Is Your Google Ads Agency Doing a Good Job? 12 Red Flags to Watch For

You hired a Google Ads agency because they promised results. Months later, you are getting reports full of charts and numbers, but your phone is not ringing more, your sales have not changed, and you have a nagging feeling something is off. You are not alone. After auditing thousands of Google Ads accounts at AdPredictor, we have seen the same patterns of agency mismanagement over and over.

This is not an anti-agency article. Great agencies exist, and good Google Ads management is genuinely difficult. But you deserve to know whether the agency you are paying is earning their fee. Here are 12 red flags that signal your agency may not be doing right by your account.

Red Flag 1: They Will Not Give You Full Account Access

This is the single biggest red flag and the one you should check first. You should have owner-level access to your Google Ads account at all times. Some agencies create accounts under their own manager account (MCC) and give you viewer access at best. If you ever leave the agency, they control the account, its history, and all the data you paid to generate.

What to demand: you own the account, the agency gets manager-level access via their MCC. You should be able to log in and see everything at any time. If your agency resists this, it is a deal-breaker. Period.

Red Flag 2: Reporting Is Vague or Full of Vanity Metrics

You get a monthly PDF that shows impressions, clicks, and CTR with nice green arrows. But where are the conversions? What is the cost per lead? What is the return on ad spend? Agencies that lead with vanity metrics are hiding the numbers that actually matter to your business.