A Google Ads management fee pays for the specialist's work on the account, separately from the advertising spend that goes to Google. This article looks at three models: a fixed fee, a percentage of ad spend and a combination of the two. Which one suits you depends on your budget and on how you will check the work being done.
In short
- Ad spend and the management fee should be visible separately, both in the account and on the invoices.
- With a percentage of spend, the manager earns more when you spend more, not when you get more enquiries. This model therefore needs closer oversight.
- Your company should have its own user with admin access to the account. The campaign history stays in the account and is not lost when you change provider.
- The change history shows who changed what, but the number of changes does not prove quality. What matters is what was changed and why.
Contents
- Ad budget and management fee
- How the fee is set
- Initial account setup
- The work each week and each month
- How to check the work done
- Frequently asked questions
Ad budget and management fee
The ad budget covers your spend in Google Ads, which, depending on the campaign, is charged for clicks, impressions or views. The fee is paid to the specialist for the work on the campaigns. If the agency also invoices the ad spend, ask for separate line items for the spend and for management, as well as access to the actual costs in the account.
The budget can be paid from the company's card or account directly in Google Ads, with the fee on a separate invoice. You check spend by campaign in Google Ads itself and use the billing documents to reconcile charges, payments and adjustments. When the two are separate, comparing offers is easier: you compare the fees at the same budget. How large the ad budget itself should be is a separate question, covered in the article on how much to spend on Google Ads.
How the fee is set
A fixed fee is predictable when the scope is clearly defined, a percentage follows the budget and suits a strongly seasonal business, and a combined model links a minimum for the work to growth in spend. The amounts themselves vary widely with the scope of work, so this article compares the models rather than prices.
| Criterion | Fixed fee | Percentage of spend | Combined model |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it is calculated | One amount each month | A percentage of what is spent in Google | A fixed minimum plus a percentage above a set spend |
| Predictability | Full | Follows the budget | High up to the threshold |
| Suits | A stable monthly budget | A seasonal business with large swings | A budget expected to grow |
| Main risk | A subscription with no real work | An incentive to spend more | Hard to compare between offers |
With a small, stable budget, a fixed fee may be the better fit, because the work on the account does not shrink in proportion to the spend. With a percentage fee, check the basis of the calculation, the minimum amount and the rules when the budget changes. With the combined model, check in the contract whether the percentage applies to the whole spend or only to the amount above the threshold. At the same spend, the two calculations give a different fee, so the formula should be written out explicitly.
When the percentage works against you
A percentage fee creates an incentive for higher overall spend, because the fee grows with spend, not with the number of enquiries. That does not mean excluding inefficient searches necessarily reduces the fee: the budget freed up can be moved to better campaigns. But under this model it is worth checking whether growth in spend comes with growth in conversions.
Whatever the fee, the offer should state what it covers: how many campaigns and on which platforms, whether the initial setup is included, how often you get a report, whether there is a minimum term and what the notice period is. Two offers at the same price can cover very different amounts of work.
Initial account setup
The initial setup provides the measurement and structure the following months depend on. It is usually charged separately or included in the first month, and the offer should say which.
There can be results in the first week, but such a short period is usually not enough for a reliable view of the cost per conversion or the quality of the enquiries. Conclusions about which campaign works are drawn once there are enough conversions.
- Ownership. Your company has its own user with admin access to Google Ads, the agency gets separate access, and the payments profile and payment method are agreed explicitly. If the account is entirely under the agency's control, the history may stay with the agency when you part ways.
- Conversion tracking. You decide which action counts as a conversion: a submitted form, a call, an order. Without this, decisions are made without reliable measurement. Which actions to count, and how a missing definition distorts the cost per enquiry, is the subject of the article from click to enquiry.
- Structure. Campaigns are split by service or product group, so the budget can be directed to what generates enquiries.
- An initial list of negative keywords. Searches that are clearly not customers are excluded before launch.
- Consent and measurement. In the European Economic Area, Google requires consent signals from visitors to use their data for advertising and measurement. Without a properly configured banner, some conversions are not recorded. The Google Consent Mode v2 setup is checked at launch, because data that is not collected cannot be recovered later.
The work each week and each month
Management means a weekly check plus a monthly analysis and plan. An absence of changes in the account does not in itself prove that no work was done: the report should show what was checked, what conclusions were drawn and why settings were kept or changed.
Every week
- Reviewing the search terms report and adding negative keywords.
- Spend against budget: whether campaigns use up the budget by midday or barely spend it.
- Checking that conversions are still being recorded. A broken form or a deleted tag shows up as a sudden zero.
- Disapproved ads and limited keywords.
- Location: whether ads are shown to people in the area or also to people who are only interested in it. This setting can spend budget on people who cannot become customers.
Every month
- Reallocating the budget according to the campaign goal and the quality and value of conversions, allowing for the time to a sale.
- Preparing for the season: campaigns and budgets for the strong months are set up weeks in advance, not on the first day of the season.
- Testing new ad copy against the existing ads.
- Reviewing the components of Quality Score in Google Ads and giving feedback on the landing pages.
- A report on the work done and the plan for the next month.
How to check the work done
You do not need detailed knowledge of Google Ads to run a basic check on whether anyone is working on the account. You need access to the account and two tools: the change history and the monthly report.
The change history
Google Ads keeps a change history for the past two years. Changes can be labelled with the user's email, a system identifier such as “Google Ads system”, the Google Ads API or the name of an external tool. Not every action is shown in the same detail, according to the help page on change history.
The number of changes does not show quality. Dozens of small adjustments a month do not necessarily mean useful work, while one well-reasoned change to the structure may be the most important thing in the quarter. Look for added negative keywords, tested ads and changes that match what the report says. Also check whether Google's recommendations are being applied automatically without anyone reviewing them.
For checking, your own read-only access is enough: it lets you see the campaigns and the reports. The company should also keep admin access so it can manage users and the link with the agency. When you change provider, you remove the previous provider's access, and the change and campaign history stays in the account.
Reasons to look closer are an unexplained drop in results, measurement that has not worked for a long time and no response to problems already identified. Unchanged ads or an unchanged negative keyword list do not on their own prove inactivity.
The monthly report
A good report contains the spend, the number of conversions with a clear definition of what counts as one, the cost per conversion, what was done and why, and what comes next. A report with only clicks and impressions shows activity, not results.
If you are considering handing the account to an outside specialist, start with the questions in this article. How the work on Google Ads is organised and what management includes can be discussed in a short meeting before you agree on a fee model.
Frequently asked questions
Is the ad budget included in the management fee?
It is better to keep them separate. The clearest option is for the company to pay the budget directly to Google; if the agency invoices it, the spend and the fee should be separate line items, and the actual spend should be visible in the account.
Can the business owner check the Google Ads account themselves?
Yes, and it is a good idea. The company should have its own user in Google Ads: read-only access is enough to review the campaigns and reports, and admin access is needed to manage users.
How often should you get a campaign report?
Usually once a month, covering spend, conversions and the work done. With a large budget or a new campaign, a short weekly report in the first weeks is also sensible.
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