How to Choose the Best Possible Google Ads Agency

Whilst some businesses may be concerned that a Google ads agency (also referred to as a PPC [pay-per-click] agency) won’t understand the complexities and nuances of their brand as well as an in-house team and this puts them off hiring outside help. In truth, any decent PPC agency will make it a top priority to learn everything there is to know about your business and industry. For example, they will dedicate considerable time to researching your top keywords, discovering who your main competitors are and understanding your brand’s unique selling points (USPs). The right ads agency will become a seamless part of your marketing team but with a few notable differences: 

• Agencies are experts in their chosen field, which means they get regular training to keep up with the latest industry developments and best practices.
• Similarly, such agencies fiercely compete against one another – which means they utilise the best and latest tools in their arsenal to get results. 
• Hiring an agency gives you flexibility, you don’t have to pay a fixed salary and benefits like with an employee; you can hire them on a month-by-month basis.

Interested? Here is a list of the ‘essential’ qualities you should look for when hiring an ads agency.

Qualifications & Experienc

When looking for a Google ads agency, the most natural place to start is by reviewing their qualifications and experience, something that should be clearly listed on their website. Any decent agency will be both Google Ads and Google Partner certified. This means they’ve passed the Ads Certification and demonstrated strong performance by delivering targeted client and company growth. Though your chosen agency’s primary focus should be SEO, your strategists should also have broad experience in all manner of digital marketing practices, to properly align your ads campaign with your other online marketing efforts. Indeed, don’t be afraid to ask an agency you’re talking with to share case studies showing you how they’ve achieved success in the past.

Tracking & Reporting

You should receive regular reports – showcasing pieces of relevant data in an easy-to-understand way – from your agency; they should have a full tracking system in place to ensure your goals are met. The weekly or monthly reports they supply should detail exactly what they are doing behind the scenes and explaining what’s working, what isn’t and why. They will be collecting, monitoring and filtering through all of the data from your website and campaigns to find out more about your visitors and customers. As of now, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager are regarded as the gold standard for tracking metrics. They provide a complete ‘attribution model’, showing how touchpoints impact all-important visitor conversion rates. Without going into too much detail, your PPC agency should be tracking form fills, chats, purchases, device types used, pages visits, downloads, calls and manual conversions (i.e., a customer saw your ad and then physically went to your store to make a purchase).

Strategy & Setup

How a Google ads agency intends to learn everything there is to know about your business is a good indicator of their overall professionalism and performance level. Will they make you fill out a detailed questionnaire? Will they conduct outside research? An agency that doesn’t dedicate considerable time and effort to learning everything there is to know about your business, industry and competitors will not be able to build the kind of strategy you require for optimal results. This initial setup stage is imperative as no agency should ever suggest a course of action (aka strategy) for your advertising campaign before knowing the nitty-gritty of your business and your marketing goals. With dynamic options like placement ads and responsive ads now at your disposal, your chosen ads agency must take full advantage of everything Google Ads (and its affiliates) has on offer. At the end of the day, what you want is both a competent ‘account manager’, handling day-to-day operations, and, more importantly, a highly skilled strategist, handling the intention, research, optimisation and proactivity of your ads campaigns.