8 Things To Look For In A Google Ads (AdWords) Specialist

One of the main challenges of launching an AdWords strategy is finding the right AdWords specialist to work with. Sure you can choose to manage the campaigns yourself and forego looking for outside help, but that can often be a steep learning curve with poor results being the outcome.

 

Working with the wrong AdWords specialist too will be costly for your business and could see you spending a fortune in Pay Per Click Spend for little or no return.

 

So, follow these 8 tips to find the right AdWords Expert for your business:

 

Are they Adwords certified?

 

This is one of the fundamental things to look out for. If they have taken the time to get certified by passing the exams and committing to improve themselves professionally and personally, then they are more likely to be serious about helping their clients and not out to earn a fast buck.

 

The most important and recognisable certification is Google Certification which is an essential step to getting Google Partner status. To become a partner, one needs to pass the fundamental exam and the advanced Search exam and manage at least $10,000 of Adwords budget every 90 days.

 

They should also have been part of the programme for at least 12 months and have good overall performance for the accounts they manage.

 

What is their Adwords strategy?

 

Every Google Ads PPC specialist worth his salt has at least one strategy on how to achieve marketing goals using PPC tactics. This should include how they will help you reach your goals whether it’s more sales or leads or increasing traffic volume.

 

And with that they will plan the acquisition, conversion and engagement approach they will follow. This is what each stage will include to achieve the goals:

 

Acquisition – will you use a Search campaign to target people who are actively searching for products and services? What about display? Will it be part of the acquisition strategy? Do you have an app,or video that you would like to promote? Which campaign type will you launch? And what ads, keywords, bids, ad extensions etc will all this include?

 

Conversion – has conversion tracking been setup to track sales or leads? Would it not be better to setup goal tracking in analytics instead? What is an acceptable conversion rate? Which metrics will you track and analyse?

 

Engagement – have you setup Google analytics and linked it to Adwords to track landing page engagement? What is your target bounce rate? How will they improve landing page experience? Which engagement metrics will be tracked and why?

 

All these questions and more should be answered in the AdWords strategy and the specialist should have a plan and strategy for your campaigns.

 

Who have they worked with?

 

Check out their portfolio to assess their expertise and to see if they have experience in your industry. You can either check their website for a portfolio or look at past reviews, or even ask for a list of past clients that you can contact to find out more about their experience.

 

Do they have online reviews?

 

Without online reviews, it would be almost impossible to know how good they are. Reputable sites like Feefo, Google and Trust Pilot collect reviews on behalf of companies and an AdWords specialist should use one of these to collect reviews from past clients.

 

The reviews will also give you an indication of which areas they are actually good at. Remember, AdWords is a big advertising platform with many campaign types including Search, Display, Remarketing, Gmail Ads, App Advertising and video advertising

 

And not many specialists have experience in all these platforms. So, if Search is important to your needs, look for an indication in the reviews that they have received.

 

How much do they charge?

 

What an Adwords consultant charges is important because if it’s too high, then it will make your advertising less profitable; and if it’s too low, they will spend less time on your account, because they will have many others to service too.

 

However, the value they bring is more important than what they charge. A good Adwords specialist will help increase sales or leads for your business that will pay their charges many times over.

 

There are a number of charging structures including:

 

⁃ a percentage of your Adwords budget. So for example if your budget is £1500 and they charge 15%, then their monthly fee will be £150. 15% is an industry average and some charge as high as 25% and some as low as 5%, depending on the budget amount

⁃ They may charge a fixed fee regardless of amount of time and work that is required. So, maybe £300 per month regardless of the size of the account.

⁃ They will charge a minimum amount like £250 per month and will charge higher for more complex accounts.
⁃ They may have packages with different tiers like Bronze, Silver and Gold and your choice of package will depend on your goals and budget.

 

There are other charging structures and this will depend on who you speak to.

 

Do they understand your business and industry?

 

Look for an AdWords specialist that has experience in your business sector or one that is willing to learn more about your sector and understand buyer behaviour.

 

Of course, you can help them by providing a brief with details on the target market, size of market, nature of your products or services, competitors and more.

 

With this information they can research further and use tools like the keyword planner and display planner in AdWords to dig deeper into the audience.

 

Do they have capacity?

 

Check to see how many clients they are currently working with. This will give you an indication of how much time and effort they will put into managing your campaigns.

 

It’s important to ensure they have the capacity and resources to service your account because many Adwords experts are lured by the financial benefits and may not work in your best interests.

 

Of course it’s not always easy to know beforehand how much capacity they have but you can take a few measures like:

 

⁃ Asking how many clients they are currently working with
⁃ How long it takes to setup new campaigns and make changes

 

Are they a good fit for your business?

 

Ultimately, the Adwords specialist should be a good fit for your business and theirs too. You can ask some qualifying questions and the answers should match closely to what you are looking for.

 

Beware of specialists that accept all clients. They are usually in it for the money alone and will not put in the time required to make your account a success.