Short answer: before you hire a PPC agency in Kolkata, check five things. Will your Google Ads account stay in your name? Is conversion tracking set up before ads go live? Will you see the actual search terms your money is spent on? Who builds and improves the landing page? What does the monthly report show? An agency that answers all five clearly is worth talking to. One that answers with confidence but no detail is not.
What is PPC? Pay-per-click advertising means you pay when someone clicks your ad, most often on Google Search, YouTube or the Google display network. Done well, it puts your offer in front of people who are already looking for what you sell.
Why PPC goes wrong so often
Most failed PPC campaigns are not caused by Google. They fail for ordinary reasons: nobody tracked what happened after the click, the targeting was too wide, the landing page did not match the ad, or the business took a day to call back. A good agency deals with all of these, not just the ads.
That is why judging a PPC agency by its pitch is a mistake. Judge it by how it handles the boring parts.
Five things to check before you spend a rupee
1. Whose account is it?
Your Google Ads account should be in your name, with the agency given access as a manager. Some agencies run campaigns from their own account and keep the history and data. If you leave, you start from zero. Ask this first. The answer should be simple.
2. Is conversion tracking set up before the ads?
Ask how phone calls, WhatsApp clicks and form submissions will be counted. A campaign without tracking is guesswork, however clever the ads look. You want calls from ads recorded, form leads recorded, and each tied back to a campaign and keyword where possible.
3. Will you see the search terms?
The search terms report shows the exact phrases people typed before clicking your ad. It is where wasted spend hides, and where good agencies find their best ideas. Ask whether you will see it, and how often the agency reviews it and adds negative keywords to stop irrelevant clicks. A reply like “our AI handles it” is not enough.
4. What happens after the click?
Ads send people to a page. If that page is slow, confusing or has no obvious next step, even good ads fail. Ask who builds and improves the landing pages, how they will test changes, and whether your phone and WhatsApp buttons work properly on mobile. Our guide on why traffic does not become enquiries shows the usual culprits.
5. What does the report show?
Ask for a sample. It should show spend, clicks, leads, cost per lead and which campaigns and keywords produced them, along with what the agency changed and why. If a report is mostly impressions and a bar chart of clicks, you will not learn much.
Questions that reveal how an agency really works
- How do you decide which keywords to bid on, and which to avoid?
- What will you do in the first two weeks, before the campaign goes live?
- How do you handle Performance Max campaigns, where Google chooses where ads show? (A good answer includes limits and checks, not blind trust.)
- How do you separate branded searches, where people already know you, from new customers?
- Who will speak to me each month, and when?
- How do you tell a good lead from a poor one, and how will my feedback change the campaign?
Red flags
- Guaranteed position or guaranteed leads. Nobody controls auctions or your market.
- Success measured by optimisation score or clicks. Those are Google’s numbers, not yours.
- Refusing to share account access.
- Unclear split between ad spend and management. You should always know how much goes to Google.
- The same campaign structure for every client.
- No questions about your sales process. Ads only work if you can handle the leads.
What a sensible first month looks like
Week one: understanding your business, reviewing any old account, and agreeing what counts as a lead. Week two: tracking, landing page and campaign build. Week three: launch carefully, usually with a small, focused set of campaigns. Week four: first review of search terms, quality of leads and what to change. Beware of anyone who wants to launch everything at once or expects a perfect result in the first week.
PPC or SEO?
PPC buys visibility now and stops when you stop paying. SEO builds slowly and keeps working. Many businesses use PPC to get enquiries quickly while SEO matures. If you are unsure where to start, our performance marketing page and SEO page explain both, and Google Ads vs Meta Ads helps you choose between ad platforms.
If your ads are already running
If you are spending money and not getting leads, do not assume the platform is broken. Start with tracking, search terms, landing page and follow-up speed. Our post Google Ads spending money but no leads: 8 fixes walks through them.
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose a PPC agency in Kolkata?
Check account ownership, conversion tracking, search term visibility, landing page support and the monthly report. Ask for a similar example and a plan for the first month.
Should I own my Google Ads account?
Yes. The account should be in your name, with the agency working as a manager, so your data and history stay with you.
How long does PPC take to work?
Campaigns can produce enquiries soon after launch, but the first weeks are used to test and tune. Good results come from steady improvement, not instant perfection.
Can an agency guarantee leads from Google Ads?
No. Results depend on your offer, competition, landing page and follow-up. An honest agency promises clear tracking and transparent reporting instead.
Is PPC suitable for small local businesses?
Often yes, especially for services people search for in an urgent moment. A small, tightly targeted campaign can work better than a broad one.
If you want a second opinion on an ad account, or a proposal from another agency, talk to us. A first conversation costs you nothing.