Many businesses pay for Google Ads management and get a campaign that was set up once and billed monthly. Google Ads (it was AdWords until 2018, and plenty of people in Wollongong still search for AdWords management) rewards attention: the accounts that improve are the ones somebody works on every week. This article sets out what that work is, what it costs locally, and the questions that show whether your account is being managed or merely invoiced.
What does a Google Ads agency actually do each week?
A managed account gets five things every week: a search terms review with new negative keywords, budget pacing, bid and target adjustments, ad and asset review, and a landing page check. Monthly, it gets a plain-language report and a conversation about which leads became jobs. New campaigns, Performance Max, Shopping and remarketing are built on top of that routine, not instead of it.
Before anything runs: tracking
Conversion tracking for calls, form submissions and, for stores, purchases, connected to the campaigns that produced them, plus call tracking numbers so phone enquiries are counted. Google's guide to conversion measurement covers the set-up. Without it the account is optimised for clicks, which is how budgets disappear.
The weekly routine
Search terms and negative keywords
Google matches your keywords to searches you never asked for. Each week the search terms report is read and the irrelevant searches become negative keywords. This habit saves more money than any bidding trick; our article on negative keywords shows how much.
Budget pacing
Spend is checked against the plan, and budget moves from campaigns that are not converting to the ones that are. A campaign that spends its month in the first week has not been paced.
Bids and bid strategies
Cost per lead is reviewed by campaign, targets are adjusted, and campaigns move from manual bidding to a target cost per acquisition once they have enough conversions for Google's systems to learn from.
Ad review
Which headlines and descriptions are winning, which assets Google rates poorly, and what to test next. Ads unchanged for six months are a sign of an account nobody is looking at.
Landing page check
Forms working, phone numbers right, pages loading quickly on a phone, and the message on the page matching the ad that brought the visitor. Half of all "Google Ads is not working" problems live on the landing page, not in the account.
The monthly routine
A report in plain language: spend, leads, cost per lead, what changed and what is planned. A look at who is competing in the auction. New campaigns where the data shows demand. And a conversation about which leads turned into jobs, because the account should be optimised for the enquiries you want, not all of them.
How much does Google Ads management cost in Wollongong?
Two numbers. Ad spend goes to Google; for a local service business a realistic starting budget is $1,500 to $3,000 a month, depending on your industry's cost per click. Management goes to the agency; locally it typically runs from $750 to $2,000 a month depending on account size, and at Adcraft it sits inside a marketing retainer from $750 a month, month to month with no lock-in. Our Google Ads budget guide explains how the two numbers relate.
What does good look like?
A roofing company ran Google Ads alongside SEO with the weekly routine above. In the same six weeks two years apart, Google Ads leads went from 15 to 41 and total calls and quote forms reached 103. The roofing lead generation case study has the month-by-month picture.
Questions that show whether your account is managed
When were negative keywords last added? What is my cost per lead this month and last month? Which search terms brought the last ten leads? What changed in the account last week? Do I own the account, with the agency as a manager on it? Slow or vague answers mean the account is being billed, not managed.
Frequently asked questions
Is AdWords the same as Google Ads?
Yes. Google renamed AdWords to Google Ads on 24 July 2018, as its help centre notes. AdWords management, Google Ads management and PPC management describe the same service: building, running and improving paid search campaigns on Google. Many Wollongong businesses still use the old name, and an agency that understands that will not correct you.
How much should I pay someone to manage my Google Ads?
For a local service business, management fees typically run from $750 to $2,000 a month, on top of the ad spend paid to Google. Some agencies charge a percentage of spend instead, which rewards them for spending more rather than converting more. Ask which model applies, what the weekly routine includes, and get both numbers in writing.
How long before Google Ads brings leads?
Ads can show within a day of launch. A well-built account usually produces its first leads in the first two weeks and settles into a predictable cost per lead within two to three months as conversion data accumulates and bid strategies learn. Seasonal trades see the pattern shift through the year, which is one reason weekly attention matters.
Should a Wollongong business use a local Google Ads agency?
Local knowledge helps with suburb targeting, the words people use and the seasons of local trades, and it makes the monthly conversation about which leads became jobs much easier. What matters more is the weekly routine, the tracking and whether you own the account. A local agency with those three is the best of both.
Getting your account managed properly
The Google Ads management service page lists what is included and how results are reported. If your campaigns are running without a weekly routine, ask for a free account review and we will show you what the search terms report says.
