An AdWords third-party partner can save you and your business a lot of time and energy. For best results, we encourage you to stay informed, involved, and up-to-speed on your ad campaigns, and let your partner handle the time-consuming work.
Third-party partners will often charge a fee in addition to the cost of your advertising. Remember, they’re providing a valuable service by managing your AdWords campaigns, providing you with reporting, answering your questions, and optimizing your campaigns, among many other things. We believe it’s important for you to understand the total cost of your AdWords advertising, including any fees your third-party partner charges. Use this amount to determine your return on investment (ROI).
Here are five quick tips for being a savvy customer:
1. Be selective When selecting a third-party partner to work with, look for companies that display a Certified Partner or a Premier SMB Partners badge. You can use Google Partner Search to verify that a company is certified, or to search for certified partners. As part of your selection process, be sure that you understand and are comfortable with the length of the contract you’re entering into with the partner. There are a few other criteria to help you choose the right third-party partner for you:
- Has this third-party partner worked with businesses in your area before?
- What about businesses with similar budgets or target audiences?
- What other services can they provide – alongside AdWords – to grow your business?
2. Pick one partner You may be tempted to divide your budget among multiple third parties to see which one drives the best results. You’re welcome to do this as long as you test them one at a time. Google doesn’t display more than one ad for a business on a page of search results, so you’ll find it difficult to test multiple third parties at once.
3. Educate yourself Understanding AdWords at an advanced level can take time, but it doesn’t take much time to learn the basics. Review the “AdWords basics” section below or visit the AdWords Help Center at adwords.google.com/support/aw to learn more. Understanding AdWords will help you make more informed decisions with your third-party partner.
4. Trust experience If you’re working with a company that’s managed hundreds of AdWords accounts, then it’s likely that they’ve developed expertise with AdWords. If they tell you that certain industries have historically higher online-advertising costs or certain keywords might not work for your business, they’re probably speaking from experience.
5. Evaluate your performance Unless you’re focused on branding, what matters most about AdWords is the return on your advertising investment (i.e. the number of new customers coming in the door). So take some time each month to measure what you’re investing, and the results you’re receiving from that investment.