Hiring a Google Ads agency is probably not the first important business decision you make, but it’s easy to get wrong. Most tradies who come to us have already been burned. They hired someone cheap, got charged per click, spent months getting poor results, and then had to start over.
Finding a good agency is harder than it should be. The industry isn’t regulated. Anyone can claim they’re a Google Ads expert. So how do you separate the ones who actually deliver from the ones who just talk a good game.
Here’s what you need to look for.
Criteria 1: Do They Have Experience with Trade Businesses?
Google Ads works differently for different industries. A pest controller’s campaign structure, keywords, landing page strategy, and budget requirements look completely different to a kitchen renovation specialist or a pool installer.
An agency that does Google Ads for ecommerce, local services, and home trades all equally has experience with none of them specifically. They have a playbook they apply everywhere. That’s fine for some businesses. It’s not fine for yours.
Ask them directly: what trade businesses have you managed Google Ads campaigns for in the past 12 months? What results did those campaigns deliver?
If they hesitate or give you a vague answer, that’s a warning sign. A good agency will have case studies, examples, or at least real stories about what they’ve done for similar businesses. They’ll be able to tell you something like “we’ve managed campaigns for three kitchen renovators in Sydney and one on the Gold Coast. They averaged a cost per lead of $65 to $85 and converted about one in five leads to a job.”
That specificity means they know the space.
Criteria 2: Do You Own Your Own Google Ads Account?
This matters more than most tradies realise. You need to own and control the Google Ads account directly. Your email address. Your login. Your account. If the agency leaves tomorrow, you log in and the campaigns are still yours. You don’t have to rebuild from scratch.
Some agencies set up campaigns under their own account and just give you “viewing access.” That means they control everything. If you ever want to switch to someone else or take it in-house, you’re stuck starting over. That’s vendor lock-in, and it benefits the agency more than you.
A good agency will set up the account under your email and make you the account owner. They’ll have administrative access to manage the campaigns. But you’re the owner. It’s a simple distinction that makes a huge difference.
Ask them during the conversation: will this be my account, owned by me? Or your account where I get access?
Criteria 3: What Do Their Reports Actually Show?
This is where most agencies hide. They’ll send you a report showing impressions, clicks, click-through rate, and quality score. Those are the metrics Google gives them for free. They’re also almost meaningless for a tradie.
What you care about is leads and cost per lead. How many people actually called or enquired? What did each one cost? Is that cost trending down or up?
A good agency reports on leads. They connect Google Ads to your phone system or lead form, so every lead can be tracked. They show you week on week: how many leads, what was the cost per lead, what were the top keywords driving those leads, what’s the plan to improve it next week?
They might also show you Google Ads metrics (because there’s value in understanding the mechanics), but the headline is always leads. If an agency’s report leads with clicks and impressions, ask them to reframe it around leads instead. If they can’t or won’t, find someone else.
Criteria 4: How Do They Communicate?
If you don’t hear from your agency for three weeks at a time except when you chase them, something is broken.
A good agency communicates regularly. That might be weekly email updates showing what happened in the account that week, what was changed, and why. It might be fortnightly calls. It might be both. The cadence matters less than consistency and two-way communication.
You should be able to understand what’s happening in your account without needing a marketing degree. Changes should be explained before they’re made, not after. If they spend $500 of your weekly budget on a new keyword test, you should know why before it happens.
Ask them during your first conversation: what does communication look like? How often will I hear from you? Can I ask questions in between those updates?
If they’re vague about this, be cautious. Good agencies have systems for client communication because they know it matters.
Criteria 5: What Are the Contract Terms?
Some agencies want you locked into a 12-month contract. Others ask for 30-day terms. Both can be legitimate, but the difference matters.
A 12-month lock-in benefits the agency if the campaign underperforms. It forces you to stay and keep paying while they “optimise.” A 30-day, month-to-month arrangement means they need to actually deliver or you can leave.
That said, Google Ads does take time to optimise. Pulling the plug after one month because month-one cost per lead is high is a mistake. Most campaigns improve significantly between month one and month two as the negative keyword list builds and targeting tightens.
A reasonable compromise: a 90-day initial commitment (gives time for proper optimisation) with month-to-month after that. If they want longer, make sure you understand why and get that explanation in writing.
Also ask: can I cancel without penalty if we’re not seeing results by month three? What counts as results?
Criteria 6: Do They Promise You Anything Specific?
This is the red flag section. If an agency promises you a specific cost per lead, a specific number of leads per month, or a specific ranking position, that’s a guarantee. Guarantees about Google Ads results are a lie.
Google’s algorithm changes. Your competitors adjust their bids. Your website’s conversion rate fluctuates. Your phone system goes down. Seasonality shifts. A promise of a specific outcome is promising something they don’t control.
A good agency will say something like: “Based on your industry and market, we typically see cost per leads between $60 and $100. We’ll work to bring yours to the lower end of that range, but we won’t know for sure until we have real data from your account.”
They’ll commit to effort and process: we’ll test keywords, build a negative keyword list, optimise bid strategy, and report weekly. They’ll commit to a direction: we aim to lower your cost per lead. But they won’t promise a number.
If they do promise a number, walk away.
Questions to Ask Before You Sign
Here’s a simple checklist. Ask these before you commit to anything:
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What experience do you have managing Google Ads for my trade? (Specific examples, not general.)
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Will this be my account, owned by me, or yours?
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How do you report on leads, and how often?
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What’s your communication cadence? How often will I hear from you?
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What are the contract terms, and can I cancel if results aren’t there by month three?
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What’s the process in the first month? (How will you spend the budget? When will you have real data?)
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How much of my ad budget goes to your agency, and how much to actual clicks?
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What won’t you promise me, and why?
If an agency gets defensive about any of these questions, that’s a signal.
What a Good Onboarding Looks Like
When you start with a good agency, the first month shouldn’t surprise you. Here’s what a professional onboarding typically involves:
They’ll get access to your Google Ads account and do a full audit if you already have one running. If you’re new, they’ll do a discovery call to understand your business, services, service areas, and goals.
They’ll build a campaign strategy based on what they learn. This includes keyword research, targeting, ad copy, and landing page recommendations.
They’ll set up the campaign and launch it within one to two weeks. That first launch is followed by the learning phase where Google’s algorithm figures out what works best for you.
By week three or four, you should be getting your first leads. They should also provide weekly updates showing what happened, what was changed, and why.
By month two, you should be getting consistent leads and the cost per lead should start trending down as they build negative keyword lists and refine targeting.
There should be no surprises. If they’re making a significant change to the strategy, they should explain it first. You should feel like a partner, not a passenger.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should I expect to pay for Google Ads management?
Most agencies charge either a flat monthly fee (typically $500 to $1,500 depending on account size and complexity) or a percentage of ad spend (typically 10 to 20%). Some charge a combination. Don’t overpay for management but don’t hire based purely on the cheapest option either. A cheap manager can cost you more in wasted ad spend than you save on the management fee.
What if I’ve already tried Google Ads and they didn’t work?
That doesn’t mean Google Ads is wrong for your business. It usually means the first attempt wasn’t set up correctly, wasn’t managed actively, or was expected to work too quickly. A good agency will review your old campaign, identify what went wrong, and explain whether they can fix it or if starting fresh is better.
Should I try one agency for one month or commit longer?
Give them at least 90 days. One month is too short to see meaningful results or to judge whether the approach is working. By month three, you should see clear direction. If you’re not, that’s when to make a change.
What if my budget is really tight?
Google Ads needs a minimum monthly budget to work. For most tradies in competitive Australian markets, that’s somewhere around $1,000 to $1,500. Below that, the budget gets spread too thin and you can’t generate enough data to optimise properly. If your budget is lower than that, Google Maps optimisation or organic SEO might be a better starting point. A good agency will tell you this upfront rather than taking your money and delivering poor results.
Can I manage Google Ads myself to save the agency fee?
You can. But managing Google Ads well is different from setting up a campaign. It requires ongoing optimisation, bid adjustments, negative keyword building, and testing. Most tradies find they don’t have the time to do it properly while running their business. The time cost of learning it often exceeds what you’d pay an agency to do it for you.
The Bottom Line
Hiring the right Google Ads agency means hiring someone who understands your business, communicates clearly, reports on what actually matters (leads), and commits to a process rather than impossible promises.
It also means reading the fine print. Own your account. Understand the contract. Ask the hard questions upfront. The few minutes you spend vetting an agency now will save you thousands of dollars and months of frustration later.
Most tradies who contact us have already been burned once. Don’t be that tradie. Do the small work of finding a good fit on the front end.
Get a Free Assessment
Before you sign with anyone, get a second opinion. If you’re already running Google Ads, we offer a free Ads Report. We review your account, show you what’s working and what isn’t, and give you a clear picture of what needs to change.
No obligation. No sales pitch. Just an honest assessment of your account.