Google Ads Management · Oxford, UK

The most common problem we see is a lack of negative keywords. Every Google Ads account triggers searches that are completely irrelevant to the business. A plumber bidding on “emergency plumber” might be paying for clicks from people searching “how to become a plumber” or “plumber salary UK.” Without a comprehensive negative keyword list that gets reviewed and expanded weekly, you’re paying for traffic that will never convert.

The second biggest issue is trusting Google’s recommendations blindly. Google’s “optimisation score” is not your friend. It’s designed to increase Google’s revenue, not yours. Recommendations like “switch to broad match” or “increase your budget by 30%” are almost always in Google’s interest, not yours. We evaluate every recommendation against actual performance data before making any changes.

The third issue is broken conversion tracking. We audit accounts regularly where the tracking hasn’t been working properly for months — sometimes because a website update broke the tags, sometimes because it was never set up correctly in the first place. Without accurate conversion data, every decision you make about your campaigns is based on incomplete information. You can’t optimise what you can’t measure.

Google’s Smart Bidding strategies (Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximise Conversions) use machine learning to set bids in real time. They can be extremely effective — but only under the right conditions. The algorithm needs a minimum volume of conversion data to learn effectively (Google recommends at least 30 conversions in the last 30 days, but in practice, 50+ produces more reliable results).

For new accounts or accounts with low conversion volume, we typically start with manual CPC or Enhanced CPC. This gives us direct control over bids while we gather enough data to feed the algorithm. Once we have a solid conversion history and the data is clean, transitioning to Smart Bidding often produces better results than manual management alone — but only if the foundations are right.

The critical point most people miss: Smart Bidding is only as good as the data you feed it. If your conversion tracking is inaccurate, if you’re counting irrelevant actions as conversions, or if your conversion values are wrong, the algorithm will optimise towards the wrong targets. We make sure the data is rock solid before handing any control to Google’s automation.

Conversion tracking connects what happens in your Google Ads account to what happens on your website. When someone clicks your ad and then takes a valuable action — submits a form, makes a phone call, completes a purchase — conversion tracking records that action and attributes it back to the specific keyword, ad, campaign, and even the time of day that generated it.

We set this up through Google Tag Manager, which acts as a container for all your tracking codes. This approach is cleaner, more reliable, and easier to maintain than hardcoding scripts directly into your website. It also means we can add or modify tracking without needing a developer to make changes to your site code every time.

For phone calls, we use a combination of Google Ads call extensions (which track calls made directly from the ad) and call tracking numbers on your website (which track calls from people who click through and then call). For e-commerce, we set up enhanced conversions that pass transaction data back to Google Ads, giving the algorithm richer data to optimise against.

Every tracking setup we build gets tested before campaigns go live. We trigger test conversions, verify they appear in the Google Ads interface, check the attribution model is correct, and make sure the data matches what your CRM or analytics platform shows. If the numbers don’t match, we don’t launch.

Google Ads gives you immediate visibility. You can be at the top of search results within hours of launching a campaign. The trade-off is that visibility disappears the moment you stop paying — it’s a tap, not a well. SEO builds an asset: organic rankings that keep generating traffic without ongoing ad spend. The trade-off is that it takes time — typically three to six months for meaningful results.

They work best together. The smart approach is to use Google Ads for immediate traffic while SEO builds momentum, then gradually shift budget from paid to organic as your rankings improve. The data flows both ways too: your Google Ads campaigns show you exactly which keywords convert (not just attract clicks), and that intelligence directly informs your SEO content strategy.

For clients who run both with us, we coordinate the two channels to avoid cannibalisation. If you’re already ranking organically for a keyword, we might pull back on the paid bid for that term and redirect the budget to keywords where you need paid coverage. The goal is maximum visibility across both channels without paying twice for the same click.

Performance Max (PMax) is Google’s campaign type that runs across all of Google’s inventory — Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, and Discover — from a single campaign. Google’s AI decides where to show your ads, what creative combinations to use, and how to bid. It’s powerful, but it’s also a black box.

PMax works best for e-commerce businesses with product feeds, where the algorithm has rich data (product images, prices, descriptions) and clear conversion signals (transactions with values). For lead generation businesses, it’s more nuanced — the algorithm can struggle to distinguish between high-quality and low-quality leads, and the lack of transparency around search terms makes it harder to control what you’re bidding on.

We use PMax selectively, not by default. For most lead-gen clients, we prefer standard Search campaigns where we have full control over keywords, match types, and negative keywords. If PMax is the right fit for your business, we’ll structure it with proper asset groups, audience signals, and brand exclusions to keep the algorithm focused on the right traffic.

Our management fee depends on the size and complexity of your account. Most clients pay between £400 and £1,200 per month for management, which is separate from your ad spend — that goes directly to Google. We’ll give you a clear quote after understanding your goals and the work involved. No hidden fees, no percentage of spend that incentivises us to increase your budget unnecessarily.

You’ll start getting traffic as soon as the campaigns go live — usually within a few days of onboarding. But the real results come from optimisation, which takes time. The first month is about gathering data. By month two or three, we’ve got enough information to make meaningful improvements. Most accounts hit their stride around the three-month mark.

It depends on your industry and what a customer is worth to you. As a rough guide, most of our clients spend between £500 and £3,000 per month on ads. If your budget is below £500, we might not generate enough data to optimise effectively — but we’ll be honest about that upfront. We’d rather tell you to wait than take your money for a campaign that can’t work.

No. We charge a flat management fee. Percentage-of-spend pricing creates a conflict of interest — the more you spend, the more your manager earns, whether that extra spend actually helps you or not. Our fee is based on the work involved, not your budget. If we recommend increasing your budget, it’s because the data says it will be profitable.

Yes — we offer a free initial audit for new clients. We’ll look at your campaign structure, keyword targeting, negative keyword lists, conversion tracking, ad copy, and bid strategy. You’ll get an honest assessment of what’s working, what’s not, and where the biggest opportunities are. No obligation to work with us afterwards.

Absolutely. Your Google Ads account belongs to you, and you have full access at all times. If we stop working together, you keep everything — the account, the campaigns, the conversion data, the historical performance. Some agencies set up accounts under their own manager account and hold your data hostage. We don’t do that.

Because you get the senior specialists doing the work, not an account manager relaying messages. We're a small, senior team: strategy, execution and reporting come from the people who own the result, decisions happen fast, and nothing falls through the gaps between departments. If that sounds like a better fit, get in touch or see how pricing works.