Key facts
- Google's own guidance for business owners warns against any SEO provider that guarantees a number one ranking. No one can promise a position in Google's results.
- A Google Ads account has a ten-digit customer ID and its own list of users. If your email is not an Admin on that account, you do not control it, no matter who pays the invoice.
- Google Ads shows the exact amount charged to your payment method in its Billing section. An agency that bills one lump sum with no breakdown is mixing its fee with your ad spend.
- Impressions, clicks, and rankings are inputs. Leads, booked calls, and sales are outcomes. A monthly report with no outcomes in it cannot tell you whether the money worked.
- SearchPod's public model is 10% of the ad budget with a $600 monthly minimum, no markup on spend, month to month, and a 30-day you-don't-pay guarantee, so any quote can be compared against a known baseline.
They own what you pay for
The most expensive red flag is ownership. Ask one question: if we parted ways tomorrow, what would I keep? If the Google Ads account was created inside the agency's manager account with no Admin user from your company, the campaign history, the conversion data, and the audience lists stay with them. If the website lives on the agency's hosting, or the domain was registered in their name, you keep nothing.
Check it yourself. Open Google Ads and look at Access and security; your email should be an Admin. Open Google Analytics and confirm you hold the Administrator role. Open Search Console and confirm you are a verified owner. Open your Google Business Profile and confirm you are Primary owner. Log in to your domain registrar and read the registrant name. An agency that resists giving you those roles has told you what it values.
Guarantees, vanity reports, and fuzzy money
Guaranteed rankings. Google's own advice to business owners says nobody can guarantee a number one position. An agency that promises one is either planning to rank you for a phrase nobody searches or planning to break Google's rules.
Reports full of inputs. Impressions, clicks, average position, and 'reach' are what the agency bought. Leads, booked calls, quotes sent, and sales are what you bought. A report that never gets to the second list is hiding the answer to the only question you have.
Money you cannot follow. You should be able to open Google Ads, see exactly what Google charged, and compare it with the invoice. If the agency bills one round number and will not split fee from spend, you cannot tell what its work costs. SearchPod's structure is public for that reason: 10% of the ad budget, a $600 monthly minimum, and no markup on spend.
No tracking on day one. If conversion tracking was not set up in the first weeks, the agency cannot know what is working, and neither can you. Everything reported after that is guesswork with a chart.
How they treat your business
Long lock-ins before proof. A twelve-month contract with a cancellation penalty, signed before a single campaign has run, shifts all the risk to you. Ask why a confident agency needs it.
No questions about your business. If the kickoff call never asks what a customer is worth, which jobs you want more of, how leads are answered, or which areas you serve, the plan was written before you arrived.
The same website for every client. Look at their portfolio. If ten sites share one layout with the logo swapped, yours will too, and you will pay custom prices for a template.
Changes without notice, and silence when you ask. Budgets raised, campaigns paused, pages rewritten, and you find out from the invoice. Emails answered a week later, or by someone new every month. A missed call is a small thing. A pattern of them is a signal.
What to do when you spot one
One flag is a conversation. Two or three is a plan. Start by getting your access fixed, because everything else depends on it. Ask in writing for Admin on Google Ads, Administrator on Analytics, Owner in Search Console, and Primary owner on your Business Profile. A good agency will do it the same day.
Then ask for a report that ends in leads and sales, with the tracking to back it up. Then read your contract for the notice period and renewal terms. If the answers do not come, you have what you need to decide. The pages linked below cover how to judge results and who should own each account.
If you want a comparison point, SearchPod's terms are on the pricing page: no setup fee, month to month, a 30-day you-don't-pay guarantee, and a free proposal within one business day.
Related questions
It is proof the agency met Google's program requirements for spend, certifications, and account performance across its clients. It is not a review of what they did for anyone in particular, and it says nothing about ownership, reporting, or contracts. Treat it as a minimum, not a recommendation. Ask the questions in this article whether or not the badge is on their site.
Not always. SEO and web builds take months, and some agencies use a fixed term to protect the time they invest up front. The flag is a long term combined with no proof, no exit clause, and no ownership of the work. A fair agreement lets you leave with notice, keeps your accounts in your name, and lets the results argue for renewal.
Spend, leads by source, cost per lead, and whatever comes next in your business: booked appointments, quotes, jobs, or sales. Plus what changed this month and what changes next month, in plain words. Rankings and traffic can appear as supporting detail. If the report cannot connect spend to a business outcome, ask what tracking is missing and when it will be fixed.
Google Ads should show leads within the first month if tracking and landing pages are in place, because ads run as soon as they are approved. SEO takes longer, with early movement over a few months and competitive terms taking longer still. An agency that promises instant SEO results, or cannot explain why ads show nothing after several weeks, has a problem it is not telling you about.
Yes. Ask for two current clients you can call, not testimonials on a page. Ask to see a real monthly report with the client's numbers hidden. Ask who will own the accounts and to put that in the contract. Ask for the fee and the ad spend as separate lines. Ask what happens at the end of the term. The way they answer tells you as much as the answers.
Want a second opinion on your situation?
Get a free, no-obligation proposal. We’ll look at your site and your market and tell you honestly what we’d do — and what we wouldn’t.
Get your free proposal