What you are actually paying for
Outsourced paid search involves two bills that are easy to blur. The first is media spend: what Google charges for clicks or impressions, controlled by your budgets. Our guide to Google Ads cost explains how that auction price is formed. The second is the management fee, the subject of this guide: payment for the thinking and the hours that decide whether the media spend works.
Good management is not a monthly login. In a typical month it includes:
- reading search terms and adding negatives so budget stops leaking;
- checking that conversions still record correctly after website or consent changes;
- reviewing bids, targets and budget allocation between campaigns;
- testing new ad copy and assets, and retiring weak variants;
- flagging landing page problems that hold conversion rates back;
- reporting in terms of enquiries, sales and cost per result, with a short explanation of what changed and why.
Ask for that list in writing. Two quotes with the same monthly figure can describe very different amounts of work.
How PPC agencies and consultants price management
Several fee models are common in the UK market. None is fair or unfair in itself; what matters is whether it suits your account and whether the scope is clear.
| Model | How it works | Strength | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed monthly fee | A set amount for an agreed scope of work | Predictable; does not rise automatically with spend | What is out of scope and charged as extra |
| Percentage of spend | A share of what you pay Google, often with a minimum fee | Scales with account size | The fee grows when spend grows, even if the work does not |
| Hybrid | A base fee plus a percentage above an agreed spend level | Balances predictability and scale | The spend level at which the percentage starts |
| Hourly or day rate | Time billed for set-up, audits or defined tasks | Flexible for one-off work | Less predictable for ongoing management; ask for an estimate |
| Performance-based | A fee per lead or a share of revenue | Appears to shift risk to the supplier | How a lead is defined, who measures it, and who owns the data |
Percentage of spend or fixed fee: the incentive question
A percentage of spend is simple and widespread. Its weakness is incentive: the supplier earns more when you spend more, whether or not results improve, and doubling a budget rarely doubles the work. A fixed fee ties payment to scope rather than spend, which removes that tension, but only if the scope is specific. A vague fixed fee can quietly shrink to an hour a month.
Performance pricing deserves the most scrutiny. Is a lead any submitted form, or only an enquiry that fits your services and area? Who removes spam, duplicates and job seekers? Is measurement done in your account and CRM, or in a system you cannot see? Without written answers, a pay-per-lead model rewards volume rather than clients.
What drives a Google Ads management quote
Management fees reflect how much time and expertise an account demands. These are the factors that move a quote:
- Scope and complexity. One Search campaign for one service in one region is lighter work than several campaign types across the UK and Ireland, or in more than one language.
- Campaign types. Shopping and Performance Max add feed work; Display, Demand Gen and Video need images and video.
- State of tracking. Reliable conversion tracking can be maintained; broken tracking, consent mode and CRM imports have to be built first.
- New or inherited account. An existing account needs auditing and cleaning up; a new one needs building from scratch.
- Competition. Where clicks are expensive, every poor decision costs more, so closer attention pays for itself.
- Rhythm and involvement. Weekly optimisation and monthly calls take more time than a monthly check.
- Reporting depth. Revenue and pipeline reporting tied to a CRM is more work than a dashboard of clicks.
Set-up fees and costs that do not appear in the first quote
Several costs sit outside the monthly fee but still reach your bank account. Ask about each before you sign.
- Set-up. Account structure, keyword research, first ads and assets. Sometimes separate, sometimes recovered through a minimum term.
- Tracking. Google tag or Tag Manager, consent mode, enhanced conversions and CRM integration. Our conversion tracking page explains why management without it is guesswork.
- Landing pages. Often the biggest lever and often excluded. Who builds them, and who edits them after a test?
- Feeds. For retailers, Merchant Center feed work and any feed tool licence.
- Creative. Images and video for Performance Max, Demand Gen or Display.
- Software. Reporting or bidding tools passed on to you.
- Mark-up on media. If spend runs through the supplier's invoice rather than straight to Google, ask whether a margin is added.
- VAT and terms. Check whether figures exclude VAT, and look closely at minimum terms and notice periods.
Freelancer, consultant, agency or in-house: different cost structures
A freelancer usually has the lowest overheads and works directly on your account, but capacity and cover for holidays are limited. A consultant brings senior judgement and may advise your own team rather than doing every task; see our page on working with a Google Ads consultant. An agency offers more capacity and specialisms such as feeds, creative and tracking, though you should know who actually works on your account. An in-house hire gives full-time focus, at the cost of salary, employer costs, tools and training, and depends on one person's range.
Compare on total cost per client won, not on the fee line alone.
Is your budget large enough to justify management?
There is no universal threshold, and anyone quoting one without seeing your market is guessing. The reasoning matters more. A budget must buy enough clicks and conversions, within a sensible period, to show which searches, ads and pages work. If media spend is small relative to the management fee, most of your investment goes on management rather than reach.
In that case, narrow the focus first: fewer services, a smaller area, only high-intent searches. Or fix the website and tracking before paying anyone to optimise campaigns. Judge any arrangement by the full picture: media spend plus fee plus extras, divided by the clients it produces.
How to compare PPC management quotes
Put competing proposals side by side and ask the same questions of each.
- Whose name is the account in? The Google Ads account, and Merchant Center if you sell online, should belong to your company. Suppliers work through access from their manager account.
- What happens each week and each month? Ask for a description of an ordinary month.
- Who does the work? The person who pitched, or someone you have not met?
- What is reported? Enquiries, clients and revenue, or impressions and clicks?
- What counts as extra? New campaigns, landing pages, new countries or languages.
- What are the term and notice period, and what do you keep when you leave?
Red flags
Promises of a fixed position or number of leads, accounts opened in the supplier's name, unexplained mark-up on spend and long lock-ins without a break clause. Nobody controls Google's auction or your competitors, so honest suppliers commit to process and transparency, not outcomes. If you want an independent view of an existing account before choosing, a Google Ads audit provides one.
When cheap management becomes expensive
In most accounts the larger share of money goes to Google, not to the manager. A low fee that buys too little attention can waste more media spend than it saves: months of paying for irrelevant searches, Smart Bidding optimising towards a broken conversion, recommendations applied without thought. The reverse is also true: a high fee is not proof of quality. Look for evidence of method, ownership and honest reporting.
We do not publish management prices, because each account demands something different. Every engagement starts with the Beacon Strategy Session, explained on our pricing page. If we take the work on, you receive a proposal with fixed scope and a fixed price, and the account stays in your name. Our PPC management page describes what that ongoing work involves.