Free download
The Small Business Google Ads Buyer's Guide
Everything you need to know before paying anyone to run Google Ads for you — written by agency people, with no agency bias.
An honest guide to hiring, briefing and measuring a Google Ads agency or freelancer. Includes the questions to ask before signing a contract, the conversion tracking setup you should demand on day one, and the three biggest red flags that a PPC pitch is too good to be true. Written so you can walk into any agency meeting and not get bamboozled.
Who this buyer’s guide is for
It is written for owners who are about to sign a Google Ads contract and want a plain-English list of what “good” looks like — conversion tracking before spend, transparent fee models, and realistic timelines for optimisation.
It is also useful if you already run ads and feel blind: the sections on search terms, negative keywords and landing-page alignment help you ask sharper questions of whoever manages the account today.
How it pairs with our PPC service
We charge a flat management fee and send ad spend straight to Google so incentives stay aligned with performance, not percentage-of-spend games. The guide explains why that structure matters before you ever talk to us.
If you want us to review an existing account, we still start with tracking and structure — the same sequence described in the PDF’s 90-day timeline section.
What's inside
- What Google Ads is actually good (and bad) at
- Realistic monthly ad-spend budgets by industry
- How management fees should be structured
- Conversion tracking: what to insist on
- 10 questions to ask any PPC agency
- Red flags: 'guaranteed page one', percentage-of-spend fees, locked contracts
- What a healthy 90-day PPC timeline looks like
Ideal for
UK business owners about to commission Google Ads, or anyone already running ads who suspects they might be overpaying or under-delivering.
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