What a Google Ads agency should do for its fee, and what to check before you sign

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A Google Ads agency charges you for work you mostly cannot see. You see the invoice and a report, and it is hard to tell whether anyone touched the account last week. This guide sets out what the fee should buy, what Australian agencies publish about fees, and what to check before you sign. It applies just as well to a Facebook or Meta ads agency.

You should know who is writing: we run Google and Facebook ads for a fee, so we have a stake in this. Use the same list on us.

What the fee should buy

Most of this is worked out in the first month, then repeated every week. An account that was set up once and left alone slowly fills with searches nobody meant to pay for. So ask to see what changed last week and why. A good agency can answer that in a sentence or two. This is how we run our own accounts, and the detail is on our Google Ads and Facebook and Instagram ads pages.

Who should own the ad account?

You should. The account is your data: every search, conversion and test you paid for. Google’s guide to working with third parties says an agency must set up a separate Ads account for you, and that at a minimum you have the right to know the clicks, impressions and total cost of your ads.

• On Google Ads. The access levels run from Email-only and Billing up to Read-only, Standard and Admin. Only Admin can give access, change other people’s levels or unlink a manager account, so you want Admin in your own hands, whoever else has access.
• On Facebook and Instagram. The account belongs to a business portfolio, and you can give a partner such as an agency access without giving it away. Even with full control, a partner cannot share the asset with another business. Check whose portfolio it sits in before anything is created, because Meta says an ad account cannot be transferred to another business’s portfolio once it is made.

Here is how we do it. We set the account up in your business name and work in it through access you grant. Campaigns, keyword and negative lists, conversion tracking and the full history stay in your account if you ever stop working with us. On Facebook and Instagram, your page, the audiences built in your account and the leads your forms collect stay with your business too.

What do ad agencies charge in Australia?

Most do not say. Digital Nomads HQ, an agency that audited the published pricing of 140 Australian agencies in June 2026, found that 78% of the service lines it checked publish no price and only 8% publish a real rate card. These are the figures it reports from those that do.

Source: Digital Nomads HQ, How Much Does Digital Marketing Cost in AU?, updated 11 June 2026, read 5 November 2026. Advertised entry prices, not invoices. It leaves out budget offers under $400 a month. Its paid social line covers Meta and TikTok ads. GST treatment varies. Digital Nomads HQ sells these services too, starting within this range.

Older and shorter guides give a lower band. A second Digital Nomads HQ page (updated 19 July 2026) says $800 to $2,000 a month or 10 to 20% of ad spend, and Margin Media (published 31 July 2024) says $800 to $2,000. Neither says how it got there, so read all of these as what sellers publish, not as a fair price for your account.

Three things catch people out:

• Ad spend is separate. Google’s guide says third parties often charge a fee in addition to the cost of your advertising. Add the two together when you compare quotes.
• Set-up fees. The same audit lists $499 to $1,999 for ads, often shown only at proposal stage.
• A flat fee or a percentage. A flat fee stays the same as spend grows. A percentage grows with it, which is worth asking about if the agency also recommends your budget.

Our fee: there is no set fee on our price list. It is scoped to your account, by how many services and areas it covers, how much testing and creative it needs, and whether landing pages are part of it. You get the scope and price in AUD plus GST, in writing, before anything starts. That makes us one of the 78%, which is one more reason to ask us for it in writing.

What to check before you sign

1. Whose name is the account in? Yours, with Admin access held by you.
2. What does the fee cover? Ask for a list: campaigns, ad writing, creative, landing pages, tracking, reports.
3. What is the total cost? The fee, set-up and ad spend, with GST shown.
4. What is the minimum term? The same audit warns that “no lock-in” can sit beside a three, six or twelve-month initial period. Read the notice clause, not the badge.
5. What counts as a result? Agree it before the ads start. A click or a form is not a job, so ask for cost per qualified enquiry, and cost per closed deal once your CRM can show it.
6. What will I see, and how often? Ask for a sample report, and for read access so you can check it yourself.
7. Who works on my account? And what do they do in a normal week?
8. What happens if I leave? You should keep the account, the history and the tracking.
9. Is it in writing? Google’s guide says to get an official copy of your agreement.

If you are looking at a wider engagement than ads, our guide to choosing a marketing agency in Australia has more on scope, reporting and notice periods.

Warning signs

• A guaranteed top spot. Google says a specific ad position cannot be guaranteed. It also says advertising has no effect on your unpaid ranking.
• A promised number of leads. The ACCC says claims about the future need reasonable grounds when they are made, and Google’s third-party policies tell partners to avoid unrealistic claims about results.
• No access to the account. If you only ever see a PDF, you cannot check it. Google lists not sharing cost and performance as something to watch for.
• Reports full of clicks and impressions. They are real numbers, but they do not tell you what you got for the money.
• Pressure to sign today. Nothing about an ad account requires that.

Does a Google Partner badge matter?

It tells you something specific. Google says a Partner needs an optimisation score of at least 70%, US$10,000 in ad spend over 90 days across its managed accounts, and at least half its account strategists certified. So it shows an agency has spend under management and has passed the tests. It does not tell you how the agency will treat your account, so ask the questions above either way.

Already running ads? Check what you have

You can run a simple Google Ads audit yourself in half an hour, before you talk to anyone.

• Open the search terms report. Are you paying for searches that would never buy?
• Look at conversions. Do they count real calls and forms, or page views?
• Look at Admin, then Access and security. Who has access, and do you recognise them all?
• Compare the total cost in the account with what you were told, and with what you paid.

If you do not have access, getting it is the first job. Our guide to Google Ads or Meta ads helps if you are not sure which platform deserves the money, and how much Facebook ads cost in Australia covers that side of the budget.

Google and Facebook ads agencies: common questions