How do I know if my Google Ads agency is doing a good job?

Whether your Google Ads agency is doing a good job shows in the account itself, not in the monthly report: you have full access, bidding runs on real enquiries, the change history shows regular work that makes sense, and the most expensive search terms contain very little that doesn’t fit. A good agency can also explain any larger change in two sentences and tells you when something isn’t working.

You can check the following ten points yourself in about 30 minutes, with no specialist knowledge and without telling the agency.

1. Is the account yours, and can you see what’s happening?

1. You’re an admin in your own account. Under Admin → Access and security you can see every user and their access level. According to Google, only admins can add users, change access levels and unlink manager accounts (Google help on access levels). If you only have read access or none at all, that’s the most important finding on this list, however good the numbers look.

2. GA4 and Tag Manager are in your name too. Whoever owns the container controls the measurement. If you switch, you don’t want to be negotiating for your own data.

3. The change history shows real work. Under Change history, Google Ads lists every change from the past two years, with the email address of the person who made it (Google help on change history). Look for three things. Are there regular changes at all? Do they come from people, or almost only from “Google Ads system” and accepted recommendations? Do they match what the report describes as work done?

2. Is the agency steering towards what makes you money?

4. The primary conversion is a real enquiry. Under Goals → Conversions → Summary you can see which actions count as “Primary”. Only these land in the “Conversions” column and drive the bids (Google help). If page views, button clicks or several actions for the same enquiry sit there, the account is optimising for the wrong number. How to spot that is covered in detail in Google Ads conversions don’t match your real leads?.

5. The number in the account matches your inbox. Compare one completed week: conversions in Google Ads against the enquiries that actually reached you. A small gap is normal. If the account is clearly higher, it’s counting things that aren’t enquiries.

6. The most expensive search terms contain very little that doesn’t fit. Open the search terms report, select the last 90 days and sort by cost. If job searches, tutorials, free offers or competitors you don’t want sit near the top, exclusions aren’t being maintained. That’s the work most easily left out of a report.

7. Auto-applied recommendations are a deliberate choice. Under Recommendations you can see whether suggestions are applied without anyone approving them, and in the “History” tab which ones were applied recently (Google help). That’s not wrong in itself, but the agency should be able to explain why which types are switched on. More on this in Google Ads recommendations.

3. Does the report tell you the truth?

8. The report shows enquiries and cost per enquiry, not just clicks. Impressions, click-through rate and cost per click are intermediate values. A good report answers how many enquiries the budget brought, what one cost and, if you supply the data, how many of them became jobs.

9. The agency doesn’t suggest more budget for every problem. Whether more budget helps at all is in the account: the “Search lost IS (budget)” column shows how often your ads didn’t show because the budget ran out. If you lose mainly in the “(rank)” column, meaning through Ad Rank that was too low in the auction (Google help), more money won’t do much.

10. Bad news comes from the agency too. A broken tag, a campaign that brings nothing, a month below plan: good agencies tell you before you find it yourself. If you only hear about such things when you ask, something important is missing.

What doesn’t prove good work

• A high optimisation score. Google itself calls it an estimate of how well the account is set to perform (Google help). It goes up when recommendations are accepted, including ones that don’t help you.
• Rising click-through rates and falling click prices. Cheap clicks on the wrong search terms aren’t success.
• More conversions than last month. Only if the number in your inbox grows with it.
• A partner badge. It shows minimum standards for the agency as a whole, not the quality of the work on your account.

My take

When I give a second opinion on an account, I look at point 3 and point 6 first. In five minutes you can see whether someone is working on the account or only writing about it. A punctual, polished report and an almost empty change history don’t go together, and the most expensive search terms show whether someone looks regularly.

If several points on this list come out negative, that doesn’t mean you have to switch yet. It means you should have a conversation with concrete questions. What to clarify before a switch is in freelancer vs agency: 7 warning signs, and the questions for a new agency in questions to ask a Google Ads agency.

Want an independent second opinion on your account? In the Google Ads audit I check one account, the connected GA4 and GTM measurement and one enquiry journey. From €1,900, with prioritised findings within 7 working days of complete access. For a single question, such as whether to keep the agency, the Clarity Session from €390 is often enough.

FAQ

Can I check my account without asking the agency?

Yes, if it’s your account. With admin or read access you can see every point on this list yourself. If you have no access at all, that’s the first question for the agency.

How often should an agency work in the account?

There’s no fixed number. A small account needs fewer interventions than a large one, and too many changes disrupt the bid strategy. But months without a single change to search terms, ads or bids are a warning sign.

What do I do if several points come out negative?

Write the findings down with dates and screenshots and discuss them with the agency. A good agency explains or fixes them. If the answers stay vague, an independent review is worth it before you cancel.

Is an expensive agency better than a cheap one?

Not necessarily. What matters is who works on your account and how much time that person has. That’s a question best asked directly.