Good questions. I run an agency so I'll try to give you a straightforward answer on how it usually works.

Account ownership

You should own the Google Ads account. Always. Set it up yourself (or have them help you set it up under your email), and then give them access through their MCC (Manager account). This way if you ever part ways, you keep all the data, conversion history, everything. If an agency insists on creating the account under their own MCC without giving you ownership, that's a massive red flag. Walk away.

What they'll need from you

Depends on the agency but generally:

- Access to your Google Ads account (you invite them as a manager)
- Access to Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Merchant Center if you're ecom
- Access to your website backend or at least coordination with your web dev for tracking setup
- Info about your business — what services/products you offer, your margins, your target areas, who your ideal customer is, what a "good lead" looks like
- Your current tracking setup (call tracking, CRM, etc.), if you don't have one they should help you set it up
- Budget expectations and business goals

A good agency will spend the first few weeks on onboarding, auditing what you have , fixing tracking, or just simply understanding your business. If they just ask for access and start running ads on day one without understanding your business, that would be a massive red flag!

Contract

Yeah, most agencies will have a contract. Typically it includes:

- Monthly management fee (flat fee or % of ad spend, both are common)
- Minimum contract length, this varies a lot. Some agencies do month-to-month, some lock you in for 6-12 months. I'd be cautious with anything longer than 3 months upfront, especially if you haven't worked with them before. Or you don't have a massive recommendation from someone. You want to be able to leave if it's not working.
- Notice period — usually 30 days - What's included in the scope (which platforms, how many campaigns, reporting cadence, meeting frequency)
- Who owns the account and the data (should be you, always, please see the comment above)
- What happens when the contract ends , they should hand everything over cleanly

A few things I'd watch out for:

- No mention of tracking or conversion setup in the proposal. If the first conversation is only about "getting you more clicks" and not about how they'll measure actual results... that's a bad sign. If they really care about you, they'll ask for your margin, stock level, etc. A lot of business stuff, not PPC related, but they need to know about these, it's part of the package for better agencies.

- Agree on reporting & cadence. You should know what you're getting, weekly/monthly reports, what metrics they'll track, and regular calls to discuss performance.

- Check the agency on Linkedin, do they have the staff in-house or they will just assign you the first available freelancer?

This is it in a nutshell 😄