Google Ads consulting is advice on an account you run yourself, or one an agency runs for you. I look at the account, answer the questions you are stuck on and give you a plan, then you or your agency make the changes. You keep the work in-house and pay only for the thinking you need.
If you would rather hand the account over completely, that is a different service: monthly PPC management, where I make the changes in the account myself.
When advice is enough
Plenty of UK businesses have someone capable running Google Ads: a marketing manager, an owner who built the first campaigns, or an agency on a retainer. What they lack is not hands but a second opinion. Costs have crept up and nobody can say why. A new campaign type is being pushed by Google’s own reps. The agency’s monthly report says things are fine while the phone has gone quiet.
In those situations paying someone to take over is often the wrong answer. The person running the account already knows your customers, your margins and your busy months. Focused advice, followed up once the changes have settled, usually fixes more than a change of hands would, and the knowledge stays in your business.
Who it suits, and who it does not
Consulting works well for:
- in-house marketers who run Google Ads alongside other jobs and want someone to check their thinking before they make a large change;
- owners who set up their own account, are spending real money and want to know whether it is being spent sensibly;
- businesses paying an agency who want an independent view of the work, without starting a fight or a tender.
It is a poor fit if nobody in the business has time to act on the advice. A plan that sits in an inbox changes nothing, and in that case management is better value. It is also more than you need if you are still deciding whether to advertise at all; my comparison of Facebook Ads and Google Ads is a cheaper place to start.
What consulting covers
An account review and a plan
I go through the account the way I would if I were taking it on: campaign structure, the search terms report, bidding, budgets, ads, the pages the ads send people to and, above all, the conversion tracking. You get a short written plan in priority order, with the reason for each change, so the person doing the work understands it rather than just following it.
Problem-solving sessions
Some questions do not need a full review. Why did cost per enquiry double after we switched bidding? Should we move our search budget into Performance Max? Why are conversions in Google Ads twice what our CRM shows? I look at the relevant part of the account before we speak, so the call is spent on answers rather than on screen-sharing.
Coaching for the person who runs the account
Sessions with the person in your team who runs Google Ads, working through your own account rather than generic examples. The aim is that they make sound decisions on their own, and need me less each month.
A second pair of eyes on an agency
I read the account with view-only access and compare what the agency reports with what the account shows. I check whether the business owns the account, whether the tracking counts real enquiries, and whether the change history shows steady work. You get a plain account of what is good, what is missing and what to ask the agency, which keeps the conversation factual.
Monthly advisory calls
A regular call, at an interval we agree before work starts, where we go through the numbers, the changes made since last time and what to test next. It suits teams that are confident day to day but want someone outside the account to keep it honest.
How a consulting engagement runs
- A short call first. You tell me what is worrying you and what you want to decide. I tell you which kind of help fits, or whether you need any at all.
- Access. You add me to the account with read-only access, plus Google Analytics if you use it. I never need your login.
- I study the account. I work through the data before we meet, so I come with findings rather than questions you could answer yourself.
- We talk it through. A working session where I explain what I found and we agree the order of changes, given your time and budget.
- A written summary. Afterwards you get the decisions, the reasons and the next steps in writing.
- A follow-up. Once the changes have had time to settle, we look at what moved and what to do next.
Problems I am most often asked about
- Tracking that counts the wrong things. Page views, button clicks or duplicate form fires recorded as conversions, so Smart Bidding learns to chase the wrong visitors. My guide to checking your conversion tracking works covers the tests I run first.
- Consent gaps. UK visitors who decline cookies disappear from reporting when Consent Mode is missing or misconfigured, and the cookie banner and the tags are often set up by different people.
- Auto-applied recommendations. Changes switched on through recommendations and auto-apply that nobody remembers approving, such as broad match keywords or raised budgets.
- Location settings. Campaigns aimed at a city or county but left on the default that also reaches people merely interested in the area, which matters for any business that serves only part of the UK.
- Brand searches paid for twice. Performance Max or broad match picking up searches for your own name, which flatters the results and hides what the rest of the account really costs.
What you receive
- A written plan or session summary, in priority order, with the reasoning for each item.
- Answers to the specific questions you brought, tied to evidence in your account.
- A short list of what to watch over the following weeks so you can tell whether the changes worked.
- Where it helps, worked examples from your own data, such as a negative keyword list built from your search terms using my keyword match type tool.
Consulting, an audit or management
| Option | Who does the work | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| Consulting | You or your agency, with my advice | You have someone capable running the account and want a second opinion or a plan |
| A full written audit | I review; you or your agency act on it | You want a complete check of every part of the account in one document |
| Monthly management | Me, in the account | Nobody in the business has the time to run the account |
Consulting and an audit overlap. The difference is that consulting is a conversation shaped by your questions, while an audit is a complete document. If you want to work through the basics yourself first, the Google Ads checklist covers the checks I would make in the first hour.
Fees and next step
There is no fixed price list: each quote is written after a free audit or first call, in GBP, and agreed in writing before work starts. You pay Google directly for your advertising, as you do now; my fee is separate.
The simplest start is a short call. Tell me what you want to decide, and I will tell you honestly whether consulting, an audit, management or nothing at all is the right next step. Book a call about your Google Ads account.