How to Hire a Google Ads Expert (and What It Should Cost)

After years as the person businesses hire — through agencies, referrals, and as a Level 2 Seller on Fiverr — I've seen what separates a good Google Ads hire from an expensive mistake. Here's the checklist I'd use if I were the client.

Questions that reveal real expertise

• "How will you track conversions?" A real specialist talks about GTM, call tracking, and importing conversions before they talk about ads. If the answer is vague, walk away.
• "What happened in the last account you ran?" Listen for specific metrics — cost per lead, changes over time — not adjectives.
• "What would you do in the first 30 days?" Good answer: audit, tracking, restructure, then optimize. Bad answer: "launch campaigns."
• "How do you report?" You want a monthly report in plain language tied to leads and revenue, not screenshots of impressions.

Red flags

• Guaranteed rankings or guaranteed results. Nobody controls the auction.
• No questions about your business economics. If they don't ask what a customer is worth, they can't manage your bids intelligently.
• Refusing to give you admin access to your own ad account. Your account, your data — always.
• Reporting on clicks and CTR while avoiding cost per lead.

What it should cost

Models vary by market: monthly flat fees, percentage of ad spend (commonly 10-20%), or project-based setups. Freelance platforms like Fiverr and Upwork run cheaper than agencies for comparable work — you're paying for the specialist, not the office. What matters more than the model: management fees should be justified by the spend they optimize. Paying $500/month to manage $300/month of ads makes no sense; on $5,000/month of spend, good management pays for itself in eliminated waste alone.

The one-sentence test

Ask them what success looks like in 90 days. The right hire answers with a number you care about — leads, bookings, sales — and a plan to measure it. That's the entire job.