actually received.

The traffic question

Which searches are we actually paying for?

Why it matters: your keywords are what you target; search terms are what people actually typed. With broad match, the gap can be large. A plumber bidding on "plumbing" can end up paying for "plumbing jobs," "plumbing courses" and "how to fix a toilet."

Where to check: open Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms. Sort by cost for the last 30 or 90 days. Google notes that low-volume terms are hidden for privacy, so you'll never see every search, but the costly ones will be there.

Good answer: the top terms by cost are clearly relevant, and irrelevant ones already appear as negative keywords.

Red flag: job seekers, DIY questions, competitor names you never approved, or locations you don't serve among your most expensive terms.

The activity questions

What did you change last month, and who made the change?

Why it matters: an account managed well shows regular, deliberate work: new negatives, ad tests, bid adjustments, budget shifts. An account that's being coasted shows nothing for weeks.

Where to check: Change history, in the Campaigns menu. Google keeps two years of history and shows when each change was made and by whom, by email for edits made in the interface. Changes made by Google's automated systems appear separately, labelled as such.

Good answer: steady changes by named people that match what the agency's reports describe.

Red flag: long gaps, or most changes made by "Google Ads system" or auto-applied recommendations rather than by a person.

Which automated recommendations have been accepted?

Why it matters: Google can apply some recommendations automatically. Some are useful. Others broaden match types, expand to search partners or Display, or adjust bid targets, which can raise spend on lower-quality traffic. An agency should decide these deliberately, not leave them on by default.

Where to check: Recommendations, then the auto-apply settings and the History tab. Google lists which types can be auto-applied, including adding broad match keywords, removing negative keywords it considers redundant, and expanding reach through search partners and Display.

Good answer: auto-apply is off or limited to a few reviewed types, and the agency can explain why.

Red flag: everything auto-applied, and nobody at the agency knows when it was turned on.

What are you testing next, and how will we know if it worked?

Why it matters: accounts improve through deliberate tests: a new landing page, a different offer, a new ad message, a bidding change. Without a plan, monthly management becomes maintenance.

Where to check: look for Experiments in the account, ad variations running side by side, and the agency's last few monthly reports. Did last month's report say what would be tested, and does this month's report say what happened?

Good answer: one or two specific tests a month, each with a clear measure of success.

Red flag: the same report every month with new numbers and no decisions.

Reading the results fairly

A single weak answer doesn't mean you should fire the agency. Some accounts have little room to move because of budget, season or a tough market. What matters is the pattern:

• Three or more red flags, especially around ownership, fees or conversion tracking: start planning an exit, and make sure you have admin access first.
• One or two: raise them directly and give the agency a month to fix them.
• None: you likely have a good partner. Tell them; good agencies hear that less than they should.

If you do switch, get admin access confirmed, download your reports and keep the account. A new agency should work in your existing account, not start a fresh one.

Where PNE fits

When businesses come to us about an existing Google Ads account, our digital marketing work starts with these same checks: ownership, fees, conversion tracking and search terms, before any change to bids or budgets. And if you ever leave, we transfer platform access so you're never dependent on us to keep going.

Sources

• Transparency requirements — Google Ads Policies Help
• About access levels in your Google Ads account — Google Ads Help
• About primary and secondary conversion actions — Google Ads Help
• About the search terms report — Google Ads Help
• About change history — Google Ads Help
• About auto-apply recommendations — Google Ads Help