PPC Agency Evaluation Checklist
The questions you ask before signing can save months of wasted ad spend.
A polished proposal does not tell you who will manage your campaigns, whether tracking is reliable, how often the account will be optimised, what happens when performance declines, or whether you retain ownership of your advertising data.
Use these 25 questions — and the interactive scorecard below — to evaluate a PPC agency before signing a contract.
Short Answer
Interview every shortlisted agency with the same 25 questions across six areas — account ownership and access, strategy and account management, conversion tracking and measurement, performance and optimisation, reporting and communication, and contracts, fees, and exit terms — and score the answers rather than the proposal.
Give 2 points for a clear, transparent, specific answer, 1 point for a partial or circumstantial answer, and 0 points for vagueness, avoidance, or a major concern. A good agency welcomes hard questions.
Interactive Tool
Score each answer as you interview an agency. Give 2 points for a clear, transparent, specific answer, 1 point for a partial or circumstantial answer, and 0 points for vagueness, avoidance, or a major concern.
Your score is calculated live in your browser — nothing is stored or sent.
0 of 25 answered
0 / 50
Answer all 25 to see your rating band
Who will own the Google Ads account?
Strong answer: your business owns the account and retains administrative access. Warning sign: the agency requires campaigns to run through an account it controls.
Will we retain access to historical campaign data if we leave?
Strong answer: yes — campaign history remains inside your account.
Who pays Google directly for advertising spend?
Strong answer: the client pays Google directly unless another transparent billing arrangement has been explicitly agreed.
Do you add any markup to advertising spend?
The agency should clearly disclose all fees. Deltanoid operates with zero markup on client advertising spend.
Who will actually manage our campaigns?
Ask about the experience and responsibilities of the individual responsible for day-to-day optimisation.
How many advertising accounts does each campaign manager handle?
This helps evaluate whether your account will receive adequate attention.
What happens during the first 30 days?
Look for a structured process covering tracking, account analysis, campaign structure, search terms, keywords, bidding, budgets, ads, landing pages, and testing.
How often will you review and optimise our campaigns?
Avoid agencies that rely entirely on monthly account reviews or automated platform recommendations.
How do you decide which campaign types to use?
The answer should reference business objectives, search demand, account maturity, conversion data, budgets, creative assets, and economics.
How do you allocate budgets across campaigns?
Look for decisions based on marginal performance, conversion quality, growth opportunities, and business priorities.
How do you verify conversion tracking?
The agency should audit tracking rather than assuming existing conversions are accurate.
Can you track phone calls, forms, purchases, WhatsApp enquiries, and offline sales?
Capabilities should match your business model.
How do you measure lead quality?
Strong agencies attempt to connect advertising campaigns with CRM and sales outcomes.
Do you implement enhanced conversions and offline conversion tracking?
These capabilities may be important for businesses with long sales cycles or offline sales processes.
What happens if our conversion tracking is inaccurate?
Correct answer: fix measurement before aggressively scaling campaigns.
Which KPIs will you use to evaluate our campaigns?
The answer should depend on business economics — CPA, ROAS, revenue, qualified leads, customer acquisition cost, pipeline value, and profit.
How do you test ads, landing pages, keywords, audiences, and bidding strategies?
Look for a structured experimentation framework.
What happens when campaign performance declines?
The agency should describe a diagnostic process rather than simply increasing budgets or changing bidding strategies.
How do you determine whether to scale a campaign?
Scaling should consider marginal acquisition costs, lead quality, conversion volume, profitability, budget constraints, and operational capacity.
How do you use automation and AI in campaign management?
Strong answer: automation is used where appropriate, but decisions remain grounded in measurement, business economics, and campaign objectives.
How frequently will we receive reports?
Understand both reporting frequency and communication cadence.
What will your reports include?
Reports should explain performance, major changes, experiments, problems, opportunities, and next actions.
Will we speak directly with the person managing our campaigns?
Understand the agency's communication structure before signing.
What exactly is included in your management fee?
Clarify campaign management, tracking implementation, landing pages, creative assets, reporting, strategy calls, software costs, account setup, and additional platform management.
What happens if we decide to leave?
Understand notice periods, account access, ownership, data, creative assets, tracking infrastructure, and contractual obligations.
42+: Strong candidate
Validate proof and references before proceeding.
32–41: Potential fit
Investigate weaker areas before committing.
20–31: Significant concerns
Compare additional providers before deciding.
0–19: High-risk engagement
Proceed only with strong caution and independent verification.
The scorecard is a decision-support framework, not a guarantee of campaign performance.
Warning Signs
Before You Reach Out
Monthly advertising budget.
Historical Google Ads performance.
Business objectives.
Target locations.
Products or services to promote.
Target acquisition cost.
Average customer value.
Sales cycle length.
Existing analytics and CRM tools.
Internal resources available for landing pages and creative.
Free Download
A printable version of all 25 questions with space for agency answers, the 0–2 scoring system, a comparison table for up to three agencies, and a red-flag checklist.
Related Guides
FAQ
Understand your current tracking, campaign structure, wasted spend, performance problems, and growth opportunities before evaluating management proposals.
