Google Ads Management Services – Do I Need Management of My Ad Account?

Occasionally we receive an inquiry from a business to setup their Google Ads account (or optimize an existing account), then end the service agreement and let the campaign run by itself without any oversight.  This is very much a set it and forget it approach which comes with a significant amount of risk, with little upside. In this post, I’m going to share the dangers of running Google Ads without proper, ongoing management and the benefits of properly managed ad accounts.

Dangers of Not Actively Managing a Google Ads Account

Google auto-recommendations

Google Ads have auto-recommendations that can apply to any account and can significantly interrupt performance.   We have seen many instances where Google is generous with changing the bid strategy, changing match types, and adding keywords that aren’t 100% relevant. Oftentimes these changes benefit Google more-so than the client. If a Google Ads account isn’t proactively managed, these auto-recommendations will run amok and lead to a steady deterioration of performance.  See the headline Search Engine Land posted when Google started rolling  out auto recommendations.            

Google Ads auctions change

Setting keyword bids today may work well, and a business may receive decent traffic, however auctions are dynamic.  We routinely see auctions change, quite significantly, and if bids are set and not reviewed, they may receive traffic today but several months down the road they may be at risk of not serving if the level of competition heats up.

Conversion tracking can break

Every Google Ads account should have proper conversion tracking established that Google is optimizing towards. This could be purchases, contact form submissions, phone calls, online chats, etc.  Over time, there may be technical updates to a website that can break conversion tracking. Even the best conversion tracking configuration can go offline if changes to a website are implemented. With that, proactive management is required to ensure that conversion tracking continues working as intended. If a Google Ads account is running and conversion tracking is compromised, performance will deteriorate. When conversion tracking isn’t working properly, Google won’t know which traffic is converting and which isn’t, which will ultimately increase the amount of unqualified traffic to the website.

Mapping to irrelevant search keywords

Since each business is paying for every click from Google, it’s in their best interest that they review which search terms are mapping to their ads. It’s reported that every day there are 15% new searches that have never been searched before.  The best campaign could start to map to irrelevant search terms, just because there are new searches every day and some irrelevant searches can be mapped to the account.  In these instances, advertisers need to review the search term report and negate irrelevant traffic.              

Google is constantly making updates

The Google Ads platform is constantly undergoing changes, changes that will impact performance. We’ve seen a lot of changes just over the past few years, from bidding capabilities to changes to match types. If you review their posted changes, every month has several notable changes.                       With that, any account that is running in a set it and forget it fashion, will be at risk of significant under performance. If anyone does have an account that’s running on auto-pilot, I would pause it immediately until an agency, like Rise Marketing Group takes the helm.

Benefits of an Actively Managed Google Ads Account

I shared the downfalls if a Google Ads account isn’t proactively managed, now let’s review the benefits.

The aforementioned dangers will be mitigated

You can be assured that conversion tracking continues to work, bids are updated to reflect the auctions, search terms are constantly reviewed, Google’s auto-recommendations are reviewed thoroughly, etc.

Account will be positioned for growth

 Outside of mitigating risk, having a Google Ads account proactively managed will set it up for growth.  The marketer will be able to identify areas of opportunity to scale the traffic, leads, customers, etc. within the allowable ROI as they’re constantly reviewing performance and identifying opportunities. Opportunities could be in the form of new keywords, new campaign types, swapping landing pages, testing betas, importing offline conversion events, etc.

Opportunities outside of Google

  Having an account actively managed will also present other opportunities outside of Google Ads. For example, we have some clients where the Google auctions are getting expensive and we’re updating strategy to focus on other search engines (Bing), that have lower CPCs and higher conversion rates.  Additionally, we may see SEO opportunities to take advantage of, based on keyword performance, or even decide that email marketing is a good play to foster leads driven from ads.

Clear reporting

Expect clear reporting when an account is properly managed.  At Rise, we use Google Looker Studio, and customize a dashboard for each client to showcase investment, clicks, customers, ROI, lead, cost per lead, etc. Most importantly it’s a clear understanding of what’s working and what isn’t, where we push on what is working, and pause (or optimize) what isn’t.

Interested in Rise Managing your Google Ads Campaigns?

Managing a Google Ads account is akin to a financial advisor. Anyone with investable assets would prefer that their assets are proactively managed to mitigate risk and take advantage of opportunities based on changes in the market, vs. sitting on cash and hoping for the best.  Any financial management fees are generally significantly outweighed by the upside provided with proactive management. If anyone is looking for a trusted partner to manage their Google Ads account to maximize the growth potential and mitigate risk, we would love to have a conversation to map out the opportunities for your business. Simply fill out the contact form and we’ll schedule a phone call within 1 business day.