Questions to Ask a Google Ads Agency: 22 Questions and Red Flags

TL;DR The questions to ask a Google Ads agency before you sign fall into six themes: your business, account ownership, tracking, strategy, the team and the contract. A good agency answers with numbers from your account, names and dates. An agency to avoid answers with promises, averages and clicks. Below are 22 questions, each with what a good answer sounds like and the red flag that should end the conversation.

By Louis Mauclair, CEO of Klickbee, an SEO, GEO and Google Ads agency for B2B and ecommerce companies.

Most lists of questions to ask a PPC agency stop at the question. They rarely tell you what a strong answer looks like, which is the part that actually helps you decide. Use this page as a script for your agency calls. For selection criteria and a scoring grid, start with our guide on how to choose a Google Ads agency.

How to use this list

Do not ask all 22 questions in one call. Pick 8 to 10 across the six themes and keep the rest for the follow-⁠up or for reviewing the proposal.

• Send every agency the same brief, plus read-⁠only access to your account if you have one.
• Write down answers verbatim. A vague answer on a call becomes a dispute in month three.
• Ask to meet the person who will run your account, not just the salesperson.

Theme 1: your business and your margins

1. What did you understand about our business model?

• Good answer: they restate your sales cycle, average order value or customer lifetime value, and your margins. They know what a customer is worth to you.
• Red flag: they jump straight to keywords and clicks and never mention revenue.

2. What cost per lead or ROAS is profitable for us?

• Good answer: a calculation built from your numbers. For B2B, a maximum cost per lead derived from close rate and deal value. For ecommerce, a break-⁠even ROAS equal to 1 divided by your margin.
• Red flag: an industry average from a benchmark report, unrelated to your margins.

3. Which products or services would you push first, and why?

• Good answer: a priority backed by margin, search demand and your team's capacity to work the leads.
• Red flag: "the whole catalog" or "every service line" from month one.

4. Which competitors do you see on our searches?

• Good answer: specific names, from auction data or real searches, with what they do better or worse than you.
• Red flag: no competitive research before the pitch.

Theme 2: account access and ownership

5. Who will own the Google Ads account?

• Good answer: you, with admin access. Google itself asks third parties to set up a separate account for each advertiser.
• Red flag: an account under the agency's name, or read-⁠only access for you.

6. Does ad spend run through your invoice?

• Good answer: no, you pay Google directly with your own card or invoicing. If the agency does rebill, the exact amount Google charged appears line by line.
• Red flag: one blended "media plus management" number.

7. If we part ways, what do we keep?

• Good answer: everything: the account and its history, audiences, tags, the Google Tag Manager container, reports. In writing.
• Red flag: audiences or tracking that live in the agency's own tools.

Theme 3: tracking and measurement

8. Which conversions will you track, and which ones will drive bidding?

• Good answer: a precise list. For example, demo requests and qualified calls as primary conversions, content downloads as secondary.
• Red flag: "all conversions," including page views and phone-⁠number clicks, all feeding Smart Bidding.

9. How will you connect Google Ads to our CRM?

• Good answer (B2B): importing qualified leads and closed deals back into Google Ads, so bidding learns from real customers instead of every form fill.
• Red flag: "we track form submissions, that's enough."

10. How do you handle consent and signal loss?

• Good answer: a clear plan for consent mode, enhanced conversions and server-⁠side tagging where it makes sense. Think with Google suggests asking your agency what privacy-⁠first actually means to them.
• Red flag: blank stares at the words "consent mode."

11. What single number will we use each month to judge your work?

• Good answer: a business metric: cost per qualified lead, cost per opportunity, pipeline, revenue or margin.
• Red flag: CTR, clicks or optimization score.

Theme 4: strategy, structure and testing

12. What did you find in our current account?

• Good answer: three to five findings with dollar amounts attached, such as spend on search terms unrelated to your offer. See how we run a Google Ads audit.
• Red flag: the same deck every prospect gets.

13. What is your plan for the first 90 days?

• Good answer: dated milestones: tracking and cleanup in month one, ad and landing page tests in month two, scaling what works in month three.
• Red flag: "we'll launch and optimize."

14. Where does Performance Max fit, and when?

• Good answer: a nuanced view. In ecommerce, often useful with a clean feed. In B2B, only once qualified conversions are reliable, otherwise the algorithm chases volume.
• Red flag: Performance Max everywhere by default, or banned on principle.

15. How do you pick keywords and negative keywords?

• Good answer: a method: purchase intent first, regular search terms reviews, shared negative lists.
• Red flag: broad match with no negatives, or 500 keywords generated in ten minutes.

16. What budget do you recommend, and how did you get there?

• Good answer: a reverse calculation from your goal: target customers, close rate, conversion rate, estimated CPC. That is the method in our Google Ads budget guide.
• Red flag: a round number with no math, or one that happens to match the agency's pricing tier.

Theme 5: team and working method

17. Who runs our account day to day, and how many accounts do they manage?

• Good answer: a name, years of experience, a reasonable book of accounts, and that person on the call.
• Red flag: "the team," or a junior who meets your account after you sign.

18. How often do you work in the account, and what is automated?

• Good answer: a specific cadence (weekly search terms review, monthly business review) and a clear split between what scripts or AI do and what a human checks.
• Red flag: vague answers, or full automation sold as a feature.

19. Can we talk to a current client with a similar model?

• Good answer: yes, a B2B reference if you are B2B, an ecommerce one if you sell online.
• Red flag: logos only, or case studies with no timeframe or business outcome.

Theme 6: pricing, contract and exit

20. How are you paid, and what is not included?

• Good answer: flat fee, percentage of spend or hybrid, in writing, with exclusions listed: landing pages, video production, advanced tracking. For benchmarks, see our guide to Google Ads cost for B2B.
• Red flag: fees you discover on the first invoice.

21. What is the minimum term and notice period?

• Good answer: around three months so bidding has time to learn, then a short notice period.
• Red flag: a 12-month lock-⁠in with no exit clause.

22. What happens if results are not there after three months?

• Good answer: a written diagnosis and a fix plan, or an honest recommendation to cut spend if the market is not responding.
• Red flag: guaranteed rankings or results. Google states that no one can guarantee a specific ad position.

Answers that should end the call

Some answers rule an agency out, however good the rest sounds:

• The account stays with the agency.
• Ad spend and fees are blended with no view of what Google charged.
• Rankings or lead volume are guaranteed.
• Reporting is only about clicks.
• The rep claims to work for Google. Google advises verifying claims like this.

A Google Partner badge is reassuring, but it does not replace any of these answers. We break down what it does and does not prove in our article on the Google Partner agency status.

How we answer these at Klickbee

We hold ourselves to this list. At our Google Ads agency, the account is in your name and you pay Google directly. Fees are flat, from $1,090 per month, with tracking included. Senior strategists run the account, backed by in-⁠house AI agents, in English and French. Before any proposal, we send a free action plan within 48 hours.

Conclusion: the right questions to ask a Google Ads agency save you months

Asking the right questions to a Google Ads agency costs you an hour. Skipping them often costs a quarter of ad spend. Pick 8 to 10 questions from this list, write down the answers, and compare agencies with the grid in our guide on how to choose a Google Ads agency. To see what a concrete answer looks like on your own account, get your free action plan.

FAQ

How many questions should I ask a PPC agency on the first call?

Eight to ten is enough if they cover the six themes: business, account, tracking, strategy, team and contract. Save detailed questions for the follow-⁠up after you receive the proposal.

Should I give an agency access to my Google Ads account before signing?

Yes, read-⁠only. It is the only way to get a proposal based on your data. Remove access if you do not hire them.

How can I tell if a Google Ads agency is inflating its results?

Ask for case studies with a timeframe, a model close to yours and a business outcome, then talk to a client. Be wary of results shown only as clicks, impressions or percentage lifts with no baseline.

Can a Google Ads agency guarantee results?

No. Google states that it is impossible to guarantee a specific ad position. A serious agency commits to a method, a working cadence and transparency, not to an outcome.

Sources

• Google Ads Help, working with a third party
• Google Ads, third-⁠party policy
• Think with Google, 5 key questions for your media agency, in Spanish (May 2024)
• Google Ads Help, how to become a Google Partner or Premier Partner
• Protocol 80, questions to ask a Google Ads agency