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Choosing a pay-per-click (PPC) agency is one of the most consequential marketing decisions a business can make. Done well, PPC drives a steady stream of qualified leads and predictable revenue. Done poorly, it burns through budget with little to show for it. With so many agencies claiming to be ”results-driven experts,” how do you actually separate the ones worth hiring from the ones that will waste your ad spend? 1. Look Beyond Case Studies Almost every agency website features glowing case studies. The problem is that case studies are cherry-picked by definition — no agency publishes its worst campaigns. Instead of taking headline numbers at face value, ask specific questions: What was the starting point? What was the timeframe? What industries and budget sizes do they typically work with? An agency confident in its results will happily walk you through the details rather than pointing you back to a polished PDF. 2. Ask How They Structure Reporting Transparency is the single biggest differentiator between agencies that deliver value and agencies that simply spend your budget. Before signing anything, ask to see a sample report. You’re looking for clarity on: If an agency can’t show you a clear reporting example before you’ve signed a contract, that’s a signal worth taking seriously. 3. Understand Their Approach to Account Ownership Some agencies build campaigns inside accounts they control, making it difficult or impossible to leave without losing your campaign history and performance data. Reputable agencies build campaigns inside your Google Ads account, giving you full ownership and visibility at all times. Always confirm who owns the account before work begins. 4. Match Agency Size to Your Needs A large agency running dozens of accounts per strategist can offer scale and process, but individual attention may be limited. A smaller, specialised agency often provides closer collaboration and faster iteration, but may have less bandwidth for very large accounts. Neither is inherently better — the right fit depends on your budget, industry complexity, and how hands-on you want the relationship to be. 5. Ask About Contract Flexibility Long lock-in contracts can be a red flag. An agency confident in its ability to deliver results shouldn’t need to trap clients in lengthy commitments. Look for agencies offering rolling contracts, clear notice periods, and — ideally — a satisfaction guarantee for new clients. 6. Evaluate Communication, Not Just Results Even the best-performing campaign can feel frustrating if you’re left in the dark. Before committing, ask how often you’ll receive updates, who your main point of contact will be, and how quickly they typically respond to questions. Strong communication is often what separates a good agency partnership from a stressful one. The Bottom Line The right PPC agency should feel like an extension of your team — transparent with data, honest about what’s working and what isn’t, and genuinely invested in your growth rather than just your monthly retainer. Take the time to ask the right questions upfront, and you’ll save yourself months of wasted spend down the line. Looking for a PPC partner that puts transparency and performance first? Book a call with SEM Forge to see how we approach campaign management for businesses across the UK and EU.

One of the most common questions we hear from businesses new to paid search is deceptively simple: ”How much should I spend on Google Ads?” The honest answer is that there’s no universal number — but there is a reliable process for landing on a budget that makes sense for your business, industry, and goals. Start With Your Numbers, Not a Guess Before setting any budget, you need three figures: Once you know these, budgeting becomes a calculation rather than a guess. If your target CPA is £50 and your average conversion rate is 5%, you’ll need roughly 20 clicks to generate one conversion — which tells you exactly how much click volume, and therefore budget, you need to hit your goals. Check Keyword Costs Before You Commit Cost-per-click varies enormously by industry and competitiveness. Legal, financial, and insurance keywords can cost significantly more per click than niche B2B or local service terms. Before finalising a budget, it’s worth reviewing estimated CPCs for your core keywords using Google’s Keyword Planner or a paid research tool — this prevents setting a budget that’s technically reasonable but too small to generate meaningful click volume in your market. Separate Testing Budget From Scaling Budget New campaigns need room to gather data before they perform efficiently. A useful rule of thumb is to treat your first 4–6 weeks as a testing phase, during which performance may be less predictable as the algorithm learns which audiences and placements convert best. Businesses that pull budget at the first sign of a slow week often never give a campaign the chance to mature. Budget for this learning period explicitly, rather than expecting immediate efficiency. Don’t Confuse ”Low Budget” With ”Low Risk” It’s tempting to start small to minimise risk, but very small budgets often produce the least reliable data — too few clicks and conversions to draw meaningful conclusions, and not enough impression share to compete effectively against larger advertisers. In competitive markets, an underfunded campaign can end up costing more per result than a properly funded one, simply because it never gains enough traction to optimise efficiently. Revisit Your Budget Monthly, Not Just Annually Markets shift, competitors adjust their bidding, and seasonality affects performance. A budget that made sense in January may be inefficient by July. Reviewing performance data monthly — and adjusting budget allocation across campaigns based on what’s actually converting — keeps spend aligned with results rather than locked to an outdated plan. The Bottom Line A Google Ads budget isn’t a fixed number you set once and forget — it’s a working figure grounded in your margins, your market’s costs, and enough runway to let campaigns actually prove themselves. Get the calculation right at the start, and every pound you spend works harder. Not sure what budget makes sense for your industry? Book a call with SEM Forge and we’ll help you build a realistic, data-backed budget plan.

Paid search can be one of the most efficient ways to generate leads and revenue — but small, easy-to-miss mistakes can silently drain budget for months without anyone noticing. Here are seven of the most common issues we see when auditing new client accounts, and what to do instead. 1. Neglecting Negative Keywords Without a solid negative keyword list, ads often show up for irrelevant searches that will never convert — costing clicks with zero return. A campaign selling premium office furniture, for example, might waste budget on clicks from people searching ”free office furniture” or ”office furniture jobs.” Reviewing search term reports weekly and building out negative keywords is one of the simplest ways to cut wasted spend immediately. 2. Sending Traffic to Generic Landing Pages Directing ad clicks to a homepage instead of a dedicated, relevant landing page is one of the most common — and costly — mistakes. Visitors expect the page they land on to match exactly what they searched for. A mismatch between ad promise and landing page content increases bounce rates and quietly tanks Quality Score, which in turn drives up cost per click across the entire account. 3. Ignoring Ad Schedule and Location Data Not every hour of the day or every location performs equally. Running ads 24/7 across an entire country when your best conversions cluster in specific hours or regions means paying full price for underperforming impressions. Reviewing performance by day-part and geography, then adjusting bids accordingly, is a quick way to reallocate budget toward what’s actually working. 4. Setting and Forgetting Bid Strategies Automated bidding strategies like Target CPA or Maximise Conversions can work well, but only when given accurate targets and enough conversion data to learn from. Switching strategies too frequently, or setting an unrealistic target, resets the algorithm’s learning phase and often causes performance to become erratic rather than more efficient. 5. Overlooking Ad Extensions Sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, and other ad extensions aren’t just cosmetic — they increase ad real estate, improve click-through rate, and contribute to Quality Score. Accounts running without a full set of extensions are often leaving free performance gains on the table. 6. Failing to Track Conversions Properly It’s surprisingly common to find accounts where conversion tracking is either broken, duplicated, or tracking the wrong actions entirely — meaning every optimisation decision is being made on flawed data. Before making any strategic changes to a campaign, it’s worth auditing conversion tracking setup to confirm it accurately reflects real business outcomes, not just form submissions or button clicks that don’t represent genuine leads. 7. Treating Every Keyword the Same Not all keywords deserve equal bid amounts or budget priority. High-intent keywords close to the point of purchase (e.g. ”book a call SEM agency”) typically deserve higher bids than broader, top-of-funnel terms (e.g. ”what is PPC”). Applying a flat bidding approach across a mixed-intent keyword list often means overpaying for low-intent clicks while underfunding the terms that actually convert. The Bottom Line Most wasted PPC spend doesn’t come from one dramatic error — it comes from small inefficiencies compounding quietly over weeks and months. Regular account audits, careful attention to search term data, and disciplined conversion tracking are usually enough to catch the majority of these issues before they add up. Wondering how much of your current ad spend might be going to waste? Book a call with SEM Forge for a free account audit.