What does a PPC agency actually do?

Pay-per-click advertising means you pay when someone clicks your ad, most often on search engines and social platforms. An agency manages that work for you.

At the start

• Goals and numbers. Agreeing what a lead and a customer are worth.
• Tracking. Setting up conversion tracking for calls, forms and sales.
• Account structure. Organizing campaigns and ad groups by service and place.
• Keyword research. Finding what customers search for, and what to exclude.
• Ads and landing pages. Writing ads and checking that pages match.

Every month

• Reviewing search terms and blocking wasteful ones.
• Adjusting bids, budgets and targeting.
• Testing new ads and pages.
• Checking tracking still works.
• Reporting results in terms of leads and cost per customer.

What it usually does not include

Building a new website, running social media, making video or handling the sales calls are often extra. Ask what is in scope.

What you should be able to see

• Your own ad account, with you as an administrator.
• Reports that include leads, cost per lead and cost per customer.
• A log of changes the agency has made.

Questions to ask an agency before you sign

1. Will I be the owner and an administrator of my ad accounts?
2. How do you track calls and forms, and can I see a test?
3. What will the monthly report show, and who explains it to me?
4. How are fees set: flat, a percentage of spend or something else? What is included?
5. What is the contract length and how do I leave?
6. Who will work on my account, and how often will we talk?

Red flags

• Promises of a specific number of leads or a guaranteed ranking.
• Reports that show clicks and impressions but never leads or customers.
• The agency owns the accounts, or will not give you access.
• No explanation of what changes were made and why.

What good looks like

You can name your cost per lead, you can see what changed each month, you can reach a person who knows your account, and you could take your accounts elsewhere tomorrow. Everything else is detail.