Key facts
- Google Ads keeps a permanent "Change history" log inside every account, timestamped by user, so you can check exactly when your agency last touched bids, budgets, keywords, or ad copy.
- A campaign can carry the "Limited by budget" status for months without anyone noticing if nobody is actively watching pacing, which quietly caps how many leads that budget could otherwise produce.
- The search terms report shows the literal phrases people typed before your ad showed, and it needs regular review, since new irrelevant terms creep in on their own as Google's matching evolves.
- Google Ads surfaces automated recommendations and alerts inside the account, but a recommendation sitting unread for weeks is itself evidence nobody has logged in recently.
- Reporting cadence and management cadence are not the same thing; an agency can send a report every month while only actually adjusting the account once a quarter.
"Touching" the Account Means More Than Sending a Report
A monthly report and monthly management are not the same thing. A report can summarize activity that happened once, at the start of the reporting period, with nothing else touched in between. What you actually want to know is how often someone logs in and makes real adjustments.
For an account spending real budget, a weekly-ish rhythm is reasonable: reviewing search terms, adjusting bids or budgets as performance shifts, and pausing anything clearly underperforming. Bigger structural changes, new campaigns, major targeting shifts, happen less often and for good reason, since constant restructuring can hurt performance rather than help it.
Very small or unusually stable accounts might tolerate a slightly longer gap between deep reviews, but budget shouldn't run for weeks completely unattended regardless of account size.
Check Google Ads' Own Change History Instead of Taking Their Word for It
Google Ads includes a built-in change history feature that timestamps every edit made to the account, by whoever made it. If you have access to your own account, this is the fastest way to verify any claim about how often it's actually being managed.
If you don't currently have that access as the account owner, that's worth addressing on its own, since you should always be able to check activity on an account that's spending your money.
Also watch for the "Limited by budget" status inside the interface. Google itself flags this when a campaign could spend more, and produce more leads, if the budget allowed. An unmanaged account can carry this status for months without anyone acting on it.
What Should Happen Weekly, and What Can Wait Until Monthly
Weekly-ish tasks include reviewing new search terms for irrelevant matches, checking budget pacing, and making small bid adjustments where performance is clearly shifting.
Monthly tasks include a deeper performance review, testing new ad copy or extensions, and a real conversation about strategy and what's planned next.
Less frequent, but still periodic, work includes refreshing ad creative that's grown stale and reassessing overall campaign structure as the business or its offers change.
When Infrequent Touch Is a Red Flag, Not Just a Style Choice
"It's working, don't touch it" can be a legitimate short-term call for a genuinely stable, well-performing campaign. It stops being legitimate when months pass without even a basic search terms review, since new irrelevant queries appear on their own over time regardless of how stable the campaign otherwise looks.
Ask for a documented cadence tied specifically to your account, not a generic policy statement that could apply to any client the agency has.
A fee structure tied to a flat percentage of spend, rather than a markup on media cost, at least aligns the agency's income with your budget rather than with extra activity for its own sake, but a cadence commitment in writing still matters more than the fee model alone.
Related questions
Pausing unnecessary changes to a stable, well-performing campaign is legitimate reasoning, but that doesn't mean zero activity. Search terms and negative keywords still need regular review, since new irrelevant queries appear on their own as Google's matching evolves. If an agency uses "it's working" to justify literally no login for months, ask to see the change history yourself.
For an account spending real budget, expect at least a light weekly-ish look at pacing and search terms, with a deeper monthly review of performance and strategy. Very small or highly stable accounts might tolerate a slightly longer gap, but budget should never run for weeks completely unattended. Ask your agency to state their cadence for your account specifically, not a generic policy.
Yes, if you have admin or read access to the account yourself. Google Ads' change history shows every edit, by user and timestamp, going back through the account's history. If you don't currently have that access, that's worth fixing regardless of this specific question, since it's the fastest way to verify any claim your agency makes about activity.
Generally yes. Larger budgets move faster, expose more search terms, and create more opportunity for waste if left unattended, so they justify closer, more frequent review. A small account spending near a typical monthly minimum needs a lighter touch than one spending tens of thousands a month, but neither should sit completely unmanaged between monthly reports.
It can create incentives worth understanding. A flat percentage-of-spend fee, with no markup on media cost, ties the agency's income to your budget rather than to extra activity, so ask what specifically that fee buys you in terms of hours and cadence. A fee structure alone doesn't guarantee frequency; the written cadence commitment does.
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