What Does a PPC Agency Actually Do?
A PPC (pay-per-click) agency runs paid advertising on your behalf, most commonly Google Ads and Meta Ads, so that your business shows up in front of people who are actively searching for what you offer or scrolling past on social media. Instead of waiting months for organic SEO to build up, PPC gets you visible today. You pay each time someone clicks your ad, and a good agency’s job is to make sure those clicks turn into calls, bookings or enquiries rather than wasted spend.
In practice, that means keyword research, ad copywriting, landing pages, conversion tracking, budget management and ongoing optimisation, all working together rather than as separate jobs handed to different people.
Signs You Need a PPC Agency Rather Than Running Ads Yourself
Plenty of business owners try Google Ads themselves first, and that’s a sensible place to start if budgets are tight. The usual turning point comes when one or more of these show up:
- You’re spending money on ads but can’t say with confidence what it’s actually returning.
- Your cost per click keeps rising and you’re not sure why.
- You don’t have the time to check campaigns, adjust bids and test new ad copy every week.
- Your website gets clicks but very few of them turn into an enquiry.
- You want to expand into Meta Ads or retargeting but don’t know where to start.
None of these mean you’ve done anything wrong. Paid search rewards constant small adjustments, and that’s difficult to keep up with alongside actually running a business.
What a Good PPC Agency in Ireland Should Offer
Not every pay per click agency works the same way, but there are a few things worth expecting as standard:
- Proper conversion tracking. If an agency can’t tell you how many calls, form fills or bookings your ads produced, they can’t optimise them properly either.
- Landing pages built for the offer, not just the homepage. Sending paid traffic to a generic homepage is one of the most common reasons ad spend underperforms.
- Clear, honest reporting. You should understand what’s being spent and what it’s producing, including cost per enquiry, without needing to decode jargon.
- An ad account you own. Your campaigns, conversion data and audiences should sit in an account in your name, with the agency given access to manage it.
- Local market knowledge. Search behaviour, competition and cost per click can vary a lot between Dublin, regional towns and rural areas, and an agency that understands the Irish market will plan around that.
PPC Agency, Freelancer or In-House?
A freelancer is usually cheaper and more hands-on, but they’re one person. If they’re sick, on holiday or juggling too many clients, your campaigns can sit unattended. An in-house hire gives you full control and someone who knows your business inside out, but it’s the most expensive route, and you’re relying on one person’s skills with no backup if they leave.
A PPC agency sits in between. You get more than one set of skills, for example Google Search, Meta Ads and landing pages, and someone accountable for the whole job. The trade-off is that you’re one client among many, so it’s worth asking how much attention your account will actually get.
What to Check Before You Hire a Pay Per Click Agency
Almost every agency’s pitch sounds the same: “data-driven”, “proven results”, “dedicated account manager”. The differences that matter show up in how they work day to day. These are the things I’d check:
- Who owns the ad account? Some agencies build campaigns inside their own account. If the relationship ends, you lose the campaign history, the conversion data and the audiences built up over months. Make sure the account is yours.
- Is the reporting transparent? Ask to see a real report, not a sample screenshot. Good reporting shows spend, cost per lead, conversions and trends over time, including the months that weren’t great.
- Who’s actually managing the account? Some agencies put a senior person in the sales meeting and hand the day-to-day work to someone junior. Ask who’ll be running it week to week.
- Do they understand your type of business? PPC for a local service business, an online shop and a B2B company with a long sales cycle are very different jobs. Ask what kind of businesses they’ve run campaigns for.
- How do they talk about things that didn’t work? Every account has weaker periods. An agency that only ever reports good news is harder to trust than one that tells you what didn’t work and what they changed.
- How is the fee worked out? Management fees can be flat, a percentage of ad spend, or tiered by budget. Understanding how an agency gets paid helps you understand the advice they give you.
- What does the agreement look like, and why? Ask how long the agreement is and what happens in the first 30 days. A good agency will explain the reasoning rather than just the terms.
If the answers feel vague, that’s usually a sign the reporting will be vague too.
How Much Does a PPC Agency Cost in Ireland?
There are two costs: your ad budget, which goes to Google or Meta, and the management fee, which goes to the agency. At Astory Media I keep them separate. As a rough guide, management is around €350 a month on a €500 ad budget and around €450 on a €1,000 budget, rising as the account grows, because bigger budgets usually mean more campaigns, keywords, locations and ads to manage.
I’ve written a full breakdown of budgets, management fees and setup costs in how much Google Ads costs in Ireland.
Whatever the fee structure, the thing to watch for is an agency that pushes you to spend more before they’ve shown what the current budget is producing. For me, if a budget isn’t producing results, spending more isn’t the answer. You find out what’s going wrong first.
When You Might Not Need an Agency
If your ad budget is very small, the management fee can end up bigger than the advertising itself. A simple, tightly defined local campaign can sometimes be run by the business owner with a bit of guidance, particularly if the goal is straightforward lead generation. Professional management earns its cost when the account is complex enough, or the budget large enough, that it genuinely improves the return.
Red Flags Worth Walking Away From
- Refusing to give you ownership of, or access to, your own ad account.
- Guaranteed results promised upfront. Nobody can guarantee a specific cost per click or conversion rate on a platform they don’t control.
- Reporting that talks about clicks and impressions but never mentions cost per enquiry or return on ad spend.
- Reluctance to answer direct questions about who manages the account day to day.
What I Look for When Businesses Ask About PPC
The businesses that get the most out of paid search are rarely the ones with the biggest budget. They’re the ones with a clear offer and a straightforward next step for the person clicking the ad, whether that’s a phone call, a booking or a simple enquiry form.
For me, a slow, unclear landing page wastes more ad spend than a badly written ad. Before increasing the budget, it’s almost always worth fixing what happens after the click.
I’d also say consistency matters. Campaigns that are paused and restarted all the time tend to do worse than a steady, monitored spend, because stop-start budgets make it harder to build the data an account needs to perform well.
How Astory Media Helps with PPC
Astory Media is based in Dundalk, Co. Louth, and works with businesses across Ireland on Google Ads, Meta Ads, landing pages, conversion tracking and retargeting. Campaigns are built around a clear customer journey, from the search or advert, to a landing page with one clear offer, through to tracking the enquiry itself, not just the click.
SEO, website design and Google Ads are handled as connected parts of the same journey rather than separate services, which matters when paid traffic is landing on a site that also needs to build trust quickly.
If you want to talk through your options, you can reach me on +353 87 193 2111, by email at hello@astorymedia.ie, or through the contact page.
More on marketing and ads: Logo and Brand Design, Digital Marketing Strategy, Digital Marketing Services.
FAQ
What is the difference between a PPC agency and a general marketing agency?
A PPC agency specialises in paid advertising platforms such as Google Ads and Meta Ads. Some agencies offer this alongside SEO, web design and content, which can help if you want your paid and organic marketing working towards the same goals rather than pulling in different directions.
How much do PPC agencies charge?
It depends on the size of the account. At Astory Media, management starts at around €350 a month on a €500 ad budget, with the ad budget paid to Google separately. There’s a full breakdown in my Google Ads cost guide.
Is PPC worth it for a small business in Ireland?
It depends on the offer and the market. PPC tends to work well when there’s clear local search demand and a straightforward way to turn a click into an enquiry. It’s usually less effective without a landing page or follow-up process that can make the most of the traffic it brings.
How quickly does PPC produce results compared to SEO?
PPC can generate visibility and clicks as soon as a campaign goes live, whereas SEO takes longer to build. Many businesses use PPC for enquiries now while SEO builds organic visibility in the background.
Do I need a separate landing page for each ad campaign?
Not always, but it usually helps. A landing page built around the specific offer in the ad tends to convert better than a general homepage, because there’s less for the visitor to work out for themselves.
