A Google Ads expert with 14+ years on the account, hired directly instead of through an agency

What a senior specialist does that a generalist or a junior does not

• Reads the search terms before touching the bids. Most waste in lead generation accounts is in what gets counted and in the queries matched, not in the bidding. A specialist starts there.
• Treats the automation as a tool with settings, not as a strategy. Smart Bidding and Performance Max are switched on when the conversion data deserves them and reviewed with brand excluded, so the reported result is real.
• Owns the measurement. GA4, Tag Manager, consent and the CRM are part of the job, because an expert cannot optimize toward a number that is wrong.
• Builds the page after the click. The landing page is usually the largest lever in the account and the one nobody who runs the ads has touched. Here it is included.
• Says no. To budget increases the data does not support, to platforms that do not fit the business, to accounts that need an agency rather than one person.

How to check a Google Ads expert before hiring one

1. Ask who will be in the account weekly. If the answer is a team, ask for the name and the years of experience of the person doing the work. Here the answer is one name, and it is the person you spoke to.
2. Ask for a written review before any retainer. An expert can read your account read-only and tell you in writing what is wrong and what it costs each month. That is the Google Ads audit, and it stands on its own.
3. Ask how results are reported. Platform numbers alone are a warning sign. The report should reconcile to your CRM or your orders, with brand and non-brand shown separately.
4. Ask what they will not do. An expert has a scope. Mine is Google, Microsoft, Meta and LinkedIn Ads for businesses spending roughly $3,000 to $80,000 a month, with the exceptions listed on the home page.
5. Check the published work. Named cases where the client allowed it, anonymized where they did not, with the figures and their source stated. Results →

Expert, consultant, freelancer: which word applies

People search for all three and the work is the same person. "Expert" and "specialist" describe depth on the platform; "consultant" describes advice and reviews available without a retainer; "freelancer" describes the independence from an agency. All three are true here, and none of them is the point. The point is that the senior person is the one in the account.

How an engagement with an expert starts

Read-only access, a fixed-price written review, then your choice: implement it yourselves, hire me for the fixes, or have me run the account month to month with 30 days' notice either way. Fees are flat, set from the scope, never a percentage of spend, and quoted in US dollars, pounds or euros by email from the form.

Questions people ask before hiring

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