There are thousands of PPC (paid search) agencies ready and willing to help your company make paid search pay off. But if you aren’t an expert in PPC yourself, it can be tough to figure out who is actually doing a good job – and who is just telling you they are.
Afterall, there is little to no barrier of entry for someone who wants to create a PPC agency, leaving space for hundreds to thousands of companies that, frankly, do a bad job – and even more that are just mediocre.
So how do you tell the difference between a good PPC agency, a mediocre PPC agency, and a “run faster than Usain Bolt” agency?
Here are our top 10 signs it’s time to ditch your old PPC agency and try someone new:
1. They Focus on Vanity Metrics vs. ROI
As humans, we love attention, so it’s hard not to smile when your PPC agency keeps handing you metrics that say things like, “Your recent Google Ads have received thousands of new views!” …or unique visitors. …or pageviews. But if none of that fancy new traffic is converting into ROI or true leads, it’s meaningless.
Vanity metrics are free and easy to obtain, and just like vanity itself, can look really good if you take it at face value. But at the end of the day, real value is in ROI, which requires time, strategy, and a proactive and well-researched plan.
If that’s not what your PPC agency is giving you, it’s time to find a new one.
2. They Lack Transparency
The key to a successful client / PPC agency relationship is transparency – across strategy, planning, pricing, and most importantly, results. Without it, it can be hard if not impossible for your business to achieve your goals successfully.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- Does your PPC agency pride itself on “trade secrets” and lack transparency in strategy, planning, and results?
- Does your PPC agency hide certain metrics and dashboards from you?
- Is your PPC agency upfront about pricing and costs?
If your PPC agency won’t (or can’t) disclose the above information…run. Run like the wind.
3. They Don’t Send Regular Analytics or Progress Reports
It’s great if your PPC agency keeps telling you that everything is going GREAT – but where’s the proof?
If they are lagging and not sending you regular comprehensive reports and you are just expected to take them at their word, you should tell them to get lost.
Good PPC agencies are not afraid to show you what’s behind the curtain. In fact, they’ll be proud to show off all their shiny analytics, comprehensive data, and performance reports.
Not only that, but they should also be able and willing to explain the results in easy-to-understand language if you are new to the PPC game and need help understanding all the technical ins and outs of your campaign strategy.
As Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
4. When You Need Them, You Can’t Seem to Get in Touch
If every time you try to contact your PPC team, you get the runaround, it might be time to find a new agency.
Now, this advice comes with one caveat – if you are a micromanager who likes to have minute-to-minute reports on how your Google Ads campaigns are running, you are going to have a bad time no matter what agency you hire. After all, these are busy people who are working hard to make your money work harder.
However, if your agency isn’t scheduling regular meetings, or if you can’t get in touch if you need an immediate change or if something happens, that’s a major problem and not one you’ll find at a good PPC agency.
5. Your Campaigns Aren’t Regularly Being Updated
Google changes their algorithm like you change out the milk in your refrigerator. In the same vein, if you let your Google PPC campaigns sit for prolonged periods, they are more likely to fester than age like a bottle of fine wine.
Instead, your PPC agency should regularly be checking on and making changes:
- To reflect changes or updates made to Google’s PPC platform and/or algorithm (and all other PPC platforms you utilize).
- By a/b testing new strategies to find the best strategies for the best results.
- By analyzing your competitors and their evolving strategies.
- After careful data analysis to positively impact your ROI.
If this isn’t happening, check the fridge. That milk (or PPC plan) is past its prime.
6. Your Assigned PPC Team is Lacking Senior Talent & Support
Say you hired ZZ Top to play at your birthday party. Then at the party, you found out Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill weren’t coming. That’s not something that’s going to make you happy, right?
The same goes for your PPC team. If you are sold on the strengths of a PPC agency’s leading talent, but every time you communicate with your agency, those senior members don’t seem to be involved and are difficult to contact, it’s a red flag.
Instead, what you need is access to a PPC agency that carefully regulates their talent, so your campaign continuously benefits from good strategy and consistent top-tier management.
If you aren’t seeing top talent – it’s doubtful your search ad campaigns are either.
7. They Don’t Build a Personalized Comprehensive Strategy
A thorough and complete comprehensive strategy takes time and effort to conceive. Especially if you have, say, a B2B in a super niche or competitive marketplace.
So, if your PPC agency doesn’t:
- Ask you about your company’s objectives, targets, overall business strategy and industry.
- Take time to understand your brand, your competition, and your industry.
- Understand both your long- and short-term goals for PPC and help you build new ones.
- Build a variety of campaigns for all customer/client relationship stages from awareness to retention.
…you might be with the wrong PPC agency.
There isn’t one tried and true formula that works for every single business type and industry. If there was, PPC wouldn’t be hard to get right.
8. They Don’t Have Proven Experience
If your PPC agency is as good as they say, they should be able to prove it. That means they should have case studies, testimonials and proof that shows they not only know what they are doing, but they’ve done it before many times over and with a lot of success.
If the only back up to their claims are hearsay or spouting off industry lingo, that’s a huge red flag. We’re in the era where it’s easy to back up your claims with reviews, analytics, and results.
If they can’t, it’s because they haven’t done it…and you don’t want to be their guinea pig even if they have the best of intentions.
9. You Aren’t Seeing Real Results
Results can be defined differently by different people, but in the world of PPC, ROI reigns supreme. It’s the priority, it’s the metric – it’s the only statistic that really, truly matters. The rest just gives the illusion of success.
If you are seeing the following, it’s time to find a new PPC agency:
- If you are generating traffic but that traffic is low quality and doesn’t actually result in leads or profit, it’s time to find a new PPC agency.
- If you are being told that your brand’s lack of awareness is the reason for your poor conversion rates, it’s time to find a new PPC agency.
- If you are experiencing a poor ROI performance after 4-6 months, it’s time to find a new PPC agency.
10. They Want to Own Your Accounts
If your PPC agency is telling you they need full control over your logins, data, and reporting without giving you access it’s a big ole red flag.
While it might seem convenient at the time, since after all, you wanted PPC off your plate, it’s actually a very dangerous proposition.
If, for some reason, you decide to fire your PPC agency in this situation, they can hold your data and logins hostage to keep your contract, potentially leading to legal disputes and all sorts of bad scenarios.
Instead, remember that trust is a two-way street. Access is fine. Ownership is not.
If it’s time to find a new PPC agency, check us out!
At Ready Ads, we’ve been helping enterprise level clients and beyond for over 20 years. Let us help you grow your PPC with perks like 100% trackable results, no annual contract, full transparency, dedicated customer support, data-driven results, quality leads, maximized ROI…and the results to prove we know what works.
See if you need new management, get in touch with us today!