How to Choose a PPC Agency in Canada: 12 Questions to Ask

Why the choice matters so much

The agency you hire decides where every ad dollar goes. A strong one lowers your cost per customer month after month. A weak one can spend your whole budget on clicks that never turn into work, while sending reports that look busy. The difference is rarely visible in a sales call, so you need the right questions.

This guide gives you twelve questions, what a good answer sounds like, the red flags that should end the conversation, and a simple way to compare agencies side by side. It applies to Google Ads, Local Services Ads, Microsoft Ads and Facebook and Instagram ads.

The 12 questions to ask

1. Who will own the ad accounts?

Good answer: “You do. We create the account under your business, or use your existing one, and we get access as a manager.” You should also own Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Meta Business Manager and any call-tracking numbers. If you leave, your history, audiences and conversion data should stay with you.

2. How will you check our conversion tracking?

Good answer: a specific process: review every conversion action, test each form and call path, fix duplicates, and confirm what counts as a lead. Tracking comes before optimization. If they plan to “optimize” without checking tracking first, they are optimizing blind. See our conversion tracking checklist.

3. What is your main success metric?

Good answer: cost per qualified lead, cost per booked job or return on ad spend, tied to your numbers. Be wary of anyone who leads with impressions, clicks or click-through rate.

4. Who manages my account day to day?

Ask for a name, their experience, how many accounts they manage and whether work is outsourced. Many agencies sell with a senior person and hand the work to a junior or an overseas team. That is not always bad, but you should know.

5. How often do you work on the account, and on what?

Good answer: weekly search-term reviews and negative keywords, regular ad and landing page tests, budget and bid adjustments, and a monthly review of lead quality with you.

6. Is your fee separate from ad spend?

It should be. You should see Google’s and Meta’s invoices directly and the agency fee separately. See what Google Ads costs in Canada for common pricing models.

7. How long is the contract, and how do I leave?

Month-to-month, or a short initial term with a clear notice period, is common. Ask what happens to landing pages, tracking and creative if you leave.

8. What does a monthly report include?

Ask to see a real, anonymized sample. It should show leads, cost per lead, lead sources, what changed that month and what is planned next, in plain language.

9. What experience do you have in my industry and city?

Local markets differ. A plumber in Surrey, a law firm in Toronto and a med spa in Calgary face very different competition and customer behaviour. Ask for examples.

10. Are you a Google Partner or Meta Business Partner?

These badges show the agency meets requirements for certifications, spend and performance. They are a useful signal, not a guarantee of results.

11. How do you handle landing pages?

Paid traffic usually converts better on focused landing pages than on a home page. Ask whether they build pages, recommend changes, or leave it to you. See what makes a landing page convert.

12. Can I speak to a current client?

A good agency can connect you with a client, ideally in a similar business. Ask the client what surprised them and what they would change.

Red flags that should end the conversation

• Guaranteed rankings or guaranteed lead numbers. Nobody controls Google’s auction or your market.
• They own the account. Or they refuse you admin access to your own account.
• “Proprietary” systems you cannot see. Transparency matters more than secret methods.
• Reports built on vanity metrics. Impressions and clicks with no leads or cost per lead.
• Long lock-ins. Contracts of 12 months or more with no performance exit.
• One bill for everything. An “all-in” price with no view of what reached Google or Meta.
• No questions about your business. A good agency asks about job value, margins, close rates and capacity before quoting.

Freelancer, agency or in-house?

Option	Strengths	Trade-offs
Freelancer	Lower cost, direct contact with the person doing the work	Limited capacity, holidays and illness, fewer skills (design, tracking, video)
Specialist agency	Team skills, processes, experience across many accounts	Higher fees, risk of being handed to junior staff
In-house hire	Deep knowledge of your business, full-time focus	Salary and training costs, hard to hire experienced people, a single point of failure

Many growing businesses start with an agency, then bring the work in-house once spend is large enough to justify a full-time specialist.

How to compare agencies side by side

Score each agency from 1 to 5 on the same criteria so the decision is not just about who presented best.

Criterion	What a 5 looks like
Account ownership	You own every account and asset in writing
Tracking plan	A specific audit and fix plan before optimization
Success metric	Cost per booked job or ROAS tied to your numbers
People	Named, experienced manager with a sensible workload
Transparency	Itemized fees, direct platform invoices, clear reports
Contract	Month-to-month or short term, simple exit
Relevant experience	Examples in your industry or a similar one
References	A current client willing to talk

What to agree before you sign

Contract term	What good looks like	Red flag
Length	Month-to-month or a 90-day trial	12+ month lock-in before results
Account ownership	In your name from day one	Agency-owned account
Fees	Management fee separate from ad spend	One blended number
Cancellation	30 days notice	Large exit fees
Reporting	Monthly leads, cost per lead, booked jobs	Clicks and impressions only

Your first 90 days with a new agency

At day 90 you should know your cost per lead and cost per booked job by service. If you do not, the problem is usually tracking or reporting. An independent Google Ads audit can show whether the account is set up to succeed.