Question 1

Switching agencies: Who owns the Ads, Analytics and Tag Manager accounts?

Accepted Answer

Your Google accounts should belong to your company, not to your agency. The agency only gets access. You can check this in the user and access settings of Google Ads, Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager: at least one person from your company must be listed there with administrator rights. If that is not the case, sort it out before switching, otherwise campaign data and tracking can be lost. How to check ownership and access Google Ads: Under Admin, open Access and security. Is there an email address from your company with admin access? Does your company pay Google's...

Question 2

Offline conversions: How do closed deals from the CRM get back into Google Ads?

Accepted Answer

Offline conversions are deals that happen after the click, outside the website, for example an order following a quote and a phone call. They are sent back from the CRM to Google Ads, either via the Google click ID (GCLID) or via hashed contact details. Google Ads then sees which clicks generated revenue and optimises for deals instead of form submissions. Why it matters Without this feedback, Google Ads counts every form the same, including spam, job applications and enquiries that will never fit. Automated bidding then looks for more of exactly those forms. With offline conversions, the system learns...

Question 3

Google Ads audit: How do you tell an account is wasting money?

Accepted Answer

A Google Ads account wastes money when budget flows into search terms, locations, times or placements that never lead to enquiries, or when conversions are counted incorrectly and automated bidding therefore learns the wrong things. An audit finds these weak spots systematically. You can check much of it yourself in an hour. The ten most common sources of wasted spend Irrelevant search terms: The search terms report contains queries that have nothing to do with your service, such as "free", "job" or "DIY". Missing negative keywords: There is no maintained list. Wrong location option: Ads also show to people who...

Question 4

Tracking audit: How often should you have Analytics and Tag Manager checked?

Accepted Answer

A full tracking audit makes sense once a year, a quick check once a quarter. On top of that, you should check after every major change: a new consent banner, a relaunch, a new form, a new shop system or a change of agency. Tracking rarely breaks with an error message. Usually data simply goes missing without anyone noticing, and budgets are steered on the wrong basis for weeks. What a tracking audit checks Consent: Do tags only fire after consent, and does Consent Mode work correctly? Conversions: Are forms, calls, purchases and appointment bookings counted exactly once? Reconciliation: Do...

Question 5

First-party data: What is left of tracking when cookies disappear?

Accepted Answer

First-party data is data your business collects itself, directly from customers: enquiries, orders, newsletter sign-ups, CRM data and behaviour on your own website. As browsers, operating systems and consent banners keep restricting tracking via third-party cookies, this data of your own becomes the most important foundation for advertising and analytics. Why traditional tracking has gaps Many visitors reject marketing cookies in the consent banner. Browsers such as Safari and Firefox heavily restrict cookies from other domains. Ad blockers suppress tracking scripts. Customers switch between phone, laptop and calling you. The result: Google Ads, Meta and Analytics miss part of your...

Question 6

Brand bidding: What to do when competitors bid on your brand name?

Accepted Answer

A competitor booking your company name as a keyword is generally permitted in the EU, as long as their ad does not create the impression that it comes from you. If they use your registered trademark in the ad text, you can file a trademark complaint with Google. The most effective response is usually your own brand campaign that appears above the competitor. The legal position The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled in several cases that booking someone else's trademark as a keyword is not automatically trademark infringement. It becomes a problem when an average user...

Question 7

Marketing dashboard: Which metrics does management need?

Accepted Answer

A marketing dashboard for management needs five to eight metrics that relate directly to revenue: spend, enquiries, cost per enquiry, new customers, cost per new customer, revenue from marketing, and the trend compared with the previous month and previous year. Clicks, impressions and bounce rates belong in the marketing team's working reports, not on the first page. The metrics for the first page Total marketing spend: ad budget plus agency and tools. Enquiries or leads: forms, calls, appointment bookings, without duplicates. Cost per enquiry: overall and for the two or three most important channels. Qualified enquiries: the share that sales...

Question 8

Enhanced conversions: When are they worth it, and what do you need?

Accepted Answer

Enhanced conversions add encrypted customer data, such as the email address from a form, to standard Google Ads conversion tracking. This lets Google attribute conversions even when cookies are missing. They are worth it as soon as Google Ads is a relevant channel and you use automated bidding, because better data leads to better bids. How enhanced conversions work When a visitor submits a form or makes a purchase, details such as email address, phone number or name are hashed with SHA-256, meaning they are turned into an unreadable string, and sent to Google. Google matches this string against signed-in...

Question 9

SEO during a website relaunch: How do we keep rankings and leads?

Accepted Answer

Rankings and leads survive a relaunch if every old URL points to the matching new page via a 301 redirect, if strong content is not cut, and if tracking and indexing are checked on the day of the switch. Most drops are caused by missing redirects, deleted content or a new site that has accidentally been set to noindex. Before the relaunch Record every URL: from the sitemap, Search Console and a crawl. Include PDFs and images that get traffic. Secure what has value: Which pages bring visitors, rankings, backlinks and enquiries? These pages take priority. Build a redirect map:...

Question 10

Google Ads agency costs: Which pricing model is fair?

Accepted Answer

Google Ads agencies usually charge in one of three ways: a fixed monthly fee, a percentage of your ad spend, or a mix that includes a performance-based share. Percentages of roughly 10 to 20 percent of ad spend are common in the market, often with a minimum fee. The fair model is the one where the agency benefits from you getting more enquiries, not from you spending more. The three pricing models compared Fixed fee. A set amount per month for a defined scope of work. Advantage: predictable, and the agency has no incentive to inflate your budget. Disadvantage: if...

Question 11

Meta Ads and Google Ads: When is one agency for both worth it?

Accepted Answer

One agency for Meta Ads and Google Ads together pays off when both channels are meant to run and their results need to be judged together. Google Ads reaches people who are actively searching. Meta Ads on Facebook and Instagram create demand among people who are not searching yet. Managed separately, both channels often claim the same customers, and the budget gets allocated wrongly. What sets the two channels apart Google Ads: capturing demand. Someone searching for “bathroom renovation Mainz” wants a quote now. Easy to measure, but limited to existing demand. Meta Ads: creating demand. Images and videos reach...

Question 12

Marketing budget: What percentage of revenue makes sense?

Accepted Answer

Many businesses aim for around 5 to 10 percent of revenue for marketing. Large surveys of marketing leaders regularly arrive at figures of around 7 to 8 percent. But the percentage is only a rough framework. You are better off deriving your budget from your growth target and your cost per new customer. Why the percentage alone is not enough A percentage of revenue means: those who sell little advertise little, and those who sell a lot advertise a lot. For a business that wants to grow, that is exactly the wrong way round. Industries also differ widely. An online...

Question 13

Outsourcing content marketing: What should an agency deliver?

Accepted Answer

A good content marketing agency does not simply deliver text; it delivers content that gets found, answers your customers' questions and leads to enquiries. That includes topic planning based on search data, articles built on expertise from your business, technical implementation and reporting that links content to enquiries. Your expertise remains indispensable throughout. Why content marketing often stalls in-house Regular content takes time, and day-to-day business always comes first. On top of that, good content combines subject expertise, writing craft, SEO and technology. Rarely does one person bring all of it. Typical results are a blog with three articles from...

Question 14

Running YouTube ads: What do they cost, and when are they worth it?

Accepted Answer

YouTube ads are run through Google Ads and are usually billed per view or per thousand impressions. There is no minimum budget. They are mainly worth it once Google Search is maxed out and you want to reach people before they search for your service. You do not need an expensive video to get started, but you do need a clear message in the first five seconds. How billing works Cost per view (CPV): with skippable ads, you pay when someone watches for 30 seconds, watches the whole shorter video or clicks. Cost per thousand impressions (CPM): for short non-skippable...

Question 15

Customer acquisition cost: What does a new customer really cost us?

Accepted Answer

Customer acquisition cost, or CAC for short, is all your marketing and sales costs for a period divided by the number of new customers won in that period. Many businesses only count advertising spend and therefore seriously underestimate their CAC. The figure only becomes meaningful when you compare it with the value a customer brings over time. The formula CAC = (marketing costs + sales costs) ÷ number of new customers The costs include: Ad spend across all channels, i.e. Google Ads, social media, trade fairs and print. Costs for agencies, freelancers and tools. The relevant share of marketing and...

Question 16

B2B lead generation: When is an agency worth it?

Accepted Answer

A B2B lead generation agency pays off when your sales team could handle more qualified enquiries than currently come in, and when nobody in-house can take on the channels, the tracking and the coordination with sales on a lasting basis. What matters is that the agency is measured by qualified enquiries, not by clicks or form submissions. Which channels work in B2B Google Ads on searches with clear demand: Someone searching for “compressed air system maintenance contract” has a problem and a budget. Clicks are expensive, but the intent is clear. SEO for specialist questions: Buyers and engineers research for...

Question 17

SEO costs: What does SEO cost per month, and when is in-house no longer enough?

Accepted Answer

What SEO costs depends mainly on scope: how many pages, how much competition and how much new content per month. On the market, ongoing retainers in the low to mid four-figure range per month are common, while one-off audits usually cost less. What matters is not the price alone, but whether the service fits your goal and whether you can measure the results. The common pricing models One-off SEO audit: Technology, content and competition are reviewed, and you get a list of actions. Useful as a starting point or before a relaunch. Monthly retainer: A fixed allowance for analysis, implementation...

Question 18

Google Ads freelancer or agency: When does outsourcing pay off?

Accepted Answer

Outsourcing pays off as soon as Google Ads takes up more time than you have, or as soon as mistakes in the account burn more money than professional management would cost. A freelancer usually suits a manageable account with a single channel. An agency suits you when several channels, tracking and reporting have to work together, or when gaps caused by holidays and sick leave are not an option. Three signs that doing it yourself is no longer enough You look at the account less than once a week. Search terms, bids and budgets change constantly. If you only check...

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