Running Google Ads as a small business comes down to three choices: do it yourself, hire an agency, or use automated management. Here is how to decide.
Cheapest in cash, most expensive in time and mistakes. Workable if you can give it a few focused hours every week to manage negatives, bids and search terms. Most small accounts that "set and forget" drift into wasted spend within months.
You get a human managing the account, usually reviewed weekly or monthly, for a retainer that often starts around £500 to £1,000 a month plus a percentage of spend. Good for complex accounts and large budgets, heavy for a small one.
A service like Arborize audits and runs the account for you, optimising every day rather than monthly, with you approving the bigger moves. It is cheaper than an agency, faster than DIY, and transparent. Plans start at £299 a month and the audit is free.
Whichever route you pick, the work is the same: keep negative keywords and match types tight, point bidding at real revenue, prune and build campaigns around your best products, and reconcile tracked conversions against actual sales. The difference is who does it and how often.
Start by finding out what is wrong, before paying anyone to fix it. A free audit shows your wasted spend and the highest-value fixes, so you can make an informed choice between DIY, agency and automated management.
See your account's problems before you spend on fixing them.
Get your free auditStart with a free audit to find wasted spend, fix the basics first, then either manage it weekly yourself or use an automated service like Arborize that optimises daily. A full agency retainer is usually only worth it above roughly £10,000 monthly spend.
Agencies suit large or complex accounts but carry a heavy retainer. For most SMEs an automated management service is cheaper, optimises more often, and keeps you in control. The free audit helps you decide.
Management should be a small fraction of ad spend. Automated plans start at £299 a month; agencies typically cost £500 to £1,000-plus. The work itself only pays off once wasted spend is removed.
Yes. The Arborize audit is free, so you can see exactly what your account needs before choosing how to manage it.