How much does Google Ads management cost?

The Decision Audit is free. A Written Diagnosis is $1,500 one-time. Ongoing management starts at $2,500 per month, with final scope set after the account has been reviewed on the call.

How do I know if I need management vs just an audit?

If you do not know what is wrong yet, start with a diagnosis, not a retainer. Management makes sense when the problem is understood and there is ongoing work worth owning.

Can you work with a small or new account?

Management works best when there is some existing spend and data to react to. Very early-stage accounts are usually better served by a defined setup engagement first.

How is this different from a typical agency?

You work directly with the person making the decisions and doing the work. The full operating method is laid out on the system page.

The work behind the retainer

Google Ads management, explained.

What you actually pay for when someone runs your account. Scope, timeline, and what not to expect.

Book a Decision Audit

30 min, free. I reply within 24h.

Illustration of a gardener watering a growing plant next to a wilted one

€13M+ ad spend managedGoogle Partner since 20188+ years on Google Ads

The actual scope

What "Google Ads management" actually includes

Management, PPC services, consulting. Same job: see what's happening, fix the structure, decide on clean data.

Campaign strategy and structure

Which campaigns exist and what each one is for. A good structure makes the account easier to read, not bigger.

Bid and budget management

What Google can spend, where, and what the bidding chases. Control, not activity.

Conversion tracking

Every sale counted once, with the right value. Get this wrong and every automated decision is wrong too.

Ongoing optimization

Cut waste, test better traffic, move budget to what works. Decisions, not a change log.

Regular reporting

What changed, why, and what happened next. No dashboard translation needed.

The timeline

What to expect, in order

Weeks 1-2: Diagnosis before movement
What counts as a conversion, where the budget goes, and where the dashboard disagrees with the bank account.
Weeks 3-4: Structural fixes
Tracking, structure, feed. Some accounts need a rebuild. Others need three precise fixes and less fiddling.
Months 2-3: Optimization on clean data
The account measures the right thing, so search terms, budgets and bids can be judged without guessing.
Ongoing: Scale what works. Cut what does not.
Budget follows evidence. Three sentences a week beat a forty-page deck nobody reads.

What not to expect

Overnight results. A guaranteed ROAS before anyone opened the account. Being one of fifty accounts on a junior's desk. Anyone promising these before looking is selling, not diagnosing.

Four ways to staff it

Agency, freelancer, consultant, or in-house

None is automatically right. The full operational comparison is in the agency vs freelancer vs in-house guide.

Agency

More hands, more overhead, slower replies. The person who sold you is rarely the one running the account.

Freelancer or independent consultant

Direct line to the person doing the work. The tradeoff: one person's bandwidth.

In-house hire

Full control, full attention. Slow to hire, and a wrong hire gets expensive before anyone notices.

Project consultant

Good for one diagnosis, a handover or a specific repair. Not for day-to-day running.

Fit before contract

Who this fits

Ongoing management works best once there is already some ad spend and real data to react to.

Starting from zero? A defined setup project makes more sense. I'll say that on the call, not after you sign.

The part everyone misses

The diagnosis always comes before the pitch.

If a Google Ads consultant tells you what they will do before they have looked at your account, they are guessing, not diagnosing.

Real accounts · NDA

The work, on real accounts.

Anonymized under NDA. Numbers from the accounts themselves.

DTC eCommerce brand, feed & Merchant Center recovery.

€873Krevenue tracked

4.32×blended ROAS

Account performance outcome, figures anonymized

€202K in spend, feed-first fix, not a bidding trick.

DTC eCommerce brand, strong repeat-purchase model.

0.65× → 1.85×ROAS, spend held flat

+$21.7Kin added conversion value

The practical questions

Before you hire anyone

How much does Google Ads management cost?: The Decision Audit is free. A Written Diagnosis is $1,500 one-time. Ongoing management starts at $2,500 per month, with final scope set after the account has been reviewed on the call.
How do I know if I need management vs just an audit?: If you do not know what is wrong yet, start with a diagnosis, not a retainer. Management makes sense when the problem is understood and there is ongoing work worth owning.
Can you work with a small or new account?: Management works best when there is some existing spend and data to react to. Very early-stage accounts are usually better served by a defined setup engagement first.
How is this different from a typical agency?: You work directly with the person making the decisions and doing the work. The full operating method is laid out on the system page.

What the call looks like.

I open your account live, not a template.
I point to the one or two things costing you money.
I tell you plainly if management makes sense. Or if it doesn't.