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We created our first Goggle Ads campaign in 2007 and was one of the first agencies in the UK to be awarded the Google Partner badge. In 2018 we were handpicked by Google to their exclusive Elevator scheme, designed enhance the UK’s top-performing agencies.
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Businesses considering Google Ads often face an early decision: manage the campaigns in-house or bring in an agency to handle it. Both approaches can work, but they come with different trade-offs in terms of time, cost, and the level of expertise applied to the account. This guide compares the two options to help you decide which approach fits your business.
Managing Google Ads yourself means setting up campaigns, choosing keywords, writing ad copy, setting budgets, and monitoring performance without outside help. Google provides tools within the platform to guide account setup, which has made it more accessible for business owners without a marketing background to get a campaign running.
Handling campaigns yourself avoids paying for agency fees, which can make sense for businesses with a very limited advertising budget. It also keeps full control over decisions within the business, without needing to communicate goals and context to an outside team.
Google Ads has become more complex over time, with automated bidding strategies, audience targeting options, and frequent platform changes that require ongoing learning to use effectively. Business owners managing ads themselves often need to dedicate significant time to monitoring and adjusting campaigns, time that might otherwise go toward running the core business. Without experience interpreting performance data, it is also easy to make changes that reduce results rather than improve them.
Working with an agency means handing over day-to-day management of the account to a team with experience running campaigns across multiple businesses and industries. This typically includes account setup, ongoing optimisation, reporting, and strategy adjustments based on performance data.
An agency brings experience gained from managing many accounts, which can help avoid common mistakes and apply strategies that have worked in similar situations. This also frees up business owner time, since campaign management, monitoring, and reporting are handled by the agency rather than internal staff. Agencies typically have access to more detailed reporting and testing processes than a business managing a single account part-time.
Agency fees add an additional cost on top of the advertising budget itself, which needs to be weighed against the value the agency provides. Communication is also important, since the agency needs a clear understanding of the business, its goals, and its customers to manage the account effectively. Choosing the wrong agency, or one without relevant experience, can lead to poor results despite the added cost.
| Factor | DIY Management | Agency Management |
|---|---|---|
| Time Required | Requires regular monitoring, optimisation and ongoing learning | Requires less of your time, as the agency manages day-to-day campaign tasks |
| Cost | No separate management fee, although you still pay for advertising spend | Management fees are charged in addition to your advertising spend |
| Expertise | Depends on your own knowledge, training and practical experience | Benefits from the agency’s experience managing different campaigns and accounts |
| Learning Curve | Can be steep, particularly as the Google Ads platform and features change | The agency keeps up with platform developments and applies its existing knowledge |
| Reporting | Access to standard reporting and performance data within Google Ads | May include more detailed reports tailored to your business objectives |
| Flexibility | Full control over campaign settings, budgets and day-to-day decisions | Decisions can be made collaboratively, with additional guidance from the agency |
Before choosing between managing campaigns yourself or hiring an agency, it helps to consider a few practical questions. How much time can realistically be dedicated to learning and managing campaigns each week. What is the advertising budget, and would an agency fee still leave a reasonable amount for actual ad spend. How complex are the campaigns likely to be, based on the number of products, services, or locations involved.
Businesses with a small, straightforward campaign and time available to learn the platform may find DIY management manageable, at least initially. Businesses with larger budgets, multiple campaigns, or limited time to dedicate to ongoing management often see more value in agency support.
Regardless of who manages the ad account, the website the ads point to plays a significant role in overall results. Poor web design, slow load times, or unclear calls to action can undermine even a well-managed campaign, since visitors who click through are less likely to take the next step. This is worth factoring into the decision, since some agencies offer combined services covering both advertising and website improvements, while a DIY approach may require coordinating these separately.
Google Ads is often more effective when considered alongside organic SEO, since paid campaigns can provide immediate visibility while organic rankings build over time. Businesses managing ads themselves sometimes overlook this connection, focusing solely on the paid side without considering how the two strategies can support each other. Reviewing examples of past client work in our portfolio shows how paid and organic strategies are often used together for stronger overall results.
A few signs suggest that agency support may be worth considering. These include spending significant time on campaign management without seeing proportional results, feeling uncertain about how to interpret performance reports, or reaching a point where the business has grown enough that ad campaigns have become too complex to manage part-time alongside other responsibilities.
Deciding between DIY management and hiring an agency depends on your budget, available time, and how complex your campaigns are likely to become. If you would like to discuss what agency support could look like for your business, contact us or read more about our approach on our about page.
It can be, particularly for straightforward campaigns with a limited number of keywords and a modest budget. As campaigns become more complex, the time investment required to manage them well tends to increase.
Agency fees vary depending on the scope of work and the size of the advertising budget being managed. It is worth requesting a clear breakdown of fees before committing to a provider.
Yes, many businesses start by managing campaigns themselves and later move to agency management as the account grows in complexity or as time becomes more limited.
Not automatically. Results depend on the agency’s experience, the quality of communication between the business and agency, and factors like website quality that affect conversions.
Relevant experience, transparent reporting, and clear communication are all worth prioritising. Reviewing past client results and asking specific questions about how campaigns are managed can help with this decision.
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