HOW TO OVERSEE YOUR GOOGLE ADS MANAGEMENT AGENCY AND GET RESULTS

November 2nd, 2026 6 minute read

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You hired a Google Ads agency. The invoice shows up every month. And three weeks in, you still can’t tell whether anyone is doing anything.

At Strategy, our PPC team has been doing Google Ads management for over 15 years, and we’ve learned exactly what businesses want out of a Google Ads management partner. We’re not going to give you a list of tasks to do in the Google Ads account (that your agency’s job). What we will give you is an explanation of what you should own, see, and ask for so you know work is getting done.

The short version:

Week 1: You own the ad account, the domain, and the tracking. In writing.
Month 1: Your agency proves its conversions match your real forms, calls, and CRM.
Day 90: The account hit the goal you agreed on, or you get a clear plan for what changes.

Not sure what your agency has set up? We’ll walk through it with you on a quick call.

WEEK 1: WHO OWNS YOUR GOOGLE ADS MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT, DOMAIN, AND TRACKING?

You do. The business owns the account. The agency just gets access, not ownership.

Good Google Ads agency onboarding should answer these questions in the first week. Ask them directly:

Is the Google Ads account in our name, on our payment method, and with admin access for us?
Who owns the website domain? (If any other business runs on that same domain, fix it now.
Who owns GA4, Google Tag Manager, and call tracking? Do we have logins?
Are our goals written down (lead volume, cost per lead, or revenue) and agreed on by both sides?

A good agency hands you these answers at kickoff without being asked. If they hesitate, ask why.

If you can’t log into your Google Ads account, you know you don’t own it. And that’s a problem. The last thing you want is to have zero control or say in the ads this agency is managing.

MONTH 1: DO THE AGENCY’S CONVERSIONS MATCH YOUR REAL LEADS?

The first month of managing Google Ads is all about stabilization. And the number of conversions in Google Ads should match what your front desk sees.

To make sure this matches, ask your agency to look at three data points side by side for the same dates:

Google Ads conversions
Your form submissions
Your call log or CRM (customer relationship management) software

Next, ask what your agency is counting as a conversion. This can reveal the biggest discrepancies in their results versus what you’re seeing. For example, their recorded clicks on a phone number do not necessarily count as phone leads. And a page view is not a lead at all.

We strive to make sure all the data we’re collecting during Google Ads management is accurate for all of our accounts. Within the first week of ads launching, we watch how people interact with the ads and listen to call recordings daily to make sure the results we’re recording are correct. Then, every month we cross-check conversion data against our CRM. If your agency isn’t doing some version of this, they’re optimizing toward numbers nobody has checked.

Phone calls are where this breaks most often. If your best leads come in by phone, read why calls have to be fed back to Google.

Google is also making this easier to inspect. On Oct 28, 2026, Search Engine Land reported that Google Ads added an All Conversions tab that puts every conversion action in one view. Ask your agency to walk you through it. Want a second set of eyes on whether your conversions are real? Book a call.

ONGOING: WHAT GOOGLE ADS AGENCY REPORTING AND CONVERSATIONS SHOULD YOU EXPECT?

Expect a report you can read in plain language, plus a regular conversation. A PDF alone doesn’t count and will likely leave you with more questions about how your ads are doing than answers.

Every report should tell you:

How many leads came in, and what each one cost
What the agency changed since last time, and why
What they plan to change next

The conversation matters more than the report. Your agency should ask you about lead quality, because you know which leads turned into customers and Google doesn’t.

For reference, here’s one piece of how Strategy works (our practice, not an industry benchmark): we clean up negative keywords every week. Seemingly small, regular work like that shows up in the change history.

HOW DO YOU RUN A SIMPLE GOOGLE ADS AUDIT ON YOUR AGENCY?

You don’t need to be a PPC expert to run an owner-side Google Ads audit. Ask your Google Ads management agency the following questions:

Can you show me the change history for the last 30 days?
When did you last review the search terms report, and what did you exclude?
Do the conversions in the account match our CRM for last month?

Each one has a yes or no answer. An agency doing the work answers all three in one meeting and shows that they are clearly managing your account.

DAY 90: DID YOUR GOOGLE ADS MANAGEMENT HIT THE GOAL YOU AGREED ON?

Go back to the goal you wrote down in week 1.

For us, stabilization ends at “either meeting client goal or 90 days,” whichever comes first. At that point you should have a straight answer:

Goal met: What’s the next goal, and what will it take?
Goal not met: What specifically changes, and by when?

“We need more time” without a plan is not an answer. In fact, it’s a sign that your Google Ads management agency isn’t doing the work to optimize your campaign, leaving you to pay for it.

Ninety days is enough time to know whether the account is heading the right way, so don’t be afraid to ask your agency about missed goals at this point.

RED FLAGS: HOW DO YOU TELL IF YOUR PPC AGENCY ISN’T DOING THE WORK?

Use this as your owner-side checklist of warning signs in Google Ads management:

The agency owns the ad account or the domain and won’t transfer it. You don’t have admin access.
Conversions don’t match your leads, and nobody can explain why.
Reports show numbers but never say what changed.
Nobody asks you about lead quality.
There’s no written goal, or the goal keeps moving.

If you see one of these warning signs, schedule a conversation with your PPC agency. If you see three or more red flags, it’s time to look for a new Google Ads management partner.

WHAT QUESTIONS SHOULD YOU ASK BEFORE HIRING A GOOGLE ADS AGENCY?

If you haven’t signed yet, ask the week-1 questions before you sign. Who will own the account? How do you verify conversions? What does reporting look like? What happens at 90 days? The answers tell you how they’ll treat you after the contract.

WANT AN AGENCY THAT HANDS YOU THIS CHECKLIST?

Own the account in week 1. Match conversions to real leads in month 1. Judge the account against a written goal at day 90.

If you’d rather run Google Ads yourself, start by learning what managing ads really takes.

If you’d rather have Google Ads management agency that hands you this checklist of milestones and reporting schedules instead of making you chase updates, that’s how we work. Our clients have seen a 16.92X ROAS, $45.7M+ generated, and 31,300+ conversions. Book a call with Strategy and we’ll show you exactly what we’d set up in your first 90 days.

GOOGLE ADS MANAGEMENT FAQ

WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT FROM A GOOGLE ADS AGENCY IN THE FIRST 90 DAYS?

Week 1: you get ownership and admin access to the account, domain, and tracking, plus a written goal. Month 1: conversions that match your real forms, calls, and CRM. Day 90: the goal is met, or you get a specific plan for what changes.

WHAT QUESTIONS SHOULD I ASK BEFORE HIRING A GOOGLE ADS AGENCY?

Who owns the account and domain? How do you verify conversions against our real leads? What’s in your reports and how often do we talk? What happens at 90 days if we’re not on track?