Why Would an AdWords Agency Lock Their Clients Out of Their Own AdWords Account?

If you're locked out of your OWN AdWords account, you're being robbed of critical market intelligence you're entitled to - and paying for …

How can you tell if your AdWords account is being correctly managed and optimised, and getting you the most effective advertising possible?

Read the full story, then go through the checklist at the end to make sure your company isn't also an unwitting victim to these questionable practices.

I had a meeting last Thursday with an international software company.

Their technology underpins a major part of the software development industry worldwide.

They're an AdWords account holder for several years, and are trying to ensure they're getting the optimised performance they're paying for.

Since they're not AdWords professionals, they don't know how to do this. It's not their day job.

So they hired someone to do it for them. And their agency isn't sharing this crucial data. Won't, or can't…?

Although they're a successful software company, they don't own 100% market share (and who does? Not even the mighty Google!)

Is There Anybody Out There…?

In fact, their product is so specialised they can't even spend their current daily budget.

Perhaps they're missing something…? if so, that's not their fault …

That's not to say the search volume is not out there, Just that it may be somewhere other than they are presently being positioned by their agency.

Since their management costs are higher than their monthly ad spend, they realised they needed to review their options.

What I learned from their Management Team disturbed me enough to write this article, and publish it to the attention of a wider audience.

Because, YOU could be in a similar predicament, without even realising.

And this practice, which I consider highly questionable, could be wider-spread than we realise.

THIS COMPANY CANNOT EVEN LOGIN TO THEIR OWN ADWORDS ACCOUNT

They are provided with a bare bones keyword report each month, which gives keyword impressions and CTR.

That's it.

No Ad performance reports

No Search Query reports

No keyword match types

No negative keyword lists

No conversion rates and costs.

No change hstory

They can't tell which Networks they're being advertised on.

They don't know if their ads are being properly rotated and split tested.

Because they are a highly specialised provider, their keywords are necessarily focused. So their CTR should be high across the board.

From the limited reporting I was seeing, that was not the case. At all.

Smoke and Mirrors

I'm almost getting a feeling of professional misconduct here. Almost of smoke and mirrors. This does not make me feel comfortable with my profession and its responsibilties.

Particularly as their service provider is reputedly a "A Leader In Pay Per Click Campaign Design and Management".

(Their website looks a little more like Harry Potter than a serious business development platform. but that's just a personal opinion).

After all, as far as AdWords is concerned, it's results that count. And only results (not Magic).

AdWords can and should be held accountable, and so should your agency. After all, they are your online advertising department, and your business partner. Your success, is their success. Their failure, is your failure.

Don't forget though - it's your asset, your investment, and you should be taking it seriously enough to be putting in the work alongside your agency, in terms of keyword research and expansion, ad copy ideas and dedicated landing pages and content.

And they should be insisting you do that.

Now, I will accept that there is an element of intellectual property here.

And that if I had created an entire account, with all it's keywords, ads, ad groups, negative keywords and adwords structure, I could legitimately lay claim to the intellectual asset it represents.

Certainly if I was building it out and optimising it week by week. And that if you chose to leave or take the account back in-house, you could buy it back and I would still retain the work I undertook for re-use with other advertisers. After all, it's now my intellectual property too.

Knowing Your Numbers Means - You Win

But as the advertiser, what am I paying for? The data. The market intelligence. The impresssions. The clicks. The CTR. The conversions. The ROI. The ongoing improvement of my advertising effectiveness.

Advice and ideas on how to market smarter online, and to an increasing audience. How to improve my visitor experience, and web page conversion rates.

Because, when all is said and done - "Click-Through is for Show - Conversion is for DOUGH"

In the case of my client meeting, this advertiser has a black-box which takes their money, but is not fully accountable, since they don't know what machinery lies within. So they can't compare it to one which has been engineered correctly.

They need a 3rd party Audit by someone who can explain to them how the account has been setup, what's good and bad about it, and why.

And, in their case, ideally a Technology specialist who has direct experience of their industry.

But unless their agency gives them access, they can never know for sure how wisely they are spending their money.

And that seems to be a depressingly common situation in the world of Google AdWords.

Of course, it doesn't need to be.

Forensic AdWords Audit anyone?

If you're curious or disturbed by the contents of this article, please follow the checklist below to ensure you're being given access to all the vital intelligence your AdWords account is holding, and for which you're paying.

• your agency should fully understand your marketplace, so choose accordingly
• check their references, experience, case histories and testimonials
• you should have a non-disclosure agreement with them - your data is confidential
• they should reassure you they are following common AdWords best practices, so know which questions to ask (See "The AdWords 10 Commandments")
• your account should be open to you, so you can see what's going on and work together with your agency or seek an outside opinion
• a third party audit can be a revealing and useful experience (even downright shocking)
• if you're interested in AdWords services, browse the site or ask a question at the AdWords Helpdesk. The answers may surprise you!

Back to AdWords Management Home