How to Find and Hire a Google Ads Specialist

⏱ 3 min read

In short: Ask candidates for evidence of results, check their experience in your industry and agree on account access before work begins. After hiring, review spending weekly without making uncoordinated changes to campaign settings.

Students joining my course often tell me similar stories about hiring someone to manage their advertising. The budget disappeared, the clicks arrived, and enquiries were few and far between. When choosing a Google Ads specialist, I recommend looking beyond their promises to the results they have delivered and how they propose to work with you.

Why I start with account access

I ask a specialist to explain in advance which initial changes they will keep reversible and how they will record the account’s starting state. I arrange separate access with only the permissions needed for the work, without sharing a password or handing over control of the payments profile. I find this more useful than a discussion about certificates: a good specialist can work within a clear permissions structure without demanding ownership of the client’s advertising account.

Google explains the permissions associated with each role in its guide to account access levels.

A poorly configured campaign can make your advertising unprofitable and put the business under serious pressure. Checking the quality of the work matters both when you choose a contractor and after the campaigns go live.

Quality control should be part of the working relationship from the start.

What to look for when hiring a specialist

Experience and results. Ask for a portfolio and the results of previous work. You need to understand what the candidate achieved for a business, beyond their ability to set up a campaign.
Understanding of your business. The specialist needs to understand what you sell and how your company works. Experience in your industry is an advantage.
Experience spending their own money. Ask whether the candidate has ever funded their own advertising. I see that as a useful additional signal: it can help someone appreciate where to save money as well as where to raise a bid.
Client reviews. Search for the candidate on Google before hiring them. Look for feedback from previous clients and read what they say about working together.
Ongoing checks. Trust the specialist, but verify the work. Log in to your advertising account each week and check where your budget is going.

Reviewing the work does not mean changing settings yourself. If the specialist is following an agreed method, an unplanned change can disrupt it. Decide at the start who will make changes and how you will agree on them.

To help business owners understand their advertising, I created a free masterclass on setting up Google Ads. It explains how the advertising works and what to pay attention to when assessing its results.

When this does not apply: a portfolio, positive reviews or industry experience cannot guarantee results. These criteria help you assess a candidate, but they do not replace ongoing spending checks or clear agreements about access and campaign changes.

Understanding the basics of Google Ads will help you ask a specialist useful questions and make sense of the answers. Start with the masterclass, then use what you learn to evaluate candidates and review the work after hiring.