It All Started With An Idea
FAQ · The honest answers

The PPC questions clients actually ask.

The PPC questions clients ask most often, answered honestly. Performance Max, attribution, AI in advertising, budget allocation, agency selection.

These are the questions that come up in almost every discovery call. We've answered them honestly here so we can spend the first call on your specific situation, not on PPC 101.

Should I run Performance Max?

Probably yes, eventually. But not as your first campaign. Build out branded search + non-branded search + Shopping (if e-com) first so PMax has signal to learn from. Then add PMax as your scaling layer with deliberate asset groups and audience signals.

What ROAS should I expect?

Anyone telling you a number without seeing your account is making it up. ROAS depends on your margin, your customer LTV, your competitive set, your funnel quality. The right question is "what ROAS makes my business work?" not "what ROAS is normal?"

Should I have separate campaigns for branded and non-branded?

Yes. Branded converts at 3-10x non-branded ROAS and should never be optimized together. Branded also gets cannibalized by non-branded if you let it, so separation is also a measurement integrity move.

How much should I spend on Google Ads to get started?

Minimum useful test budget is ~$3K/month for 60 days. Below that, you don't generate enough data for Google's bid algorithms to learn. If you have less than that, focus on organic + GBP + 1 high-intent search campaign at $20-30/day, hyper-targeted.

Is AI taking over PPC?

AI does the wrangling — bid adjustments, search-term mining, asset variations, performance summaries. It does NOT do strategy, judgment, or creative direction yet. Human strategist + AI agent is the winning combo for now. We built Buddy because we wanted that combo on every account.

Should I trust Performance Max's reporting?

Trust it for direction, not for absolute numbers. PMax over-reports conversions vs Search and under-reports vs Display. We always reconcile against GA4 + first-party data before believing the bottom-line.

What's the difference between Google Ads and Microsoft Ads?

Microsoft = cheaper CPCs (often 30-50% less), older + more affluent audience, less search volume. For most B2B and luxury B2C, running both is a win. For pure-volume e-commerce, lead with Google and add Microsoft once Google is dialed.

How do I pick an agency?

Three signals: (1) Will they share the underlying data with you, or just polished reports? (2) Do they have specialists or generalists? (3) Will they say "no" to a campaign they don't believe in? If yes on all three, you have a real partner.

Should I use an in-house team or an agency?

If you spend >$100K/month and have 2+ paid-media specialists in-house, you can probably run it in-house with consulting support. Below that, agency math usually wins because the senior expertise is too expensive to hire full-time.

More questions? Send them →

Hiring a PPC agency

Questions to ask a PPC agency, and the ones it should ask you.

Use these on any agency call, including ours. The good answers are short and specific.

What questions should I ask a PPC agency before hiring them?

Ask questions that reveal who does the work, who owns what, and how success is measured. Here are the ones that matter most, with what a good answer sounds like.

Who will run my account day to day? A name and a background, not "our team". If the senior person on the sales call disappears after signing, you'll know.

Do I own the ad account and the data? The answer should be yes, with the account in your name and the agency given access. Never let an agency build your account inside theirs.

How are you paid? A flat fee, a percentage of spend or a mix. Each is fine if it's clear. Be careful with fees that rise automatically as spend rises without any added work.

What will you change in the first 30 days? A real answer mentions conversion tracking, search terms and wasted spend before new campaigns.

How will you report results? Leads, sales or revenue tied to your CRM, not just clicks and impressions.

What's the contract length and exit process? Month to month with a short notice period is a sign of confidence.

Can I talk to a current client? Any agency with happy clients can arrange it.

What questions should a PPC agency ask a new client?

A good agency asks about your business before your ads. If the first call is all about their process, they're selling, not diagnosing.

Expect questions like: what is a customer worth to you over a year? What does a qualified lead look like, and what happens after it comes in? What's your profit margin by product or service? Which locations, times and customers matter most? What has worked or failed before? Who answers the phone, and how fast?

These shape the target cost per lead, the conversion tracking and the bidding strategy. We ask them during every free audit, and the answers often change the plan more than anything in the ad account.

Who owns my Google Ads account if I leave the agency?

You should. The account, the conversion history and the audiences belong to your business, and an agency should only ever be a user on your account.

If an agency created the account under its own manager account and billing, ask now for ownership transfer in writing. Losing years of conversion data means starting Smart Bidding from scratch.

With us, your accounts stay in your name, and if you leave you keep everything, including the campaign structure, scripts and reports we built.

How are PPC agencies paid, and which model is best?

The common models are a percentage of ad spend, a flat monthly fee, a hybrid of the two, or a performance fee. None is best for everyone; what matters is that the incentive matches your goal.

Percentage-of-spend rewards spending more, so pair it with clear efficiency targets. Flat fees are predictable but can mean less attention as you grow. Performance fees sound ideal but depend on tracking both sides agree on.

We use a hybrid: a flat monthly fee plus a small percentage of spend, typically $2,000 to $15,000 a month in total, with a $3,000 monthly ad spend minimum. Details are on the paid media page.

How long does it take for PPC to start working?

You'll see traffic within days, but give a new or restructured account 60 to 90 days before judging it.

The first few weeks collect data: which search terms convert, what each lead costs, which ads win. Smart Bidding needs a steady flow of conversions to learn, and every major change restarts some of that learning.

An existing account with wasted spend can improve much faster, because cutting irrelevant search terms and fixing broken tracking pays off in the first month.

What should a monthly PPC report include?

Results in business terms first, then what changed and why, then what happens next.

That means leads or sales and their cost, revenue or pipeline where it can be tracked, spend against budget, the main changes made and their effect, and the plan for next month. Click-through rate and impressions belong in the appendix.

If your report is pages of charts with no recommendations, ask for a one-page summary. That's the format we send, written by the person running the account.