What search ads management covers
Search ads appear when someone types a query into Google or Bing and one of your keywords matches it. Management is the ongoing work around those ads: choosing the searches you want to appear for, writing the ads, setting bids and budgets, and reading what people actually typed before they clicked.
Most small and mid-sized businesses start with Google Ads and add Microsoft Advertising later, often by importing the Google campaigns and adjusting them. The accounts stay in your name. A provider works inside them with access you grant, and you can remove that access whenever you like.
Google and Microsoft run the auctions and decide how often an ad shows. Management controls the inputs: keywords, match types, negative keywords, ad text, assets, conversion tracking and spend limits.
Bidding, budgets and conversion actions
These three settings are linked, and most problems in small accounts come from one of them being out of step with the others.
Conversion actions come first. Each one counts an event, such as a quote form submission. Only the events you would call a lead should be marked primary, because automated bidding learns from whatever is marked primary.
Bidding can be manual or automated. Automated strategies such as Target CPA need a steady flow of conversions to work; a new account with little data often starts on manual or enhanced CPC and moves later.
Budgets are set per campaign as a daily average. Google can spend above that on a busy day and below it on a quiet one, so the manager checks spend against the month rather than the day.
Access, billing and who holds the keys
Ad platforms offer several ways to share access, and the choice affects what happens if you change providers.
- Manager account link. The provider links its Google Ads manager account to yours. You keep ownership and can unlink it from your side.
- User invite. You add the provider's email as a user at a chosen access level, such as standard. You can remove it at any time.
- Billing. Keep the payment method in your name. Ad spend then goes from you to Google or Microsoft, with the management fee invoiced separately.
Store your own logins in a password manager, and keep at least two people in your company with admin access so one departure does not lock you out.
Questions about search ads management
Which match types should a new account use?
Small and new accounts often start with phrase and exact match, which keep ads close to the searches you chose. Broad match lets Google find related searches and relies heavily on conversion data, so it is usually tested once tracking is reliable and negative lists are built up.
What counts as a conversion?
Whatever you decide is a lead, set up as a conversion action in Google Ads. For most B2B sites that is a completed quote form. Smaller actions such as page views can be recorded but should not be marked primary, because automated bidding learns from primary conversions.
How do I know what changed in my account?
Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising both keep a change history you can open yourself. A provider should also send a plain summary of what they changed, why, and what they are watching next. If you only receive charts with no notes, ask for the reasoning behind the changes.
If your ads, pages or follow-up need attention, describe the problem and get a scoped quote.
Describe the workOther services
Paid social campaigns
Meta and LinkedIn ads with defined audiences, rotating creative, lead forms and tracking, all in ad accounts you own.
Lead capture forms
Forms with the right fields, consent wording you supply, thank-you pages and connections to your inbox or CRM.
Conversion tracking
Google Tag Manager, GA4, the Meta pixel and the LinkedIn Insight Tag set up, tested and documented in your accounts.