Questions to ask a PPC agency before you hire it

The point of a first call is to find out how an agency works, not to be persuaded. Asking every agency the same questions in the same order makes the answers comparable afterwards. Keep your notes in a grid with one column per agency, or enter them straight into the scorecard, which holds the same questions.

Before the call

Send your one-page brief in advance: the action that counts as a result, the monthly advertising amount, and the platforms you have in mind. Ask the agency to say at the start what it would need to know that the brief does not tell it. An agency with no questions has not read the brief. The wider method is in how to choose a PPC agency in Dubai.

Scope

• Which platforms will you manage for me: Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, or both?
• Which campaign types are included, such as search, shopping or display, and which are not?
• What does the monthly fee cover, and what would be charged as extra?
• What would you do in the first month, and what do you need from me?

Microsoft Advertising has its own tag for tracking what customers do on your website^[3], so a proposal that covers it should say who will set that up. If the answer is vague, treat the platform as not included.

People and process

• Who will build and change my campaigns day to day, and how many other accounts do they handle?
• Which parts of the work do you pass to freelancers or other suppliers?
• Who writes the ad text, and who reviews it before it goes live?
• How often will you change the account, and how will I be told what changed?

These matter more than the size of the agency. An answer that names a person and a routine is worth more than a description of a team.

Measurement

• What will you count as a conversion for my business, and who decides?
• Will you set up the tracking, and how will you and I test that it records what it should?
• Can I check every figure in your report against my own account?

Google lets you choose what counts as valuable, such as a purchase, a sign-up or a phone call^[2]. That is a decision someone makes, so ask for it in writing. Ask the same of Microsoft Advertising if it is in scope.

Access and leaving

• Will the ad accounts be created in my business’s name, with me as owner?
• What will I be given, and by when, if I end the contract?
• Is there a minimum term, and what is the notice period?

A Google Ads client account can have only one owner, and the owner has full administrative access and data access privileges^[1]. The agency should be comfortable with that being you.

You can put these questions to me as well. My own work is described on the Google Ads management page of my own site, and I sell the service on it. The checklist for what to prepare is in what to have in place before a PPC agency starts.