What a Google Ads consultant actually does
On a profile page the job sounds simple: build campaigns and optimise them. In practice, good paid search work rests on four distinct abilities, and a consultant worth hiring has all four.
- Commercial arithmetic. What may an enquiry or a sale cost, given your margin and how often enquiries become customers? A consultant who never asks this ends up optimising for clicks.
- Measurement and technical set-up. Conversion tags, Google Tag Manager, consent mode, the GA4 link and, ideally, a feed of outcomes from your CRM. Without reliable data, Smart Bidding chases the wrong signals.
- Language and search intent. Understanding what a searcher means, which queries to exclude, and what ad copy answers that particular question.
- Analysis and patience. Telling a real trend from noise, and leaving a bid strategy alone while it is still learning.
The job titles overlap. A PPC consultant works on pay-per-click advertising, which in the UK means mainly Google Ads and sometimes Microsoft Advertising. A Google Ads specialist or Google Ads expert usually means the same, with the emphasis on one platform. A digital marketing consultant is broader, covering email, social, SEO and ads; that suits a small organisation, but once a large share of your marketing budget goes through Google Ads, depth matters more than breadth.
Advisory or hands-on: two ways to use a consultant
The word consultant covers two quite different arrangements, and it is worth deciding which you need before you start conversations.
Hands-on management
The consultant works inside your account every week: search terms, negatives, bids, budgets, ads and reporting. You buy the outcome of that work. Our page on PPC management describes the rhythm such an arrangement should follow.
Advisory support
Your own team runs the account day to day, and the consultant reviews, challenges and teaches. Typical forms are a quarterly review, help with a difficult decision such as moving to Performance Max, or guidance while a junior marketer builds skill. This works well when someone in-house has the time but not yet the experience.
A one-off independent review sits between the two. If you mainly want to know whether your current account is sound, a Google Ads audit is usually the right starting point.
Consultant, agency, freelancer or in-house compared
There are four common ways to bring Google Ads expertise into a business. None is always better. The real question is which risks you are prepared to carry and what you want to keep inside the company.
| Model | Strong at | Watch for | Often suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelance PPC consultant | Direct contact with the person doing the work; flexible; short lines | Cover for holidays and illness; limited capacity; no second pair of eyes | Focused accounts and owners who can steer the work themselves |
| Google Ads agency | A team, cover, set processes, wider channel knowledge | Layers between you and the practitioner; changing account managers; standard packages | Larger budgets, several channels or markets |
| In-house specialist | Deep knowledge of your products; close to sales and stock | Works alone without challenge; recruitment and tool costs; knowledge leaves with them | Businesses where paid search is a core channel with daily work |
| Small specialist studio | Senior attention, few clients per person, joined up with website and SEO | Limited capacity; sometimes a wait before work can start | Companies that value quality and coherence over the lowest quote |
Hiring a freelance PPC consultant
A freelance PPC consultant is often an experienced practitioner who left an agency to work independently. You speak directly with the person who does the work, which removes a whole class of misunderstandings. For a well-defined account with a handful of campaigns, that is often exactly right.
The risk is dependence on one person. Before you agree terms, ask:
- Who covers holidays and illness, and does that person already have access?
- How many accounts does the consultant manage alongside yours? Too many means little time for your search terms.
- Is the Google Ads account registered to your company and billed to your card or invoice? That matters as much with a freelancer as with an agency.
- Who makes changes to landing pages and tracking when they are needed?
A vague answer on cover is not a reason to walk away, but it is a reason to put the arrangement in writing.
Hiring a Google Ads specialist in-house
When paid search is a core channel with daily work, an employed specialist can pay for itself. They learn your products, sit close to sales and can react quickly to promotions or stock changes.
Count the hidden costs, though. An in-house specialist often works alone, without a colleague to challenge assumptions or spot mistakes. Tools, training and time to keep up with constant platform changes all cost money. When the person leaves, part of the account knowledge leaves too, unless it has been documented.
Many UK companies therefore choose a hybrid: an employee for daily execution and an outside consultant for periodic reviews, strategy and second opinions. If you would rather work with a team than an individual, our Google Ads agency page explains what to look for.
Questions that reveal a good PPC consultant
Certificates and polished dashboards tell you little. A first conversation tells you much more, if you listen for the right things.
What do they ask you?
A good consultant wants to know what a customer is worth, how many enquiries convert and which services or products carry the best margin. If the conversation opens with clicks, impressions or a package, you have learned something important.
Can they explain what is being measured?
Ask which conversions count as primary and why. A click on a phone number or a visit to the contact page is not a customer. Ask how they handle consent mode, and how they treat leads that only turn into customers weeks later.
How do they use automation?
Smart Bidding and Performance Max are useful, but they optimise towards whatever you feed them. A strong consultant can explain when automation helps, when it does not, and which signals they give Google to steer it.
Will they let you look?
You should have your own access to the account. A consultant who would rather you did not read the change history usually has a reason.
What exactly does the fee cover?
Ask what is included and what is charged separately, such as set-up, tracking or landing pages. Our guide to PPC management cost shows how to compare proposals on a like-for-like basis.
Red flags when hiring a Google Ads specialist
- Promises about positions or lead numbers. Nobody can honestly promise first position or a fixed number of enquiries. The auction changes daily and your competitors bid too.
- The account sits in the consultant's name. If you part company, you lose the history and learning data.
- Reports only in clicks, impressions and CTR. Those are working numbers. Ask for enquiries, cost per enquiry and revenue.
- All of Google's recommendations applied automatically. Some help; others mainly increase spend.
- No questions about your website. Buying traffic without looking at the page it lands on wastes part of every pound.
- Long contracts without a review point. A consultant confident in the work does not need to lock you in.
Partner badges deserve a calm look too. The Google Partner programme mainly reflects spend levels and certifications across a client base. It can be a useful signal, but it says little about how your account will be handled. We are not a Google Partner and do not claim to be.
What a consultant cannot fix for you
A capable consultant gets the most from your budget, but Google Ads amplifies what is already there. Some things are outside their reach:
- Your offer and price. If you are more expensive without a visible reason, no ad copy will close the gap.
- Your landing page. A slow or unclear page makes every click more expensive. A page that matches the search is often the quickest gain, which is why we pair campaigns with landing page design when needed.
- Follow-up. If enquiries wait days for a reply, the competitor who rings back first wins them.
- Conversion on site. Plenty of visitors but few enquiries points to conversion rate optimisation rather than more traffic.
A consultant who tells you this honestly, even when it means fixing something else first, is usually worth keeping.
Working with Kaptein Beacon as your Google Ads consultant
Kaptein Beacon is a founder-led studio based in the Netherlands, working remotely with UK companies; the time difference is nil or one hour, so calls fit the British working day. We work with a limited number of clients at a time, so there is room for your search terms and not only for a monthly report. Because we also build websites and run SEO, we look at the advert, the landing page and the measurement as one system. We build and run our own brands too, and test methods there first.
- Strategy session. Every engagement starts with the Beacon Strategy Session: 50 minutes with the founder about your ambition, your market and whether we fit. It costs £225 excluding VAT, is non-refundable and is a conversation, not an audit or plan.
- Our decision. Afterwards we decide whether we take on the work.
- Proposal. If it is a fit, you receive a proposal with a fixed scope and fixed price, for hands-on management or advisory support. The account stays in your company's name throughout.