Not sure if your PPC agency is actually earning their fee? This 10-question scorecard evaluates the critical areas where agencies either deliver or fail. Answer honestly, and you will get a clear picture of where your agency stands and what to do about it.
Your Agency Performance Score
Score by Category
Red Flags
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How This Scorecard Works
The scorecard evaluates your agency across five critical categories: Transparency & Access, Communication & Reporting, Strategy & Testing, Performance & Results, and Account Management. Each question is scored 0 to 10 based on your answer, and scores are weighted by category importance.
| Score Range | Grade | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 80-100 | A | Your agency is performing well. Focus on maintaining the relationship and pushing for continuous improvement. |
| 60-79 | B | Solid performance with room for improvement. Address the gaps identified in your report. |
| 40-59 | C | Mediocre performance. Have a serious conversation with your agency about the issues flagged. |
| 20-39 | D | Significant problems. Give your agency 30 days to address the red flags or start looking for alternatives. |
| 0-19 | F | Critical failure. Your agency is not delivering basic expectations. Strongly consider switching immediately. |
Universal Red Flags (Regardless of Score)
Some issues are dealbreakers regardless of your overall score. If any of these apply, address them immediately.
- You do not own your ad accounts. If your agency runs ads in their own accounts and you cannot access them, you are locked in. You lose all data and campaign history if you leave.
- No conversion tracking. If your agency cannot tell you exactly how many leads or sales your ads generated, they are flying blind. This is PPC 101.
- No strategy calls. If you never speak with the person actually managing your campaigns, you have no visibility into what is happening with your money.
- Same campaigns for 6+ months. If nothing has changed in your account structure, ad copy, or targeting in six months, your agency is on autopilot.
- Reporting only on vanity metrics. If your reports show impressions and clicks but never mention cost per lead, ROAS, or cost per acquisition, the agency is hiding poor results behind big numbers.
What to Demand From Your PPC Agency
Whether you keep your current agency or switch, these are the non-negotiable standards every business should require.
- Full admin access to all ad accounts. Your business should own every Google Ads, Meta Ads, and LinkedIn Ads account. Period.
- Monthly performance reports with business metrics. Not just clicks and impressions. CPA, ROAS, lead volume, lead quality, and month-over-month trends.
- Strategy calls at least monthly. A live conversation with the person managing your campaigns, not just an account manager relaying information.
- Documented testing roadmap. Your agency should be running at least 2 to 4 tests per month (ad copy, audiences, landing pages, bid strategies) and sharing results.
- Conversion tracking audit. Ask your agency to verify that every conversion action is tracking correctly. Inaccurate tracking means every other metric is wrong.
- Clear response to "What did you change this week?" If your agency cannot answer this question every week, they are not actively managing your account.
Methodology & Sources
Scoring criteria based on industry-standard agency performance expectations from WordStream, Google Partner requirements, HubSpot Agency Research, and Search Engine Journal best practices. Red flags and benchmarks reflect consensus recommendations from agency management experts and published client satisfaction research.
- WordStream, "How to Evaluate Your PPC Agency," 2024
- Google, "Google Partner and Premier Partner Requirements," 2024
- HubSpot, "Agency Client Retention and Satisfaction Research," 2024
- Search Engine Journal, "Signs Your PPC Agency Is Underperforming," 2024
- Databox, "Agency Reporting Best Practices," 2024
Frequently Asked Questions
A performing agency delivers consistent improvement in your key metrics (CPA, ROAS, lead volume) over time, communicates proactively with clear reporting, tests new strategies regularly, and can explain their decisions with data. If your results have been flat for 3+ months, your agency is not answering your questions clearly, or you have no idea what they are doing on a weekly basis, those are signs of underperformance.
Month 1 should include a full account audit, campaign restructuring if needed, conversion tracking verification, and a baseline performance report. Month 2 should show initial optimizations taking effect with declining CPAs. By Month 3, you should see clear trendlines: is CPA going down? Is lead quality improving? If after 90 days there is no measurable improvement and no clear explanation why, it is time to have a serious conversation.
At minimum: a written performance report every month with key metrics, spend, and next steps. Many top agencies provide weekly dashboards or Slack updates. You should also have a live strategy call at least once per month (every two weeks is better). If you only hear from your agency when you reach out first, that is a red flag.
At minimum: cost per acquisition (CPA) or cost per lead (CPL), return on ad spend (ROAS), conversion rate, click-through rate (CTR), and quality score. For lead gen businesses, they should also track lead quality and close rate. If your agency only reports on clicks and impressions but cannot tell you what it costs to acquire a customer, they are not doing their job.
Absolutely yes. You should own your Google Ads, Meta Ads, and all other ad accounts. Your agency should operate as a manager on YOUR accounts, not run ads in their own accounts on your behalf. If your agency will not give you admin access to your own ad accounts, that is one of the biggest red flags in the industry. It means they are holding your data and campaign history hostage.
Consider switching if: results have declined or stagnated for 3+ months with no plan to fix it, your agency cannot explain what they are doing or why, you do not own your ad accounts, they refuse to share performance data, communication is consistently poor, or they are not testing anything new. Before firing, have one direct conversation about your concerns. If they cannot address them within 30 days, it is time to move on.