Search ads management in brief
You decide which searches are worth paying for. Someone writes ads for those searches, sets a budget, and connects the account to your quote form so each form fill is counted. Then, every week, that person reads what people actually searched, blocks the poor matches and adjusts.
That is most of it. The work runs in Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising or both, inside accounts that belong to you, and the ad spend is billed to your own payment method.
How the work runs over a month
- Weekly: read the search terms, add negatives and new keywords, check that conversions are recording and spend is on pace.
- Every couple of weeks: look at ad assets and swap out weak headlines or descriptions; check that no automatic recommendations were applied without agreement.
- Monthly: compare campaigns by cost per conversion, adjust budgets between services, revisit bid strategy targets and write a summary for you.
- As needed: pause campaigns for services you cannot take on, add campaigns for new services, and check tracking after any change to your website or form.
The cadence can be lighter for a small account or heavier for one running in Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising at once. Agree it with the provider before work starts.
What drives the cost of search work
Quotes for search ads management vary because the work varies. When comparing them, look at what each one assumes.
The number of campaigns and services matters most. One service advertised nationally is a different job from a dozen services with separate pages. Running Microsoft Advertising alongside Google Ads adds a second account to maintain.
Setup state matters too. An account with broken conversion tracking, years of unused keywords and auto-applied recommendations takes longer to sort out than a clean build.
Then there is cadence and reporting: weekly changes with a written summary take more hours than a monthly check. Ask each provider to describe the routine they are pricing, so you can compare like with like.
Questions about search ads management
Do I need both Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising?
No. Most accounts start with Google Ads because it carries most US search volume. Microsoft Advertising can be added later, often by importing the Google campaigns and then adjusting settings. Whether it is worth the extra upkeep depends on your buyers and budget, which the service partner can talk through with you.
Who owns the ad account?
You should. The account should be created under your business email and billed to your payment method, with you holding admin access. The provider works through a manager account link or a user invite that you can remove. That way the keyword history and conversion data stay with you if the arrangement ends.
What counts as a conversion?
Whatever you decide is a lead, set up as a conversion action in Google Ads. For most B2B sites that is a completed quote form. Smaller actions such as page views can be recorded but should not be marked primary, because automated bidding learns from primary conversions.
Send your request with a work email and a few notes about the campaigns you have in mind.
Request pricingOther services
Meta and LinkedIn ads
Audience setup, creative briefs, lead gen forms and Conversions API checks for feed ads on the platforms your buyers use.
Campaign pages
One page per offer or ad group, so the message a buyer clicked on is the first thing they read.
Offline conversions
Closed deals in your CRM sent back to the ad platforms, so campaign data reflects what happened after the form.