Quick Answer
The red flags to check first: search terms spending on weak intent, broad match taking over spend, PMax running without brand or URL control, branded revenue counted as non-brand growth, conversion tracking firing on the wrong event, change history showing thin account work, and numbers that do not reconcile with CRM, Shopify, call, or form data. Three or more means the account needs an independent assess before you renew, fire, or raise budget.
Checklist before you hire, renew, or fire the agency
Open the account before the sales call or breakup call. If the agency cannot explain these seven items in plain language, the problem is not just performance. It is control.
- Search terms: Which queries spent money last month, and which ones created qualified leads or purchases?
- Match types: Is broad match doing useful work, or is it absorbing budget because no one is pruning?
- PMax controls: Are brand exclusions, final URL rules, audience signals, and asset groups actually set?
- Brand split: Is the summary separating branded demand from new demand?
- Conversion actions: Are primary conversions tied to the real business outcome, not soft events?
- Change history: Did meaningful account work happen in the last 30 days?
- Landing page fit: Does the page match the ad promise, or is paid traffic being sent into a generic page?
Three rules.
- Do not judge blended ROAS. Separate brand from non-brand before the meeting.
- Do not accept soft conversions. Leads, calls, purchases, and booked jobs need their own truth.
- Do not buy the proposal first. Open the account, page, and tracking before the next contract.
Foundation check
Open the basics before the vendor story.
The agency may be good, bad, overloaded, or simply managing the wrong constraint. The basics tell you which one: search terms, PMax controls, conversion truth, and page fit.
Door 3 ยท Show up better where buyers compare
Do not fire the agency until the account, page, offer, and numbers have been viewed together.
Red flags matter when they connect to business failure: wasted spend, weak conversion path, noisy tracking, poor search terms, bad follow-up, or a page that cannot turn qualified traffic into revenue.
- 01Collect evidenceSearch terms, spend, numbers, page path, calls, forms, and sales follow-up.
- 02Separate symptomsBad management, bad tracking, bad offer, and bad page produce different fixes.
- 03Decide the next moveUse the written marketing audit when the decision affects budget, vendor, or rebuild.
Flags 1-3: The performance-hiding patterns
CPC drifting up without conversion gain signals bid inflation. Broad match on 40+ percent of spend signals agency shortcut, not strategy. Claimed ROAS above platform ROAS signals attribution spin or view-through inflation.
Flags 4-5: The management-effort signals
Account inactivity (fewer than 5 changes in 30 days on an active account) signals set-and-forget. PMax running without brand negatives, audience signals seeded, or themed asset groups signals the 2026 default of unmanaged PMax.
Flags 6-7: The tracking-trick signals
Branded spend blended with non-brand in tracking hides non-brand underperformance. GA4-Google Ads disagreement above 15 percent signals attribution manipulation or tracking breakage. The tracking trick is usually downstream of brand-search cannibalization; the brand-search audit walks the two-week incrementality test to separate the cannibalized credit from real revenue.
The seven red flags are usually symptoms of a deeper structural problem with the retainer itself. The economics of the agency model (loaded cost per manager, accounts per manager, time per account) bound how much depth the engagement can deliver before any specific red flag appears. The structural causes of agency budget burn walks the math, with cited Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and the retainer-volume table.
Common Questions
On record.
What should I check before hiring or firing a Google Ads agency?
Check search terms, change history, conversion actions, PMax controls, branded versus non-brand tracking, landing page fit, and the agency's explanation of what changed in the account.
Are these red flags proof of mismanagement?
Individually no. Three or more in combination on an account that has not improved commercially in 90 days is strong evidence.
What conversation should I have with the agency?
Show them the findings. Ask for the structural assessment. Defensive or vague response confirms the finding. Detailed response addressing the specifics may salvage the relationship.
Will the agency notice I ran an audit?
If they have access logs enabled, they will see the third-party tool. If they do not have access logs enabled, they have bigger problems than the audit.
Can Stan Consulting take over management after the marketing audit?
Sometimes. Scope case by case after the Conversion Audit surfaces fit. Depends on account size, industry, and commercial goals.
The Engagement Format
Begin with the marketing audit. Not the proposal.
scoped after intake · written marketing audit · No retainer structure · fee is final on submission before work commences
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