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I have been editing this blog for years. I have been managing Google Ads campaigns for even longer, and working with SEA agencies. I spend +2000h per year, for 15 years, my nose in accounts.
As an expert at Google, my job is to advise the most beautiful brands in the world on their Google Ads strategies, and the management of their accounts.
Over the years, my job has brought me into contact with dozens of SEA agencies; I myself came from a digital agency!
I’ve worked with Google Ads providers of all kinds:
- famous agencies,
- independent agencies,
- certified agencies,
- agencies that are launching,
- communication agencies,
- digital agencies,
- freelancers…
In short, my Googler experience has allowed me to see more clearly about the 8 million results that appear when you search for “Google Ads agency” on a search engine.
Whether you are a multinational or a small business that spends a few tens of euros on Google Ads, here are 5 tips (and another as a bonus) from an experienced Googler to help you select your paid SEO agency.
Of course, all the comments made in this article are strictly personal and in no way reflect the position of my employer.
1 / First determine if your Google Ads campaigns really need an agency
Is your Google Ads budget sufficient to properly compensate an agency?
The primary objective for a company when it uses an SEA agency remains the acquisition of traffic via an advertising agency, whether it is Google or Bing.
Depending on your sector of activity, the agency can also direct you towards putting your ads online on the display network, Google Shopping (or YouTube with video) or for a year on social networks with Google Discovery Ads. The team of SEA experts will judge, thanks to its experience and level of knowledge, the best visibility strategies to adopt to maximize your ROI while taking into account the notoriety of your company, the competition inherent in your sector of activity… But above all your budget!
Sometimes I meet entrepreneurs who are hungry for growth and eyeing Google Ads to make it their lead machine. So far, we understand them.
However, they want to “see first” and they have €10 a day to spend. A sum that has the merit of existing, you say? The problem is that they still dream of having someone who would do the work for them, and are therefore actively looking for the freelancer who will accept the mission they have to offer.
Let’s think:
- 10€ per day, that represents 304€ per month.
- Imagine that an SEA agency improves your performance by 15% : this represents a gain of €45.6 per month.
- Even if, in a very improbable way, you agree to give back 100% of these gains to your agency, do you think that the latter can survive by invoicing its services 45€ per month?
- In the unlikely event that you find someone who agrees to manage your account at this rate, will the time you spend researching, evaluating, contacting, formalizing and maintaining the relationship with an agency be worth less than 45€? Because otherwise, you would be a loser…
If we keep this assumption that your agency can make you gain 15% more performance, then we deduce that the value created by your service provider will be equivalent to a minimum wage only if you invest at least €10,000 per month on Google Ads.
If you work with an SEA agency when you have a small budget, you mainly buy outsourcing (and not more efficient campaigns)
There are all kinds of agencies, for all budgets, but with less than 300€ of expenses per day, understand that calling on an SEA agency is not necessarily the most advantageous solution, neither for you, nor for the provider.
However, if you still decide to pay a specialized agency when you have a low budget, you must accept that it is not so much the performance of your campaigns that you are buying, but rather the “peace of mind” of not having to Manage your account.
It’s a luxury that will obviously have an “additional cost”, but don’t expect a Google Ads professional to turn a few tens of euros into millions of customers…
To give you an analogy, using an SEA agency with a small budget is like investing €1,000 in life insurance with controlled management :
- even if your manager is very efficient,
- the cost of his services will in any case absorb all the gains he may have made you earn on your €1000 of capital.
- Thus, you do not derive any advantage from the manager’s know-how, but at least you have the peace of mind of not taking care of it yourself.
2 / A good SEA agency has a lot of experience, and can explain its method to you simply
Would you entrust your Google Ads budget to an intern?
It makes sense, but beware of agencies that, once you’ve told them your goals, stammer when you ask them “how are you going to get there concretely?” »
It ‘s so easy today to claim to be an “expert” because you managed the Google Ads account of your sister-in-law who was spending €25/day… You’d be surprised at the number of account managers who have no idea what they do behind the controls!
Bad Google Ads account managers can be found everywhere : among freelancers, as among agencies.
- Don’t believe that Google certification can really guarantee that you are doing business with the elite of service providers.
- There are also those freelancers who “tinker” a bit on other platforms (eg Facebook) and suddenly think they have the shoulders to tame Google Ads, but the two types of advertising are still very different.
- Knocking on the door of a reputable agency is not always a guarantee of success either. Because, even if you may have been charmed by a senior consultant during the sale, it is still likely that your money will end up in the hands of an intern…
As proof, it is easy to find dozens of ads on the web offering an internship in “advice / strategy / management” of Google Ads campaigns. They may be the ones playing with your money when you sign with an agency.
Get your SEA agency to talk about the “roadmap” they have in mind for your campaigns
So how do you guard against this risk when choosing an SEA agency? It’s simple: you have to make the service provider talk about his method, and the “recipe” he intends to use to achieve your business objectives.
Of course, a method is made to be constantly readjusted (especially on Google Ads), but a true expert will be able to explain to you, in simple words, the roadmap he intends to follow, and even tell you about when and how he intends to raise the unknown questions that still arise in relation to your campaigns.
- Ultimately, it comes down to making sure the agency has a plan and a process they’re going to put into action to work towards your success.
- She doesn’t have to be right or wrong (after all, no agency has a crystal ball), but it’s important that she proves to you that she knows what she’s doing.
- This will also allow you to judge the level of attention and work that your service provider intends to give to your account.
Would you like to see an example of a good strategy offered by an agency that has a real method, and who knows what they are doing? For that, I let you look at the case study of one of the clients of the SEA Digimood agency:
The best SEA agency? It’s the one that goes beyond “running” your account
Google Ads campaigns take a while to reach “cruising speed” and even then their performance will continue to have ups and downs. Indeed, demand and competition are not static either.
But make no mistake: a good agency!
is not one that is confined to simple reporting. Truth be told, the best advertising agencies on the web won’t come back to tell you that clicks are increasing, that ads need to be changed, that spending fluctuates… The best do it, without having to ask you for your opinion.
They adjust their techniques to allow you to gain better performance over time and they spend the rest of their time carrying out much deeper analyzes, which exceed their only lever of paid referencing. More than a Google Ads consultant, these agencies become consultants for your digital marketing as a whole.
And if you are really interested in following the day-to-day work of the agency, go straight into the account! You don’t need to ask an account manager to spend 4 hours on an agency presentation to find out how many clicks you received yesterday.
Warning: the tool does not make the Google Ads agency
Some agencies will praise their technological tools as competitive assets allowing you to get ahead of your competitors.
When I see the power of the free Google Ads platform, and I place myself on the side of the agency’s client (so who has no operations to do, no productivity problems), I don’t see exactly what the free version of Google Ads lacks.
The reality is that 80% of operations that require a tool are intended to automate agency operations, thus making it more productive. But the performance benefits are sometimes less obvious. Used at medium speeds, these tools only bring performance gains close to zero for the advertiser.
In other words: “tech tool” does not always mean “better performance”.
And so, the flip side is that your money ultimately funds the agency’s productivity tool (with nothing in return).
Please note, I am not saying that you should run away as soon as an SEA agency uses a tool to manage your advertising campaigns! Far from it… You shouldn’t just be seduced by the promise of a highly superior technology that would secure the return on investment of your campaigns… As long as nothing has been observed, it remains a fairy tale.
Finally, I would add that the performance delivered by a tool is directly dependent on how the operator uses it. If you put a monkey in a rocket, that doesn’t make him an engineer. However, managing Google Ads campaigns is a skill that requires rigour, method and experience. The tool does not make the expert.
3 / Familiarize yourself with the different SEA agency compensation models
An SEA agency “loses” money at the start and only earns its margin in the medium/long term
Before going into the details of the different compensation models, it is important to understand that managing a Google Ads account requires significant initial effort (account setup, more frequent optimizations), which inevitably affects the provider’s profitability by start of mission.
It is only over the months that the service becomes more “profitable” for the agency, once the campaign reaches a semblance of cruising speed.
Therefore, you understand that:
- some service providers may ask you to pay additional “setup” fees at the start of the mission,
- peu d’entre eux accepteront des missions courtes, « one shot », sans prendre la gestion de vos campagnes sur le long terme,
- si vous changez d’agence Google Ads au bout de quelques mois, vous lui faites littéralement perdre de l’argent et les prochains prestataires y penseront à deux fois avant de travailler avec vous, de peur de subir le même sort.
Les différents modèles de rémunération des prestataires Google Ads
Les agences Google Ads ont plusieurs modèles de rémunération. Il n’y a pas un modèle meilleur qu’un autre. Certaines n’utilisent qu’un seul type de modèle de rémunération, d’autres peuvent proposer plusieurs manières de facturer leurs honoraires, en fonction du profil du client.
Gestion de campagnes Google Ads au forfait
In this flat-rate model, the service provider asks you for a fixed sum, each month, to manage your account. This remains unchanged whether you spend €1 or €100,000 on Google Ads. The package therefore allows the service provider to smooth out its turnover, and to properly value its work regardless of your decisions on your media budget (the money you give to Google to broadcast your advertisements).
On paper, the philosophy of the agency that invoices on a flat-rate basis is:
“Whatever your budget, I’ll take care of your account like I do all the others. By “unlinking” me from the specific amount you invest, the agency is guaranteed to be paid for its work, and on your side as an advertiser, you know that my quality of service will remain constant. »
Management of Google Ads campaigns based on percentage of media spend
Here, the agency offers to pay its fees based on a certain percentage of your Google Ads spend. This percentage can generally vary between 5% and 25% of your expenses, and will of course depend on the sums you invest in paid referencing.
The philosophy of the service provider who opts for this method of remuneration is as follows:
“You pay a fair price based on the budget you invest because if you spend more on Google Ads, the agency will likely have to spend more time on your account. »
Google Ads performance campaign management
For some time now, we have seen more and more Google Ads agencies and freelancers adopting this method of remuneration. In this scenario, the service provider will take a certain percentage of the turnover it generates on your e-commerce site, or a fixed sum each time your campaigns send you a lead (if you do not sell online, for example). ). Since agency fees vary, it is common for an initial setup cost to be requested.
With this remuneration model, it is the provider who takes most of the risk, but he is also very dependent on:
- your budgets (if you reduce your Google Ads budgets drastically, then he can no longer be paid)
- and the power of your brand (if you start a new business, your brand is still unknown, conversion rates may be low, and despite a lot of work, the agency will earn little).
The philosophy of the agency that offers this remuneration model is as follows:
“I really think I can bring you a lot of visibility, and since your advertising budget is already decent and your business is well established, I am ready to make my agency take the risk. If you don’t see results, you don’t pay us, on the other hand, if we blow the targets, you agree to write us big checks. »
Management of Google Ads full performance campaigns (or delegation)
It is a model that is still not very widespread among agencies, but which despite everything has the merit of existing. Here, it’s the agency that pays the advertising budget for your campaigns and you don’t even have access to the account. The service provider therefore positions itself more as an “affiliate” than a traditional SEA agency.
The service provider’s philosophy is as follows:
“You expect results from your agency, not speeches. And we are convinced that we can be a business engine for you; so we are ready to pay your advertising budgets and to do everything so that our actions have a direct impact on your income statement. Our agency will assume 100% of the financial and operational risk. »
Although in this scenario the advertiser is not taking any risk, the agency will in return ask for high commissions on your turnover.
In addition, there is an inherent “flaw” to this model, especially if you have strong brand awareness. Indeed, since the media costs are borne by the service provider, the latter will be hesitant to aggressively seek out new customers (more expensive to convert) and will do everything possible to maximize the ROI of the campaigns by first targeting the prospects who already know you and are already “ripe” to buy from you (for example those who are looking for your brand, or who have already visited your site several times)
There are still other compensation models, which are much less widespread and which I will not detail here. But if you are interested in the subject, I invite you to read the following article:
4 / Price of SEA agencies: do not give in to call prices, what matters is the cost per modification
If you pay your agency with peanuts, don’t be surprised they never work on your campaigns
Do you think that a real Google Ads “ninja” gets paid with a slingshot? No. A real, experienced Google Ads manager, on the contrary, pays a lot of money. Especially since I notice the daily shortage of “real” experts on the market, which is not the case for other platforms like Facebook.
Some providers will attract you with monthly offers that cost a few hundred euros, which will seem affordable and interesting at first glance… But beware, a provider (freelance or agency) who offers low prices is always doubtful…
Generalizing, I would even say that the more the presentation seems “cheap”, the more there is a risk that it will cost you much more than you imagined.
Because yes, to charge little, you have to work little.
Therefore, you will pay a very low monthly fee, to a pseudo professional, who in any case will only have 15min per month to allocate to your account. Because with competitive rates, many agencies maintain a vicious circle:
- to grow, you need more customers
- to get more customers, you need aggressive pricing
- to have aggressive prices, you have to work as little as possible and use the cheapest possible labor (trainees, outsourcing in India, etc.)
Calculate and track “rate per change” (or find out if your SEA agency is doing its job)
From experience, Google Ads agencies / freelancers who operate with an aggressive call price tend to “let your ads run” without actually optimizing them. Again, to be profitable, these agencies must limit the time spent in your account as much as possible. Their interest is to work only once to set up your campaigns, and to spend as little time as possible afterwards to optimize them.
To avoid this trap of SEA agencies that only “read the meters”, I invite all advertisers to calculate and follow the “price per modification” to know the “real” price of their agency.
Concretely, it is a question of dividing the fees of the agency by the number of modifications they have made in your account (you can easily consult all the modifications made in your account, as explained here ).
Consider the example shown in the following table, which compares the rate per change between two agencies.
| Agence A | Agence B | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly rate billed | 99€ | 2 000€ |
| Number of changes / month | 17 | 1 430 |
| Price per modification | 5.8€ | 1.4€ |
Although agency B charges fees about 20 times higher, its rate per modification is 4 times more competitive than that of agency A. In other words, given the work it provides, agency B is much cheaper than agency A!
Do you think the example is a caricature? Instead, take a look at the following screenshot that shows the work done by a real Google Ads agency that charges $200 per month for account management:
The cost per change here is;
(200€ x 3 months) / 38 modifications = 15.8€!!
The limits of the “tariff per modification” to evaluate the tariff of its SEA agency
It is obvious that this indicator of the “Price per modification” has its limits:
- The agency can use automation & artificial intelligence to facilitate its work and improve its productivity. It would be irresponsible for an agency not to give Google algorithms a chance when it comes to automatic bid management, dynamic ad creation, or automatic keyword targeting. After all, they are extremely powerful when they are well used.
- In the same way, it is not necessarily because a service provider makes more modifications that your campaigns will have better results. If your agency makes 10,000 edits per month because every bid is handled manually, you can consider that your money could definitely be put to better use. Indeed, if 80% of these tasks are well taken care of by an algorithm (or a monkey), the account manager can then spend more time on strategic tasks, with greater added value for your business.
Although imperfect, this indicator is nevertheless very interesting, because it puts a price on the effective work of your agency.
Parfois, les résultats sont surprenants ; l’agence que vous pensiez être pourtant la plus compétitive s’avère en réalité être la plus chère du marché.
5 / Beware of SEA agencies that have “dogmatic” positions
The 3 types of SEA agencies
My job at Google is based on constant exchange with paid search professionals. And I would say that there are 3 categories:
- Those who constantly follow Google recommendations, without really asking the question if it can work for their client.
- Those who are familiar with Google Ads campaign management, and who act with a test & learn method, and thus keep the best and discard what does not work.
- Those who 100% reject all Google recommendations, because they are convinced that they have the science infused (and this also allows them to justify their work).
Personally, I invite you to be wary of service providers who belong to category 1 and 3. These are what I call service providers with a “dogmatic” position.
You can’t trust algorithms 100%
During my career, I’ve had the privilege of working on thousands of Google Ads accounts. And despite what you may read on Google’s Help Center, it would be silly to believe that all AI-powered advertising products work 100% of the time, for 100% of the business.
You have to keep a benevolent curiosity about the advice you can receive on Google Ads. Indeed, each business is a unique situation, and what worked well for one advertiser will not necessarily work for another. This is why, before trusting algorithms, you must first test them, and validate that they work better (or not) for your business.
Therefore, if you are working with a service provider who is content only to apply massive automation from the start, without ever challenging the algorithms and above all, who does not scientifically verify that they work for you, then this is your account. is not in good hands.
Of course, it’s worth looking into these AI-powered solutions, they really can be extremely powerful when used well. But not doing tests worthy of the name, with a clean methodology, is just a lack of professionalism or a lack of expertise.
Conversely, beware of those who constantly spit on Google’s automatic solutions
Since I opened my first Google Ads account in 2007, Google advertising has changed a lot… Today, artificial intelligence in online advertising has become more democratic. The search results are volatile, rich in many formats, and are above all based on the “real intention” of the Internet user, rather than on simple keywords…
But there are still Google Ads agencies that will insist that “it was better before”. They will explain to you that their know-how of yesteryear is far superior to what any algorithm can do, and that in any case, all the automatic solutions offered by Google are only Machiavellian plans to capture more information with impunity. money, without giving you anything in return…
In short, it’s as if a car manufacturer explained to you how efficient Henry Ford’s production line was in the 1900s, forgetting to tell you that in the 21st century, we no longer produce a car by tightening each bolt manually. …
I am very suspicious of these service providers with infused science and a quantum brain, who claim to be able to compete with a 100% automated process, capable of processing 2 million different combinations in real time.
This lack of humility also testifies to a relatively low knowledge of Google Ads, and very often, a roundabout way of justifying their fees.
6 / Train yourself in Google Ads (even if you have an agency)
Delegating part of the work to the experts does not mean that you should not be interested in it
A company does not succeed thanks to a single man. The greatest entrepreneurs have the reputation of being well surrounded, and they know that it is better to entrust certain missions to the experts.
In the case of Google Ads advertising, it was completely legitimate to want to entrust your campaigns to professionals. After all, they are the SEA experts, and their experience certainly allows them to manage your advertising more effectively on a daily basis.
However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care about Google Ads. Imagine that every euro comes out of your pocket: you would invest your money in an investment that you do not understand at all? No, of course.
Training on Google Ads also means better understanding your SEA agency and giving yourself the means to challenge it
If you don’t understand Google Ads advertising, relying on an SEA agency can be dangerous. Because it means you have no way of understanding what your agency is doing or how your money is being used.
You can trust them blindly, of course, but that has never been a very good procurement strategy…
- If you don’t know anything about it, how can you be sure that you are working with a good service provider?
- Worse, what exactly does the agency do with your money?
- Could she do better?
In short, you understand that you are a simple ticket distributor, and that if tomorrow your agency stops working, you will not even notice it.
And even if your service provider is honest, you have had satisfactory results so far… How can you help them do better?
It is rare that an agency, by itself, can revolutionize a business… It is because its client brings business knowledge and a detailed understanding of its clientele that the agency can put in place Google Ads strategies that make fly, and that really contribute to your business.
It is not the service provider alone that makes the result, but the quality of the client-agency relationship.
Also, training yourself a minimum on Google Ads will allow you to have more intelligent exchanges with your SEA agency. You will also become proactive, and better interpret the advice of your service provider.
Get trained in Google Ads, even if you don’t manage day-to-day operations
So, even if you decide to hire an SEA agency, be sure to invest the necessary time to become competent on the subject.
Several alternatives are available to you, depending on the expertise of the agency and the level of budget you are investing:
1. Your SEA agency has recognized expertise and you invest little
Since the stakes for your business are relatively low and your service provider competent, there’s no need to become a beast on Google Ads. If you spend a little time learning about the subject, watching free videos on the subject to identify the main outlines, you will be able to understand and communicate more easily with your SEA agency.
2. Your SEA agency is new or poorly recognized and you invest little
Unlike situation #1, you will definitely have to spend more time supervising your agency. In this case, nothing better than to review the content related to the Google Ads certification and to practice a little in a trial account. This will allow you to have an overview of the fundamentals of search, to make sure that the basics of Google Ads advertising are provided by your service provider.
3. Your SEA agency has recognized expertise and you invest a lot
Google Ads is a big investment for your business. You have already made the right choice by hiring SEA experts at the helm. However, take a training course for beginners that you will find on online training sites (ex: Udemy) to familiarize yourself with SEO fundamentals and Google Ads tools. You will therefore be able to work better with your agency, but you will also be able to understand the actions taken in the account itself.
4. Your SEA agency is new or poorly recognized and you invest a lot
Unfortunately, we don’t always have the opportunity to work with the greatest experts or SEA agencies on the market (for budget reasons or simply because we don’t necessarily know of a recommended SEA agency). In this case, do not skimp on your self-training. Prefer complete Google Ads training programs, which dissect you the best strategies to improve its ROI and the most advanced usesof the Google Ads tool. Thus, you can act as a “coach” for your SEA agency, and at the same time watch over the good performance of your budget. In the same way, you will not be dependent on a service provider: if you have to change it, you will realize it quickly and will be able, if necessary, to provide “interim” management while you find a new SEA agency.
BONUS / If you delegate your Google Ads campaigns to a service provider, then agree to lose control
A good SEA agency works to make its client successful, not to please it
You’re the one paying your paid SEO agency, so they have to do what you tell them, right? FAKE!
The worst thing is that many advertisers consider that a good Search Engine Advertising agency is an agency that will say “yes” to all of its client’s requests: such statistics, such analysis, a question that calls a response within 24 hours… These advertisers are over the moon: they feel like they have full power over their service provider.
At the risk of shocking, a good agency is not necessarily one that puts itself “at the service” of its advertiser. And the best providers are those who say “no” to their client the most often, and who work only to make their client successful, not to please them.
Do not be this client who stifles the strategic vision that his SEA agency can bring him
The real problems start when a customer starts to panic at every little anomaly:
- What happened? I didn’t receive any conversions yesterday…
- Did you do something? CTR increased by +20%…
- I saw that we had spent €500 this week against the planned €400: can you better stick to the budget?
Although I understand those customers who inject their own cash into the system, you should know that this type of reaction is counterproductive.
Indeed, while you are mobilizing your service provider to analyze what happened between yesterday and today, he is not optimizing your account for tomorrow, looking for new keyword territories, or prepare a content recommendation.
It also doesn’t have time to dig deep into your traffic analytics to understand the root cause of why you’re seeing this or that performance.
In short, he is no longer “strategic”, because you force him to spend his time on “tactics”.
Once your SEA agency has been hired, do not touch your account
This rule is important. You must resist this temptation.
You may be a marketer trained in Google Ads yourself, and are quite capable of managing your own campaigns, your own money… But once you make the decision to use a service provider, you have to let go of the controllers.
As in an airplane, there can only be one pilot. You accept, when you sign the contract, that your role henceforth becomes that of “co-pilot”.
After all, you’re paying to not have to be in control anymore, right? And you don’t want to be that person changing his car’s flat tire when he’s just paid his mechanic to do it?
My Top 5 behaviors to avoid with your Google Ads agency
Here are the Top 5 most counterproductive behaviors that come to mind when working with an SEA agency:
NOT TO DO
FOR WHAT
Ask to approve each text ad
Your ads are optimization levers like any other, and your service provider is in the best position to know whether you need to change (or on the contrary keep) your ad as it is.
Continually suggest keywords that come to mind
Behind your prejudices about what Internet users might search for on Google, your agency has tools to know how many times each keyword is searched (and it’s not worth wasting your time with expressions never searched on Google).
Challenge your agency on a different indicator each time
A good paid search strategy has clearly identified objectives. And your agency needs to “build” your account over time to reach them. You can’t change priorities like underwear: your service provider needs to have stable benchmarks on how to assess the success of your campaigns.
Being obsessed with the state of the competition
This is counterproductive because on Google Ads, the competition is often different from what you imagine as an entrepreneur. Moreover, with the game of auctions, the competition is dynamic. Sure, you should keep an eye on the Top 5 most dangerous competitors on Google Ads, but wanting to know the competitive pressure each week does not necessarily lead to better optimization decisions.
Contact your agency because you don’t see yourself on Google
The job of a Google Ads provider is to manage your campaigns in such a way that you show up when it’s worth it, and stay away when the chances of conversion are slim. In other words, you are never going to appear on all queries. Especially since wanting to appear all the time makes no sense: the relationship between presence and return on investment is far from linear.
Always speak your mind, and don’t listen to what your audience wants
Google Ads is the quintessential symbol of “relevance marketing”. It is an advertising lever that relies on people’s intentions, and to succeed, it is essential (more than elsewhere) to center all its decisions around the user and campaign statistics rather than on intuitions.
FAQ : Agence SEA
WHAT IS AN SEA AGENCY?
A SEA agency is an agency that specializes in Google Ads advertising campaigns, known as paid search campaigns or paid online advertising. These campaigns aim to increase the visibility of a website by making it appear at the top of search results when someone searches online for a keyword associated with the site. SEA agencies can help businesses define their online advertising strategy, choose the right keywords for their campaigns, and track the performance of their ads to ensure they are getting the best possible return on investment.
HOW CAN AN SEA AGENCY SET UP ADVERTISING FOR ITS CLIENTS?
A SEA agency can implement its clients’ Google Ads advertising in several ways. First, the agency can help the client define their online advertising strategy based on their business goals and budget. Then the agency can help the client choose the right keywords for their online advertising campaigns by using keyword analysis tools and researching user behaviors. Once the keywords have been selected, the agency can create ads for the various Google Ads channels activated. Finally, the agency can track the performance of online advertising campaigns and continuously optimize them to ensure they are getting the best possible return on investment.
The SEA agency’s team of experts will judge the best visibility strategies to adopt based on the reputation of the company, the competition inherent in its sector of activity and above all its budget. These service providers use Google Ads or Bing Ads for advertising campaigns.
WHAT IS A GOOD SEA AGENCY?
A good SEA agency is an agency that offers quality service and has good results for its clients. To determine if an agency is quality, you should find out about its reputation with other companies and its references.
And a good SEA agency is also:
- uses staff with extensive experience
- explains his method for running your SEA account
- uses a clear compensation model
- manages your Google Ads campaigns with a test & learn method
WHAT IS THE PRICE OF SEA AGENCIES?
The price of SEA agencies can vary greatly depending on several factors, such as the size of the company, the complexity of the online advertising strategy, the tools and platforms used and the services included in the package. In general, SEA agencies charge for their services either by the hour or based on the cost per click (CPC) on the advertisements. In some cases, they may also charge a percentage of the advertising budget allocated to campaigns. It’s important to discuss the rates with the agency and make sure you understand the terms of payment before signing a contract.
And to know the real price of an SEA agency, you have to calculate and follow the “price per modification” to know the “real” price of their agency. Concretely, it is a question of dividing the agency’s fees by the number of modifications they have made in your account (you can easily consult all the modifications made in your account). This indicator is very interesting, because it puts a price on the effective work of your agency.
HOW TO CHOOSE AN SEA AGENCY?
There are several factors to consider when choosing an SEA agency. First, you should make sure that the agency has a good reputation and solid references with other companies. You should also make sure the agency has experience in your industry and understands the challenges and opportunities specific to your business. Next, you should ensure that the agency offers a full service, including defining your online advertising strategy, selecting keywords, creating ads, monitoring performance and ongoing campaign optimization. Finally, you should make sure the agency is transparent about their pricing and that you are able to understand how you are charged for their services.
WHY NOT GO THROUGH AN SEA AGENCY?
There are several reasons a company might choose not to go through an SEA agency. First, some companies may have sufficient and competent internal resources to manage their Google Ads campaigns on their own. The other reason may be a lack of budget or a low amount spent on advertising, which does not allow to remunerate an SEA service provider.
