Should You Run Google Ads Yourself or Hire Someone?

A physio clinic owner in Kensington gets a call from someone offering to "fix" her Google Ads. The same week, Google sends an email suggesting she raise her budget. Meanwhile, her front desk can't say which new patients came from ads at all. She's wondering whether to hand the whole thing to someone or just learn it herself.

Whether to run Google Ads yourself or hire someone isn't really about skill. It's about time, complexity and how much a mistake costs you. Here's a straight look at what DIY actually involves, when outside help is worth it and how to stay in control either way.

01What running Google Ads actually involves

Google Ads work splits into two parts, and they're not equally hard.

The setup

This is where most of the result is decided. It covers conversion tracking for calls and forms, location settings, keyword choice and match types, negative keywords, ad copy, assets like call and location, budget and bid strategy, and the page people land on. Getting these right takes a few focused hours, or longer if you're learning as you go.

The ongoing management

Once a simple campaign is running properly, the weekly work is more routine: read the search terms report, add negatives, check that conversions match the calls and forms you actually got, adjust budget, and occasionally test a new ad. For a single local campaign, that's often an hour or two a week.

A well-built campaign is easy to run. A badly built one is expensive to run, no matter who's running it.

02When doing it yourself makes sense

DIY is a genuinely good option for a lot of small businesses. It tends to work when:

You sell one or two core services in a clear area, like a mobile dog groomer in the southeast or a locksmith covering the city.
You can protect an hour or two a week and actually do it, not just plan to.
Your budget is modest, so the cost of hiring help would be a big share of your ad spend.
You enjoy the numbers, or at least don't mind them.
Your tracking is solid, so you can see what's working without guessing.

Watch out

Google's defaults are designed to get your ads seen widely, not to protect a small budget. Before going live, check the location option (set it to Presence for most local businesses), turn off the Display Network for Search campaigns, look at match types, and switch off auto-applied recommendations. Our list of common Google Ads mistakes covers the rest.

03When hiring help is worth it

Outside help earns its fee when the account is complex, when your time is worth more elsewhere, or when the spend is high enough that small inefficiencies add up.

Several services, areas or seasons. A home services company doing furnaces in winter, AC in summer and plumbing all year, across Calgary and the surrounding towns, has a lot of moving parts.
Competitive, expensive clicks. In trades like emergency plumbing or roofing, each wasted click costs more. See what Google Ads cost in Calgary.
You keep meaning to check it and don't. An account nobody looks at slowly drifts toward wasted spend.
Tracking is beyond you right now. Website call conversions, enhanced conversions and offline imports are where many DIY setups stop.
You've tried and it didn't work. Sometimes the fix is a better setup; sometimes it's a better landing page. A second set of eyes can tell which.

04The middle option: built for you, run by you

There's an option between full DIY and monthly management that suits a lot of local businesses: pay for a proper setup, then run it yourself. The hard decisions get made once, by someone who's done them before, and the weekly routine is yours.

Get the setup done properly. Tracking, locations, keywords, negatives, ads and a landing page built for the campaign.
Learn the weekly routine. Search terms, negatives, leads vs conversions, budget. Write it down as a short checklist.
Run it for 60 to 90 days. Enough time to see a pattern in leads and booked jobs.
Get a check-up when something changes. New service, new area, sudden drop in leads, or a big jump in costs.

This works best when tracking is in place from day one. If it isn't, start with our guide to conversion tracking for calls and forms.

What the weekly routine looks like

Here's a realistic hour for a single local campaign. Spend fifteen minutes in the search terms report, adding anything irrelevant as a negative. Spend fifteen minutes comparing the conversions Google reports with the calls and forms your front desk actually logged, and note which became booked work.

Use the rest to check spend against budget, glance at which ads are getting clicks, and write down one thing to test next week. If that sounds manageable, DIY is realistic. If it sounds like something you'll skip by week three, be honest about that now.

05What to ask before you hire anyone

Agencies and freelancers usually charge either a flat monthly fee or a percentage of your ad spend, sometimes with a setup fee. Neither model is wrong. What matters is what you get and who controls what.

Ask	A good answer	A red flag
Whose name is the ad account in?	Yours, with them added as a user	"We run it through our account"
Who pays Google?	You, directly, from your card	A single bill that hides the actual ad spend
What are you tracking as a conversion?	Real calls and form submissions, checked against your leads	Clicks, impressions or page views
What do you do each month?	Specific tasks: search terms, negatives, ad tests, budget changes	"We optimise it" with no detail
What's the contract?	Clear terms, reasonable notice to leave	Long lock-in with no performance checks

Rule of thumb

If you leave, you should keep everything: the account, its history, the tracking, the landing pages and the domain. Ask that question before you sign, not after.

06Protecting your account either way

Whether you run ads yourself or hire someone, a few basics keep you in control.

Admin access in your name. Use a business email you'll still have in five years, not a staff member's personal account.
Billing on your card. You see exactly what goes to Google. Google adds GST for Canadian billing addresses unless you've provided a GST/HST number.
Auto-applied recommendations off. Review suggestions yourself, so changes don't happen in the background.
Change history checked. Google Ads keeps a log of changes. Glance at it monthly to see what was done.
Calls from Google reps handled with care. They can be helpful, but their suggestions often lean toward broader targeting and bigger budgets. Ask what problem a change solves before you agree.

07A quick way to decide

DIY is probably fine if

One or two services, one clear area
You'll actually spend an hour or two a week
Tracking is in place and you trust it
Your budget is modest

Get help if

Many services, areas or seasonal swings
Expensive clicks where mistakes add up fast
You can't tell which leads came from ads
The account hasn't been checked in months

Before deciding either way, make sure ads are the right channel to start with. For some businesses, Local Services Ads or a different platform altogether, covered in Google Ads vs Facebook Ads, is the better first step.

08Where Sidekick fits

Our website and Google Ads package ($1,285 CAD) is built for the middle option: a custom site, call and lead tracking, and a Google Ads account set up and ready to run at a budget you choose, all in your name, with ad spend paid straight to Google from your own account. You can turn ads on or off and change the budget any time, and if you'd like ongoing help, it's month to month with no lock-in. If you're comfortable running a simple campaign yourself, that's a perfectly good choice. See the package or book a free call.

Frequently asked questions

Is it hard to run Google Ads yourself?

The interface is learnable, but the defaults are built to spend money, not to protect it. With careful setup and an hour or two a week, many owners run a simple local campaign well.

How much time does managing Google Ads take?

For a single local Search campaign, expect a few hours to set up properly and roughly an hour or two a week after that: checking search terms, leads and budget.

Should I accept Google's recommendations?

Read each one before applying it. Some are useful, but many suggest broader keywords or bigger budgets. Turn off auto-applied recommendations so changes don't happen without you knowing.

Who should own my Google Ads account?

You should. The account, billing and conversion tracking should be in your business's name, with your agency or freelancer added as a user. That way your history stays with you if you switch.

What should a Google Ads manager actually do each month?

Review search terms and add negatives, check conversions against real leads, adjust budgets and bids, test new ads, and explain what changed and why. A report on its own isn't management.