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- Expect tracking and goals to be fixed before any serious spend scales.
- The agency fee and the ad budget are separate; ad spend goes to Google, not to the agency.
- Early weeks are for learning, so judge direction and discipline, not final numbers.
- You should own the Google Ads account and see every change, report and invoice.
Management fee versus ad spend
New advertisers often mix up two costs. The ad budget is the money Google charges when people click your ads, and it is paid to Google from your own billing profile. The management fee is what the agency charges for strategy, setup, optimisation and reporting. A clear proposal separates the two and says how the fee is calculated: a flat monthly fee, a share of ad spend, or a hybrid. Each can be reasonable, and each has a trap.
Percentage-of-spend models reward an agency for spending more, which is not always in your interest. Flat fees are predictable but can leave little incentive to dig into a small account. Whichever you pick, confirm in writing what is included: number of campaigns, landing page advice, tracking work, reporting and calls. Our Google Ads management services page shows how we structure scope, and the principle applies to any provider you compare.
The first 90 days, step by step
The order matters more than the exact dates. Starting campaigns before tracking is the most common and costly shortcut.
- Discovery and accessThe agency asks about margins, lead quality, service areas, seasonality and past ad history. You grant access to your Google Ads account, Analytics and Tag Manager, or the agency helps you create them under your ownership.
- Tracking and measurementConversions are defined and tested: form submissions, calls, WhatsApp clicks, purchases. If this is not set up, the agency should raise it first. See our guide to GA4 and Google Tag Manager conversion tracking.
- Account audit or buildAn existing account is reviewed for wasted spend, poor structure and weak settings. A new one is built with a campaign structure that reflects your services or product groups.
- Launch and learningCampaigns start with controlled budgets. Search terms are read daily at first, irrelevant ones are blocked, and ads are tested. Performance wobbles at this stage, which is normal.
- Optimisation rhythmWeekly changes follow: bids, budgets, negatives, ad copy, landing page fixes, audience tests. Bigger strategic reviews happen monthly.
- Scale or correctBy the third month there should be enough data for a clear decision: push what works, cut what does not, or fix the offer or landing page if the ads are not the problem.
What a good agency will hand over
These are reasonable requests to make before and during the relationship.
- Account ownershipThe ad account sits in your Google login or under your manager account. The agency is a user, not the owner.
- A written planGoals, target audiences, campaign types, expected learning period and how success will be judged.
- Access to reportsA live dashboard or regular reports, plus a log of changes made.
- Search terms reviewEvidence that irrelevant searches are being excluded, not only a note that optimisation took place.
- Honest landing page feedbackAds often fail because the page does not convert. A good agency tells you, even if the page is yours.
- Clear communicationA named contact, response times, and a calendar for reviews.
Communication, cadence and decision rights
Agree early how often you will speak and who can approve spend changes. A weekly short note and a monthly review call suit most accounts. The note covers what changed and why, the call covers results, learnings and what comes next. Large budget moves, new campaign types and changes to goals should need your sign-off, while day-to-day negatives, bid tweaks and ad tests should not wait for a meeting.
Be ready to give feedback on lead quality. Platforms optimise toward what you tell them is valuable, and only you know which enquiries became customers. A simple shared sheet that marks each lead as good, poor or sold gives the agency something better than click data to optimise against. Without it, the account drifts toward cheap, low-quality leads that look fine on paper.
Reports: useful metrics versus vanity numbers
A report full of clicks and impressions tells you almost nothing about business results.
Metric | What it tells you | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
Conversions by type | Leads, calls, purchases that came from ads | Counting every page view or button click as a conversion |
Cost per lead or sale | What each result costs you | Averages that hide one good campaign and several poor ones |
Search terms report | What people actually typed | Broad matching wandering into unrelated searches |
Impression share and lost share | Whether budget or rank limits you | Chasing share on terms that do not convert |
Lead quality feedback | Which enquiries were real buyers | Platform data without your sales input |
Landing page conversion rate | Whether the page persuades | Changing ads when the page is the real issue |
Pakistan-specific realities for advertisers
Local advertisers should expect a few differences from the standard Western playbook. Many buyers in Pakistan call or message on WhatsApp before filling a form, so call and chat tracking is essential. Cash on delivery means a placed order is not the same as a delivered one; for stores, ask your agency to connect ad data with delivered and returned orders where your systems allow it. Searches come in English, Roman Urdu and sometimes Urdu script, which affects keyword planning and negative keywords.
Billing is another practical point. Check which payment methods your Google Ads billing profile accepts and keep a record of who pays Google directly. International clients often pay the agency fee in USD. For store owners, our Google Shopping ads setup guide for Pakistani stores covers feed and eligibility points, and our Google Search ads management page describes the lead-generation side.
Creative, copy and landing page responsibilities
Ask who writes the ads and who builds the pages. Search ads need copy that matches intent: services, locations, proof and a clear call to action. Responsive ads combine headlines automatically, so supplying varied, accurate assets matters. If your industry has restrictions, such as healthcare or finance, check current Google policies and make sure the agency knows them before ads go live.
Landing pages are often the largest lever. A page that loads slowly on mobile, hides the phone number or asks for too much information will waste even excellent campaigns. If your page is the bottleneck, the honest agency will say so and suggest a fix.
Warning signs during onboarding
You will usually see these in the first conversation or the first month.
No questions about margins
If nobody asks what a lead or sale is worth, they cannot judge whether the numbers are good.
Promises of top positions
Auction results shift with competitors, bids and quality. Nobody can fix a position for you.
Account created under their email
This makes leaving harder and hides history from you.
Broad campaigns on day one
Wide targeting without tracking burns the learning budget on traffic that cannot be measured.
Silence about quality score
Relevance, expected click-through and landing page experience affect cost. See how to fix a poor quality score.
Automatic reports only
If no human explains the numbers, nobody is managing.
When an agency is not the right choice yet
An agency is not always the answer. If your website cannot take enquiries, if the offer is unclear, or if you cannot answer calls and messages quickly, ads will simply deliver more people to a weak experience. The same applies to very small test budgets with no tracking. In those cases, a short audit and a landing page fix is better value than a long retainer.
If you already run ads and are unsure whether they work, a Google Ads audit and optimisation will show where money is lost before you decide whether to hire a full-time manager. Choosing between campaign types is also worth understanding; our comparison of Search ads and Performance Max helps you ask better questions of any agency.
Junaid's take
In my experience, the most reliable sign of a good agency is how they handle the first month. They ask uncomfortable questions about your margins, they insist on tracking, and they warn you that early numbers will be noisy. The ones who promise cheap leads in week one usually have not looked at your site.
If I were hiring, I would ask for a sample report from an anonymised account, who will actually touch my campaigns, and how they decide when to pause something. I would insist on owning the account and having a monthly call with someone who can explain the numbers. And I would be sceptical of any plan that begins with the biggest budget and the broadest keywords.
If you want a view of your own setup, send us your account details or start with a conversation about what you sell. Our wider list of posts is in the Google Ads blog.
Junaid has worked on Google Ads for more than 18 years, across SEO, paid media, web development and custom software. He founded SEOnumber1, builds WordPress plugins, CRMs and web applications, has served 500+ clients in 48 countries, and holds Google Ads, Analytics and Google Blue and Green Belt certifications. He is a National Level Award Winner in Digital Marketing. Read his story or ask a question about this article.