Google Ads consulting: scope, fee models and KPIs
A guide to reading a Google Ads consulting proposal: scope of work, the incentives behind fee models, the right KPI set and account ownership rules.
By Roozbeh Nazari · CEO
Google Ads consulting proposals tend to look very similar: "campaign setup, optimisation, monthly report". The differences are between the lines: what work will actually be done, what the fee is tied to and which metric will measure success. This article covers three things a business should pin down before working with a Google Ads consultant or a Google Ads agency: scope, fee model and KPIs. We covered the technical steps from opening an account to the first campaign in our guide to advertising on Google; the subject here is the agreement you make when handing this work to someone else.
The scope of Google Ads consulting: four layers
When reading a consulting proposal, it helps to split the work into four layers. The first layer is measurement: defining conversion actions, setting up Google Ads conversion tracking or the Google Analytics link, and testing that they work correctly. If this layer is missing, everything else is guesswork. The second layer is account structure: choosing campaign types, the logic by which campaigns are split, keyword and targeting strategy, and negative keyword lists. The third layer is creative and landing page: ad copy, images and how well the page the ad leads to matches the message. The fourth layer is management and reporting: bid strategy decisions, budget allocation, tests, and regular written reporting on all of these.
The layers most often left vague in proposals are the first and the third. The word "optimisation" describes the fourth layer; whether it covers measurement setup and landing page work should be asked separately. Having a "who does it, who approves it" line for each layer in the contract prevents most of the disputes that arise later.
Google Ads consultant or Google Ads agency?
The difference between a single consultant and an agency is often a difference in capacity and continuity. A consultant usually focuses on strategy and account structure and may leave part of the implementation to the business's own team; an agency can also take on layers such as creative production, landing pages and reporting. Which one fits depends on the complexity of the account and the business's in-house capacity; we discussed a similar decision for SEO in our agency or consultant decision matrix.
Membership of the Google Partners program is often used as a competence signal for the party making the proposal. According to Google's help page, the program rests on three requirement categories, performance, spend and certification: an optimisation score of at least 70 percent across managed accounts, 10,000 US dollars of ad spend across managed accounts over a 90-day period, and at least 50 percent of account strategists holding Google Ads certification. Google may change these criteria; check the current text on the help page. The badge points to a working discipline, but on its own it does not show that results will be produced in your sector.
Fee models and the incentives they create
Because price levels in the market vary widely with scope of service, account size and sector, we do not give figures here; instead we compare the structure of the models and the incentive each creates.
A fixed monthly fee gives a predictable cost for a clearly scoped job. Its incentive is neutral; but if the scope is not written clearly, the work can shrink over time while the fee stays the same. The percentage-of-spend model ties the fee to the advertising budget. In a growing account it can look proportional to the consultant's effort, but it creates a natural incentive to increase the budget; so who makes budget decisions should be written down clearly. Project or hourly fees suit limited jobs such as setup and audits; they usually fall short for ongoing management. Performance-based or hybrid models tie the fee to an outcome; this looks attractive, but if how the outcome is measured, which conversions count and how factors outside the consultant's control are handled are not defined in advance, it is the model we have seen generate the most disputes in practice. Whichever model is chosen, having ad spend paid directly from the business's own payment profile and invoiced separately from the consulting fee keeps costs transparent.
The KPI set in Google Ads consulting
Click-through rate and cost per click are intermediate metrics that describe the health of the account; they do not describe the business outcome. The KPI set in a consulting agreement should be built in three layers. The first layer holds the business outcome: cost per conversion, return on ad spend or the number of qualified enquiries. The second layer holds the account metrics that explain that outcome: impression share, conversion rate, search term quality. The third layer holds process metrics: number of tests, reporting cadence, time taken to implement recommendations.
The most important rule is that the first-layer metric must be verifiable with the business's own data. The conversions Google Ads reports should be compared at regular intervals with the real sales or appointment records in the business's CRM; without this comparison, the account may optimise towards conversions that create no real value. Importing key events from Google Analytics into Google Ads is one common way of building this link. No consultant can guarantee a particular ad position or a fixed cost; the auction changes constantly with competitors' behaviour.
Questions to ask when comparing proposals
When you put two or three proposals side by side, ask all of them the same questions in writing. Who will test the accuracy of conversion measurement, and how? Does the business need to approve major changes to campaign structure? How often will the search terms report be reviewed, and how will negative keyword decisions be documented? Will the monthly report contain only platform metrics, or also a comparison with the business's sales or appointment data? Is there a test plan, and will failed tests be reported too? The answers to these questions say far more than the price; every item left with an unclear answer is a future source of dispute.
Account ownership and exit clauses
This is the least discussed but most important part of the contract. The Google Ads account should be opened in the business's name with a Google account under the business's control, and the consultant should be given admin access; otherwise, when the relationship ends, access to historical data and learned campaign performance can be lost. The same rule applies to conversion tags, the Google Tag Manager container and the Analytics property. The exit clause should define the notice period, the handover of access and the delivery of campaign documentation. We shared how we write scope, KPIs and exit clauses on the SEO side in our consulting contract article; the same logic applies to paid media.
We run work that treats paid channels together with measurement and landing pages as part of our paid media service. Whichever consultant you work with, pinning down the three topics in this article in writing at the proposal stage means the first three months are spent on the work rather than on arguments.