Some digital advertising agencies have a “set it and forget it” mentality.
What is “set it and forget it”? It’s when an agency starts paid ads and then forgets about them. Or, when the ads seem to be doing “good enough” they no longer get any attention.
If this is the case, your ad agency likely takes a look to see how they’re doing right before your monthly call (they want to look like they know what's happening with your account, after all. If you’re not happy with your Google Ads (Adwords) management this might be why.
Sometimes you can blame the marketer but oftentimes they are managing 50 or more accounts. If you aren’t the highest paying account or the squeaky wheel then your ads may be running by themselves. It’s the only way the marketer can complete everything they’ve got to do each day.
Agencies can get away with this for a few months (we’re just getting started it takes time) and then they’ll move to the “we’re testing some things” phase. In the meantime you’ve poured thousands of dollars into a Google ads campaign and you’re not getting the ROAS you want.
If you feel like your Google Ads management isn’t where it should be, you can confirm your suspicions by doing these two things.
Get a Keywords Report from Your Agency
First, ask your account manager or Google ads manager for a keyword report for the last 3 months. It should take them less than 5 minutes to download and send the keyword report to you. It will show what keywords you are spending money on. It will show how much money you’ve spent on those keywords. Make sure the report you get from them has all of that. If you want to get to the Google keyword report without the help of your agency, login to your Google Ads account. Click on “Campaigns” and then keywords. You’ll have everything you need.
I like to sort using the “Cost” column. If you're a dentist you might find that you’ve spent hundreds of dollars on “Dental School near me”. If you’re a gym owner, you might have spent a lot for keywords like “workouts I can do at home” or “gyms in Provo Utah” but your gym is located in Bountiful.
No matter what, you’ll probably find some keywords that aren’t a great fit. Let your ad agency know that you have some negative keywords for them. The key is knowing whether or not your Google Ads manager is looking at this report regularly (the amount of times they check per week partially depends on your budget and how the campaigns are doing).
Google Ads Change History
Second, check the change history. This tab is located a few rows below “keywords”. You can select the date range you're looking at. Look for patterns. Is the ad agency making any changes to your ads? Are they only making changes the day before, the day of, or the day after your call? What types of changes are they making? Are any of those changes related to keywords?
The amount of changes isn’t necessarily important. It will vary. Maybe things are going pretty well with the campaign so you’re only making a few minor changes a month - but your agency should be checking the keyword report at least weekly (as opposed to weakly).
This image shows changes we made to one account in December 2025.
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