How to Choose a PPC Agency: 9 Questions That Expose the Bad Ones

Most businesses don't lose money on Google Ads because the platform doesn't work. They lose it because they hired the wrong agency. The pitch sounded good. The case studies were polished. The contract was signed before anyone asked the questions that actually matter.

These 9 questions cut through the pitch. Ask them before you sign anything. The answers — and the evasions — will tell you more than any proposal deck.

Quick summary — what to ask:

• Who owns the Google Ads account and all data when you leave?
• How do you set up and verify conversion tracking before launch?
• What metrics do you report — clicks and impressions, or CPL, CPA, and ROAS?
• How do you structure campaigns for our specific business and intent tiers?
• How often do you audit search terms and add negative keywords?
• How do you handle Performance Max and branded search cannibalization?
• What's the contract term and what happens if we want to leave?
• Can you show a real case study in our vertical with actual numbers?
• Who specifically will manage our account — and how many accounts do they run?

1. Who Owns the Account and Data?

Your Google Ads account must be created in your name, not the agency's — if you leave and the agency owns the account, you lose your entire conversion history, audiences, and campaign data.

This is the single most important question on the list. Google Ads accounts are tied to a Google account, and whoever controls that account controls your data, your audience lists, your conversion history, and your Quality Scores. Many agencies create accounts under their own Manager Account (MCC) and list themselves as the owner. When you leave, they keep the account. You start from zero.

The right answer: your account is created under your Google login, the agency is granted manager access, and they can provide written confirmation that account ownership transfers immediately upon contract end — with no data held back.

If an agency hesitates on this or says "that's not how we operate," that's a red flag. They are building their retention model on lock-in, not performance.

Takeaway: Demand written account ownership confirmation before signing. If they won't put it in the contract, walk.

2. How Do You Set Up and Verify Conversion Tracking?

A serious PPC agency sets up and verifies conversion tracking before spending a single dollar of your budget.

This is where most agencies expose themselves. Sloppy conversion tracking is the root cause of wasted spend, false ROAS numbers, and campaigns optimized toward the wrong signals.

Ask specifically: Do you use Google Tag Manager? Do you set up server-side tracking or rely entirely on browser-based pixels? Do you run test conversions before the campaign goes live? What events count as conversions — form submits, phone calls, purchases, or all of the above?

The worst setup is importing Google Analytics session-based goals as Google Ads conversions. This over-counts, misattributes, and gives the bidding algorithm garbage data to optimize against. A mid-tier mistake is setting conversions live without verifying them with a test click first — meaning you can run a campaign for two weeks before realizing nothing is recording.

Good agencies build a conversion tracking plan before they touch the account. They track the actions that tie directly to revenue: form submissions with thank-you page confirmation, call tracking with call duration thresholds (typically 60–90 seconds to filter hangups), and — for e-commerce — actual purchase events with revenue values passed back.

Takeaway: Ask them to walk you through their last tracking setup. If they can't give you a step-by-step answer with specifics, their campaigns are flying blind.

3. What's Your Reporting — Spend, CPL, ROAS, or Just Clicks?

If the first metric an agency reports on is clicks or impressions, they are not measuring what actually matters to your business.

The metrics an agency leads with in reporting reveal what they actually optimize for. Agencies paid a flat percentage of ad spend have an incentive to show activity — clicks, impressions, CTR — because those numbers are easy to manufacture. High spend = high agency fee. That's the conflict.

The metrics that matter: cost per lead (CPL), cost per acquisition (CPA), and return on ad spend (ROAS) — all tied to real revenue events, not just form fills. Better agencies track downstream: not just "leads generated" but "leads that became customers" and "revenue attributed to paid search."

Ask to see a sample report from an existing client (anonymized is fine). If it's a PDF with impression share and average CPC as the headline numbers, that agency is reporting on effort, not outcome.

The gold standard is a report that shows: total spend, number of conversions by type, CPL or CPA by campaign, revenue or pipeline value generated, and month-over-month trend. Some agencies build this in Looker Studio connected live to the ad account and CRM. That's what you want.

Takeaway: Ask for a sample report before you sign. If it doesn't show cost per conversion and revenue impact, keep looking.

4. How Do You Structure Campaigns for My Business?

Good campaign structure means tightly themed ad groups, a deliberate match type strategy, and separate campaigns for different intent tiers — branded vs. non-branded, bottom-of-funnel vs. top-of-funnel.

A vague answer here — "we follow Google's best practices" or "we'll figure that out once we get started" — signals templated management. The agency is running the same structure they built for the last 20 clients.

Ask specifically: How do you separate branded from non-branded campaigns? How do you handle different match types (broad, phrase, exact)? Do you use Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs) or broader themed groupings? How do you segment by geography if location matters to our business?

Good answers will be specific to your business model. A law firm needs completely different structure than an e-commerce brand. A B2B SaaS company needs different intent segmentation than a home services business. If their answer doesn't reference your vertical, they're not thinking about your business — they're pitching a template.

The structure also determines how much the algorithm learns. Fragmented campaigns with too-small budgets spread thin can't accumulate conversion data fast enough for Smart Bidding to work. That's a strategic decision, not a default setting.

Takeaway: Ask them to sketch a campaign structure for your business on the call. If they can't do it, they'll do it wrong in your account.

5. What's Your Approach to Negative Keywords and Search Terms?

A well-managed account runs weekly or bi-weekly search term audits and maintains a growing negative keyword list. Agencies that never touch negatives routinely waste 15–30% of ad spend on irrelevant traffic.

This is one of the most common places money disappears in Google Ads. Broad match and Performance Max campaigns — which Google pushes hard — will serve your ads to wildly off-topic searches unless you actively manage exclusions. "Workers comp attorney" ads showing on "how to file your own workers comp claim." A plumber's ads showing for "plumbing jobs near me" (job seekers, not customers). These aren't hypotheticals. They happen in every poorly managed account.

Ask: How often do you review the search terms report? What's your process for adding negatives? Do you use negative keyword lists at the account level, campaign level, or both? Do you share the negative keyword list with me?

Agencies that manage this well will have a documented process and a negative keyword list that grows over time. They'll also know that Google has quietly reduced search term visibility in recent years — meaning some wasted spend is invisible in the report — and they should have a view on how they work around that limitation.

Takeaway: Ask to see the negative keyword list from an existing account (anonymized). If it's empty or has fewer than 50 terms, they're not managing the account actively.

6. How Do You Handle PMax and Brand Cannibalization?

Agencies that run Performance Max without brand exclusions routinely inflate ROAS by claiming credit for branded searches you were already winning organically.

Performance Max is Google's catch-all campaign type. It runs across Search, Display, YouTube, Shopping, Gmail, and Maps — all at once. Google pushes it because it increases their inventory consumption. The problem: PMax will happily bid on your brand name, spend money to "win" clicks from users who were already searching for you, and count those as PMax conversions. Your ROAS looks great. You've paid Google for traffic you would have gotten for free.

The fix is a brand exclusion list applied to PMax, paired with a separate branded search campaign at a lower CPC cap. This way you control what you spend on branded queries (typically low CPCs, high intent) without giving PMax credit for them.

Ask the agency: How do you set up brand exclusions in PMax? Do you run a separate branded campaign? How do you distinguish branded ROAS from non-branded ROAS in reporting?

If they don't know what brand exclusions are in PMax, or if they argue that PMax "manages it automatically," they're either inexperienced or they like the inflated numbers. Both are problems.

Takeaway: Require separate ROAS reporting for branded and non-branded traffic. Combined numbers hide the truth about whether PMax is actually working.

7. What's the Contract Term and Exit?

Month-to-month contracts signal confidence in results — agencies that require 12-month lock-ins are pricing in the assumption you will want to leave.

Contract structure is one of the most honest signals in the entire evaluation. Agencies confident in their results offer short terms — month-to-month or 30–60 day exits — because they expect the performance to retain you. Agencies that need 6–12 month lock-ins with automatic renewal clauses are hedging. They know some clients will be disappointed and need to be kept on contract while the agency extracts more fees.

Read the contract carefully for: minimum term, auto-renewal language (some renew for another 6–12 months if you don't cancel within a specific window), account ownership on exit, and any clauses about campaign assets, creative, or data belonging to the agency.

Some agencies are upfront: "We ask for 90 days because the first 30 days are onboarding and the algorithm needs time to learn." That's reasonable. What isn't reasonable is a 12-month contract with a 30-day cancellation window buried in the renewal clause that you have to hit or you're auto-renewed.

Also ask: What happens to the account, the creatives, the audiences, and the campaign data if we leave? Everything built in your account should be yours.

Takeaway: If they won't do month-to-month, ask why. The answer tells you whether they're confident in their work or just in their contract lawyer.

8. Can I See Results in My Vertical?

Vertical-specific proof matters because conversion rates, cost-per-click, and bidding strategy differ dramatically by industry. A generic "we grew ROAS 3x" case study means nothing if it's for an e-commerce brand and you're a law firm.

Ask for a case study that includes: the vertical, the approximate monthly spend, the starting cost per acquisition, the result after 90 days, and the specific mechanism — what did they change that drove the improvement? Targeting change? Bid strategy shift? Restructure? Landing page test?

The mechanism matters because it tells you whether the result was skill or luck. "We switched to target CPA bidding and CPA dropped 40%" is a real answer. "We optimized the campaigns" is not.

Also pay attention to the scale of the case study vs. your own budget. An agency that case studies a $500/month account and you're planning to spend $20,000/month is a mismatch. The strategy, bid mechanics, and optimization levers are different at different spend levels.

If they don't have a case study in your vertical, ask who their closest comparable client is and get specifics. If they deflect entirely — "we can't share client data" — that's a flag. Anonymized performance data is standard in the industry.

Takeaway: A real case study names the mechanism, the spend level, and the before/after numbers. Anything less is a slide deck, not proof.

9. Who Actually Manages My Account Day to Day?

Ask specifically who will manage your account — and how many accounts they handle — because a single manager running 40+ accounts cannot give yours meaningful attention.

This is the question that most exposes the gap between the agency you're sold to and the agency that will actually do the work. The senior strategist on the pitch will not be in your account. That's almost always the junior account manager or, at some agencies, an offshore contractor.

Ask: What is the name of the person who will manage my account? How long have they been at the agency? How many accounts do they currently manage? Will I have direct access to them by Slack, email, or phone? What is your account manager-to-client ratio?

An account manager handling more than 15–20 active accounts cannot do proactive work. They're in reactive mode — fixing problems, answering emails, running the monthly report. They are not spending 3 hours auditing your search terms, testing a new landing page, or rethinking your bid strategy.

The agencies that are honest about this will give you a name, a headcount, and a ratio. The ones that aren't will say "a team of specialists" or "our dedicated team will handle your account." A team is not a person. A team means no one owns it.

Takeaway: Get a name before you sign. Then verify that person's role on LinkedIn. If their title is "junior account coordinator," adjust your expectations accordingly.

The Bottom Line

A good PPC agency answers every one of these questions without hesitation. They've heard them before — from every client worth keeping. The ones that get defensive, vague, or change the subject are showing you who they are before they have access to your budget.

The questions aren't adversarial. They're professional due diligence. Any operator who has managed real ad spend at scale will respect you for asking them.

If you want to see how RGDM answers these questions — with real account data and no pitch deck — book a call. We'll review your current setup, show you where the money is leaking, and give you a straight read on whether we're the right fit.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I choose a PPC agency?

Evaluate PPC agencies on five hard factors: who owns the account data, how they set up and verify conversion tracking, what metrics they report (CPL/CPA/ROAS vs. clicks and impressions), whether they have proven results in your specific vertical, and who will actually manage your account day to day. A signed contract should include account ownership transfer on exit and a reasonable exit clause — 30 to 90 days is standard for a competent agency.

What should I ask a Google Ads agency?

Ask nine specific questions: (1) Who owns the account and data? (2) How do you set up conversion tracking? (3) What metrics do you report? (4) How do you structure campaigns? (5) How do you manage negative keywords? (6) How do you handle Performance Max and brand cannibalization? (7) What's the contract term and exit policy? (8) Can you show vertical-specific results? (9) Who specifically manages the account — and how many accounts do they run? Vague or defensive answers to any of these are red flags.

What are the biggest red flags when evaluating a PPC agency?

The four most common red flags: (1) The agency owns the Google Ads account, not you. (2) They report on clicks and impressions instead of CPL, CPA, and ROAS. (3) They require a 6–12 month contract with auto-renewal. (4) They can't name the specific person who will manage your account. Any one of these signals that the agency's business model is retention, not results.

How much should a PPC agency charge?

PPC agencies typically charge a flat monthly management fee, a percentage of ad spend (usually 10–20%), or a hybrid. Percentage-of-spend models create a conflict of interest — the agency earns more when you spend more, regardless of return. Flat-fee or performance-based models align incentives better. The right question isn't the fee structure alone — it's whether the agency tracks cost per acquisition and can demonstrate that their fee is justified by the revenue they generate.

How long should a PPC contract be?

A 30–90 day contract or a month-to-month arrangement with 30 days' notice is reasonable. The first 30 days involve setup and algorithm learning, so some minimum term is fair. Any contract longer than 90 days without strong performance exit clauses should be scrutinized. Long lock-ins benefit the agency, not the advertiser.

What metrics should a PPC agency report on?

The core metrics are: cost per lead (CPL), cost per acquisition (CPA), return on ad spend (ROAS), total conversions by type, and revenue attributed to paid search. Secondary metrics — click-through rate, Quality Score, impression share — provide useful diagnostic context but should never be the headline of a report. If an agency's monthly report leads with impressions or average CPC, they are not focused on your business outcomes.