“Manage our Google Ads” sounds like a clear request. It can mean very different things once the work starts.

One business needs someone to clean up an existing account. Another needs a new campaign, landing-page recommendations, and a way to tell whether the leads are useful. A third already has a capable team and needs a second opinion.

Before hiring a Google Ads consultant, I would get specific about which of those problems you are trying to solve. The title matters less than the work you need done, who will do it, and how you will decide whether it is helping.

Start with the job, not the job title

Ask the consultant to describe the first useful deliverable. “We will optimize performance” is too broad to help you compare proposals.

A more useful answer might be a review of conversion goals, a prioritized campaign plan, or a launch-ready Search campaign for one agreed offer. Those are different scopes. An audit that ends with recommendations is not the same service as ongoing implementation.

I would also ask who actually works in the account. Will you speak with that person? Who covers urgent issues? If a proposal includes strategy but excludes campaign builds, that is fine as long as someone on your team owns execution.

Agree on access and business control

My starting recommendation is to keep the business in control of its own account and give the consultant the access needed for the agreed work. Do not make a shared password the operating process.

Google Ads offers different access levels. Read-only access can support an initial review, while Standard access permits campaign edits. Admin access adds powers such as managing users and accepting manager-account links. Check the current permissions rather than giving everyone the broadest access by default. Google Ads access levels

Before onboarding, identify a business-side administrator and agree how access will be removed when the engagement ends. Include Analytics, Tag Manager, landing pages, and reporting tools in that conversation where they are part of the work. Access to one product does not settle responsibility for all the others.

Separate the fee from the advertising budget

Ask for a simple breakdown: the consultant’s fee, the amount paid to Google, and any separately billed production or software costs. Google’s advertiser guide explicitly encourages businesses to understand both advertising costs and third-party fees. Google’s guide to working with third parties

Then agree on decision authority. Can the consultant move budget between existing campaigns? What requires approval? Who can authorize a new channel or a larger monthly commitment?

I would write those boundaries down before launch. “Keep improving the account” should not leave either person guessing about permission to spend more.

Define the result and the missing information

A lead-generation campaign needs more than an agreement to report conversions. What does that conversion represent? A submitted form? A booked meeting? A qualified opportunity?

Ask how the consultant will connect campaign reporting with feedback from the business. You do not need a perfect reporting setup on day one, but you do need to know which conclusions the available data can support.

For example, if you can see form submissions but not sales outcomes, agree who will review lead quality and how that feedback will reach the person managing ads. Otherwise, both sides can keep improving the cost per form without knowing whether the forms are useful.

The PPC audit checklist covers the account checks behind that discussion. Here, the hiring question is who owns each check and who resolves the gaps.

Make the first month a plan, not a promise

I would look for a consultant who can explain a sensible starting sequence and what could change it. That might mean reviewing the account first, fixing measurement issues, and then testing one focused campaign or message.

It should not mean promising a specific number of customers before understanding your offer, economics, and sales process. Google also warns against guarantees of a specific ad position because placement changes through the auction. Google’s third-party advertiser guidance

Agree on a review point and the questions it should answer. What was implemented? What has had enough delivery to assess? What remains uncertain? A review date is useful even when it is too early to declare a winner.

A hypothetical scope that is easier to evaluate

Suppose a small software company wants more qualified demo requests. It already has Search campaigns, but nobody consistently feeds sales feedback back into the account.

A focused starting scope could be: review the existing setup, agree on a qualified-demo definition with sales, identify the highest-priority measurement gap, and test one ad-to-landing-page message. The consultant owns campaign changes; the internal team owns site implementation and weekly lead feedback. Any budget increase needs approval.

This is an illustrative scope, not a client story or a forecast. Its value is that both sides can explain what they are doing next without pretending the outcome is already known.

Copy this consultant scope checklist

Business problem and offer:
Campaigns and channels included:
First deliverable and target date:
Consultant's implementation responsibilities:
Internal team's responsibilities:
Account administrator and access level:
Management fee, media budget, and separate costs:
Changes allowed without further approval:
Changes requiring approval:
Primary outcome and how it is measured:
Lead-quality or sales-feedback owner:
Reporting cadence and first review date:
Notice period and handover deliverables:

Use the same checklist for each proposal. You are comparing what gets done and how decisions get made, not just the monthly price.

At the end of the conversation, you should be able to explain the first task, who owns it, what it costs, and how you will review it. If any of those answers are vague, that is the next thing to clarify before starting.

Sources

Platform guidance reviewed November 3, 2026.