Agencies

How do I know if my B2B PPC agency is doing a good job?

By The Tofu team ·

Judge it on qualified leads and pipeline, not clicks, and make sure you own the ad accounts. A fair bar, not an official one: within 30 days you have Admin access and checked conversion tracking, and by day 90 you see cost per qualified lead from your CRM, not just clicks or time on site. Google says you have the right to see your clicks, impressions and total cost, that fees must be disclosed in writing, and that no one can guarantee ad positions. Red flags: no account access, junk counted as conversions, and budget increases before any qualified leads.

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As of October 2026.

Quick answer by situation

If you…Do thisWhy
Are in the first 30 daysJudge the setup: access, tracking and search termsToo few leads to judge results yet
Are 60 to 90 days in with no qualified leadsAsk for the funnel numbers and a written diagnosis with a deadlineBy now the data should show where leads drop off
Get reports with clicks, CTR or time on site onlyAsk for cost per qualified lead and pipeline from your CRMGoogle says return on investment matters most unless you're focused on branding
Are asked to raise the budgetAsk what the extra spend should buy, in qualified leadsMore budget scales what isn't working too
Can't log in to your own ad accountsGet Admin access on Google and an account manager or billing admin role on LinkedInOnly a Google Ads Admin can change who has access or unlink an agency's manager account
Are promised guaranteed rankings or resultsWalk awayGoogle's third-party policy bans those claims

What should a PPC agency deliver in the first 90 days?

There's no official standard, so treat this as a fair bar for a new B2B account, not a rule. It assumes the budget can buy at least a few leads a month.

PeriodWhat good looks like
Days 1 to 30You have your own Admin login. Conversion tracking is audited, and only real leads (demo requests, contact forms, calls) count as primary conversions. A written plan names the goal, usually cost per qualified lead, and how leads will reach your CRM. Campaigns are live, and the agency reviews search terms and adds negative keywords every week.
Days 31 to 60A report ties spend to leads, and leads to the ones sales accepts. The agency can say which keywords bring qualified leads and what it cut.
Days 61 to 90Decisions come from your data: what to scale, what to stop, and when to move bidding to conversions. You can see cost per qualified lead and the pipeline the ads produced.

Two things are normal and shouldn't count against an agency. Google says Maximize clicks can be useful "for new campaigns that lack sufficient conversion data," so starting there is fine. And a slow first month is common: for lead generation, Google asks for at least 15 conversions in 30 days on the goal you bid on, and Smart Bidding takes 1 to 2 conversion cycles to settle after a change.

If you're in the first 30 days

Results are too thin to judge, so check the setup yourself:

  1. Your access. You log in with your own company email, at Admin level on Google Ads.
  2. What counts as a conversion. In Google Ads, go to Summary in the Conversions drop-down of the Goals menu. Primary actions are what bidding uses. Page views, careers-page clicks or newsletter signups shouldn't be primary next to demo requests. See how to check that conversion tracking works.
  3. What you're paying for. Open Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms. If job seekers or students are clicking, negatives are missing.
  4. The ads themselves. Typos in your company name or a wrong landing page are basic quality checks, not strategy.

If you're 60 to 90 days in with no qualified leads

Ask for a written diagnosis that splits the problem into parts: too little traffic, the wrong traffic (search terms), traffic that doesn't convert (landing page or offer), or leads sales rejects. A good agency shows which one it is with your data, says what it will change, and names a review date.

Be fair about what an agency controls. It doesn't set your price, your offer or how fast sales calls a lead back. Google's advice to advertisers is to "trust experience": if an agency that has run many accounts says some keywords are costly or won't work for you, it's probably right. And if the budget can't buy enough clicks to learn from, that's a budget problem. See whether to start with Google Search or LinkedIn on a small budget.

Which numbers should I ask my agency for?

Monthly, at minimum:

NumberWhy it mattersWhere it comes from
Cost, clicks and impressions per accountGoogle says you have a right to these; cost an agency reports must be what Google charged, without its feesGoogle Ads
Conversions by action, and which actions are primaryShows what bidding is actually chasingGoogle Ads Goals summary
Leads accepted by sales, and cost per qualified leadThe number that tells you if ads workYour CRM
Opportunities and closed-won deals from paid adsPipeline, the end goal for B2BYour CRM
Search terms with spendShows whether you pay for the right searchesGoogle Ads search terms report
What changed and whyLets you link changes to resultsGoogle Ads change history

Google's change history lists the past 2 years of changes: who added a keyword, when a campaign was paused, past budgets. The User column shows the email of whoever made a change in the Google Ads interface; API changes may show "Google Ads API" or a tool name. Find it under Change history in the Campaigns menu.

If you're asked to raise the budget

Ask what the extra money should buy, in qualified leads, and on what evidence. More budget makes sense when campaigns already produce qualified leads at a cost you accept and are limited by budget. It makes less sense to spend more just to reach conversion bidding sooner when none of the leads so far are qualified: Smart Bidding would learn from the same unqualified conversions. As a check on scale, 15 conversions a month at a $150 cost per lead is $2,250 a month. Google's advertiser guide also lists "deceptive pricing" (not spending the budget you agreed) as a warning sign, and says to get your agreement in writing.

How do I keep ownership of my ad accounts?

Own the accounts; give the agency access. Google requires a separate Google Ads account for each advertiser an agency manages, and agencies must give you your customer ID when you ask.

Google Ads. Keep Admin access with at least two people at your company (Google notes a single Admin can leave you locked out of your tags). Only Admins can change who has access, accept or unlink manager accounts and see each user's last login. Agencies usually connect through a manager account, and Google says admins can end that link "at any time by unlinking their account." A manager account can also be given ownership, which lets it manage user access, so check who is listed as Owner under Managers in Access and security (in the Admin menu).

LinkedIn. Every ad account must have a billing admin, and whoever creates the account becomes it automatically, so create the account yourself, or make sure someone at your company holds the billing admin or account manager role. Account managers can manage user access. If you use Business Manager, keep its admin role in-house: admins add and remove people and ad accounts and manage partner accounts, and LinkedIn recommends at least two.

What are the red flags with a PPC agency?

  • You can't see your own accounts, or the agency owns them and won't add you.
  • Fees aren't in writing. Google requires third parties to disclose management fees in writing before your first purchase and on every invoice.
  • Guarantees. Google bans third parties from guaranteeing top placement or results "beyond what is reasonably achievable." Google runs an auction and works out Ad Rank every time someone searches.
  • Claims about Google. Saying it's from Google, has special Google prices, or that ads improve your organic ranking. Google says ads don't affect organic results. A real Google Partner badge links to the agency's Google profile page.
  • Reports with no leads in them months in, only clicks, CTR or time on site.
  • Junk counted as conversions, such as careers-page clicks marked primary.
  • No visible work. Change history shows nothing for weeks, or many changes with no reason.

A Partner badge means the agency's manager account meets Google's bar: an optimization score of at least 70%, $10,000 in spend over 90 days across managed accounts, and at least half its strategists certified. It doesn't measure results for an account like yours.

What to avoid

  • Judging on week two. Give the setup checks 30 days and results 60 to 90.
  • Splitting the budget across two agencies to compare them. Google recommends testing partners one at a time, because it doesn't show more than one ad for a business on a search results page.
  • Leaving before you have access. Get Admin and billing roles first, then remove the agency's users and unlink its manager account, so you keep the account and its history.

For other ways to staff paid media, see alternatives to hiring a PPC agency and flat fee vs percent of ad spend pricing.

Where Tofu fits

Tofu Ads Agent (our product) is an AI agent, not an agency. It plans, builds and optimizes LinkedIn, Google Search, Google Display and Meta campaigns in your own ad accounts, for a flat $2,500 a month rather than a share of spend (recommended media budget at least $3,000 a month). Campaigns are staged switched off and launch only when a person turns them on, and weekly bid, budget and creative recommendations stay proposals until you approve them. It connects to HubSpot or Salesforce and shows account journeys from first impression to closed-won, and you can ask its analytics agent questions in plain language. It won't fix your offer or how fast sales follows up.

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