PPC Companies: 7 Essential Things to Check Before Hiring

PPC companies manage paid advertising campaigns — usually Google Ads or Meta Ads — on your behalf. They take your budget, build and run the campaigns, and charge you a fee on top. The promise is more traffic, more leads, more sales.

The reality is more complicated. Paid ads can absolutely deliver results. They can also burn through a budget in 30 days with nothing to show for it, especially when the landing page is weak, the targeting is too broad, or the campaign is set up and left alone while the monthly invoice keeps arriving.

The ad spend story we hear most: a business spending $3,000 a month on Google Ads, plenty of clicks, almost no enquiries. Not because the ads were bad. Because the landing page had no headline above the fold, the form had nine fields, and the CTA was a phone number in the footer. Same budget. Wrong bucket.

TL;DR: Good PPC companies do more than run ads — they review your landing pages, set up conversion tracking, report on actual leads not just clicks, and adjust campaigns based on data. Here are 7 things to check before you hand over your ad budget.

What do PPC companies actually do?

A legitimate ppc management services provider handles:

• Campaign strategy — which platforms, which keywords, which audiences
• Ad creation — copy, creative, extensions, variations to test
• Bid management — adjusting spend based on performance data
• Landing page review — because an ad driving to a poor page wastes every click
• Conversion tracking — setting up the measurement so you know what is working
• Ongoing optimisation — weekly or bi-weekly changes based on what the data shows
• Monthly reporting — results in plain language with a clear next step

An agency that only builds campaigns and reports on impressions is not managing your ads. It is collecting a fee.

Why do PPC campaigns fail with the wrong company?

Because clicks are easy to generate and leads are not. Any agency can spend your budget and produce a report full of impressions, clicks, and CTR figures. Very few will tell you that the campaign produced six enquiries and ask you if that is worth the $3,000 you spent.

The misalignment is structural. Most PPC companies are paid a percentage of ad spend. Their incentive is to keep spending. Your incentive is to generate leads. These interests are not always the same.

The second failure is landing pages. Driving paid traffic to a page that does not convert is the most common waste in digital marketing. A good pay per click agency will tell you this before they take your money. An average one will start running ads and blame the budget when leads do not appear.

What are the 7 things to check before hiring a PPC company?

1. Do they review your landing page before starting?

If a PPC company agrees to run campaigns without first looking at where the traffic is going, they are not serious about your results. The landing page is half the campaign. Anyone who ignores it is managing clicks, not conversions.

2. Do they set up conversion tracking from day one?

Without conversion tracking, you cannot connect ad spend to real outcomes. Ask specifically: how do you track leads, calls, and form submissions? If the answer is vague, so will be the results.

3. How do they charge?

Three common models: flat monthly fee, percentage of ad spend (typically 10–20%), or performance-based. Percentage of spend has an obvious conflict of interest. Flat fees are more predictable. Performance-based works in some industries. Know what you are agreeing to before you sign.

4. How often do they optimise campaigns?

Set-and-forget is not PPC management. Active campaigns should be reviewed weekly — pausing underperforming ad groups, adjusting bids, testing new copy. Ask how often they touch the campaigns and what the review process looks like.

5. What does their monthly report show?

Impressions and clicks are inputs. Leads, cost per lead, and conversion rate are outputs. If the report only shows the first set, you cannot evaluate whether the campaign is working.

6. Do they specialise in your industry?

A google ads management company that primarily works with e-commerce will run different campaigns than one specialising in service businesses. Ask for case studies relevant to your business type and market.

7. What is the minimum contract term?

Some PPC companies lock in 12-month contracts before you have seen a single result. Others work on rolling monthly agreements. Longer contracts are not inherently bad, but a 12-month minimum with no performance clause is a one-sided arrangement.

What does a realistic PPC result look like?

Paid ads work faster than SEO. Here are realistic benchmarks for a small business campaign:

Businesses with well-optimised landing pages and clear offers see better results faster. Businesses sending ad traffic to their homepage see worse results at higher cost.

What kills a PPC campaign before it delivers?

• No conversion tracking — you are flying blind on where the money is going
• Broad match keywords without negative keywords — your ads show for irrelevant searches and waste budget
• No ad testing — running one version of an ad indefinitely misses optimisation opportunities
• Sending traffic to the homepage — the homepage is not a landing page
• Ignoring Quality Score — Google rewards relevance. Ads with poor Quality Scores cost more per click for the same position
• Pausing campaigns too early — PPC needs two to four weeks of data before making major changes

FAQ

How much do PPC companies typically charge?

Management fees vary widely. Flat fees typically run $500 to $2,000 per month for small business accounts. Percentage-of-spend models usually run 10 to 20%. Total monthly cost (management plus ad spend) for a small business typically ranges from $1,500 to $5,000.

Should I hire a PPC company or manage ads myself?

For simple campaigns and small budgets, managing ads yourself with Google’s built-in tools is viable. For consistent lead generation at scale, a specialist saves time and reduces wasted spend — provided you pick the right one. Google offers free training through Skillshop if you want to understand what you are buying before hiring anyone.

How do I know if my PPC company is doing a good job?

Ask for a monthly report that shows cost per lead, not just cost per click. Track where your enquiries are coming from independently using your CRM or a simple spreadsheet. If the ad spend is increasing but leads are flat, ask specifically what changed and why.

Paid ads can be one of the fastest paths to new leads. They can also be an expensive lesson in why traffic and conversions are different problems.

Not sure if your site is ready for paid traffic?
A free funnel audit tells you whether your setup will convert the clicks — before you spend a cent on ads.