Why You Should Hire an Agency for Google Ads Management

Are you sure you're getting the best value out of your own Google Ads management?

Too many businesses and private practitioners struggle with managing their own Google Ad campaigns, often not realizing their results could be several-fold better had they only hired a marketing agency to do it for them.  Truth is, Google Ads management looks deceptively simple, and it's easy for non-technical users to rely on automated or "smart" Google Ads.  While quick and hopefully producing some results, automated ads are created to serve the best interests of Google, not that of their advertisers.

If you want to make sure every dollar of your Google Ads marketing budget is spent on ads that are displayed only to highly-qualified audiences, and for the least amount possible, you need to either learn the standard Google Ads platform or, as in the case of busy private practices, hire someone to manage Google Ads do it for you.

A marketing specialist who works with Google Ads will be knowledgeable in the correct setup, targeting, and bidding options, plus all of the Google advertising rules that are required to run ads cheaply and successfully.  Below, in more detail, are the 3 big reasons why it's worth to outsource your Google Ads management to a marketing agency:

1. You will avoid costly mistakes

A marketing agency experienced in Google Ads management knows what works in a given industry, what keywords are worth bidding on, and which strategies will not bring results.  Oftentimes, self-directed campaigns don't have metered goals or are misconfigured.  It's very easy to make a rookie error and quickly accumulate a large bill without getting a single conversion.  All of this leads business owners to get discouraged and think that Google Ads are not a form of marketing for them and that they need to try something different.  An experienced Google Ads specialist will quickly detect if an advertising campaign is misconfigured before more problems occur. It's better to realize this right away and let a marketing agency correct and manage your Google Ads account rather than to invest in marketing that doesn't work.

Some common self-directed Google Ads management mistakes include, among others:

1. 1. Using the so-called "Smart", "Express" or Auto ads.  Business owners can quickly set up ads in an ultra-light, oversimplified Google Ads console that is meant to be easier to use than the regular, sophisticated, and understandably intimidating platform.  This convenience comes at big costs, literally.  One of the many downsides is giving Google full control over what keywords your account bids on. For example, if you're marketing a counseling and psychology business, Google will show your ads for searches that have nothing to do with your services (think "equine therapy"), and you will have no way of knowing because the "Smart" platform doesn't even show the search terms, and has no way to refine keywords for better targeting.  Bottom line, we don't recommend that you rely on Google to spend your money as it sees fit.
   2. Failure to structure your account - This includes Ad Groups with thousands of keywords, campaigns that compete against one another, or many Ad Groups with duplicate or irrelevant keywords.  Mistakes like this increase costs per click and make it very difficult to gauge the performance of campaigns.
   3. Lack of optimization - Self-directed Google Ads account managers often don't take into account analytics or performance optimization.  Misconfiguring conversions, disregarding quality scores, or relying only on the last conversion value may lead all to erroneous conclusions about performance.  We often see cases where Display Network ads generate huge traffic but have very low rates of conversions (meaning that there are no users going on to book a service or complete a certain goal), yet self-directed Google Ads managers continue to pour money into these campaigns with no results.
   4. Mistakes in ad text - Unclear content, spelling and stylistic errors, missing keywords, wrong landing pages, abuse of the CAPS LOCK or prohibited terms, key or special characters are just a few examples of the most common mistakes that if done frequently enough can lead to account suspension.
   5. Wrong targeting - if you're a business in Calgary and serve your local neighborhood, you probably don't want to display ads in Toronto.  Similarly, it's easy to make mistakes where targeting regions overlap and actually cannibalize each other's budget. Remember, ads are sold as an auction - you never want a situation where one campaign is bidding against your other one!
   6. Wrong use of keywords or keyword matching options - knowing whether to use Broad match (max reach, min relevance) Modified Broad match (slightly lower reach, greater relevance) Phrase match (medium reach, medium relevance), etc... can make a difference between success or a costly failure.
   7. Not keeping up with feature changes - Google Ads Google makes frequent updates to its platform and most businesses fail to use all of the advanced features it has to offer.  New extensions or formats, for example, can give customers a significant competitive advantage. This can't happen if they're overlooked.

2. You will save a lot of time that you can use to focus on your work instead

Time is money! We all know this saying, but we often forget it in practice and engage in various activities that are not necessarily the best use of our time. Are you sure the few or a dozen hours you spend on Google Ads campaign management are worth a few hundred dollars per month? Do you have time to delve into all the policies, options, and opportunities that Google Ads management demands? Even if so, your knowledge at the start will not be comparable to the competencies of a team that lives and breathes Google Ads every day.

3. Get much more out of your marketing budget

A marketing agency works with other businesses in your industry. Although each campaign is different, it is possible to determine benchmarks and best practices of what a given campaign should do, how it should be optimized, and what results should be satisfactory.  A marketing agency will also be in a better position to analyze the results and optimize your campaigns.  In simplest terms, this includes continually deleting keywords and Ad Groups that do not bring you an adequate return on investment and elevating ones that do. Thanks to this, you will save a large part of the budget, and be able to show your ads more often for less money.

Google Ads management in summary

Google Ads management isn't all scary and intimidating, but it does take plenty of experience to get it right.  Here at Sparktribe, we offer expert Google Ads management of advertising campaigns at every stage.  Our team is always here to help – If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about our Google Ads management services for business professionals, healthcare practices, and entrepreneurs, feel free to contact us, or shoot us an email at hello@sparktribe.com.