Google Ads, tailored to your business

You've never run ads, and you want a straight answer on whether they're worth it before the first pound goes, not after.

Most of that answer can be worked out before you spend anything. If the numbers don't work, I'll tell you plainly, and tell you what I'd do instead.

First thing I'd check

What a customer is worth to you, worked back to the most you could pay for a click, against what clicks cost in your market. The first of those numbers has to come from you.

Worth reading first

How much Google Ads costs in the UK

You ran ads before and they cost you. Nobody explained what went wrong, so you can't tell whether it's worth another go.

Losing money on ads is usually a fixable diagnosis, not a verdict on the channel. Sometimes the diagnosis is that it isn't right for you yet, and that's worth knowing too.

First thing I'd check

If you still have the login: what it counted as a conversion, which searches it paid for, and how long it ran before anyone judged it. A new account needs 60–90 days.

Worth reading first

What “I tried it and lost money” usually means

You built the account yourself and learned as you went. Then the business got busy, and the account kept spending without you.

Running it yourself can be the right call, and if it is, I'll say so. What slips first is rarely the skill. It's the weekly look at the search terms.

First thing I'd check

Whether its conversions are real, then the search terms report sorted by cost: what your money bought while nobody was reading it. That report usually holds the largest share of the 15–30% of spend typically recoverable in an unattended account.

Worth reading first

Where Google Ads budgets leak: a UK checklist

You pay an agency to run your ads. Their report says it's going well, and nothing in it lets you check.

That isn't you missing something: the people being judged write the scorecard. A lot of what goes wrong can be fixed by the agency you already have, so start with evidence, not a fight.

First thing I'd check

Change history for the last 90 days. Google Ads logs each change with the date and the login or tool that made it, so it's the one report the agency doesn't write. No login to see it? That's the first problem.

Worth reading first

How to tell if your PPC agency is any good

You've been handed an account somebody else built. The spend is yours to answer for now, and you can't yet tell what it's doing.

You don't need to understand every campaign to take charge of the account. You need to know it's yours, and that its numbers are real.

First thing I'd check

Who holds admin access, then the conversion list. Count a page view as a lead, or one enquiry twice, and every conversion figure in the account looks better than it is.

Worth reading first

Google Ads conversion tracking: 4 common faults

Google Ads is working. You want more from it, and you're not sure whether that means more budget or somewhere new.

A working Google account is the best research you have for what comes next. It imports into Microsoft Ads in an afternoon, and it already knows which searches are worth paying for.

First thing I'd check

How much impression share your best campaigns lose to budget. If the winners are capped and the budget can grow, the next pound goes to them. If it can't, Microsoft Ads is usually next, with clicks often about a third cheaper.

Worth reading first

When to add Microsoft Ads