Why a search account needs regular attention
Search campaigns drift if nobody watches them. New search terms appear every week. A competitor rewrites its ads. Google adds a setting and switches it on by default, or a landing page form breaks and conversions quietly stop recording.
Management is the habit of checking these things on a schedule instead of finding out from a billing statement. In practice someone works in your Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising account, reads the search terms report, adds negative keywords, adjusts bids or bid strategy targets, replaces weak ads and confirms conversions are still coming through. They keep a short log of what changed and why, so you can follow along and pick it up yourself if you ever take the account back in house.
Negative keywords and the search terms report
The search terms report shows the actual queries that triggered your ads. Reading it is the single most useful routine task in a search account, and it is where wasted clicks become visible.
Each pass sorts terms into three piles. Good terms you are already covering. Good terms worth adding as their own keywords. Poor matches that should become negatives: jobs, salary, training, templates, competitor names you have decided not to bid on, services you do not offer.
Negatives can sit at campaign level, at ad group level, or in shared lists applied across campaigns. A careful manager also checks that a new negative does not block searches you want, because a single broad negative can switch off a whole service line without anyone noticing.
Access, billing and who holds the keys
Ad platforms offer several ways to share access, and the choice affects what happens if you change providers.
- Manager account link. The provider links its Google Ads manager account to yours. You keep ownership and can unlink it from your side.
- User invite. You add the provider's email as a user at a chosen access level, such as standard. You can remove it at any time.
- Billing. Keep the payment method in your name. Ad spend then goes from you to Google or Microsoft, with the management fee invoiced separately.
Store your own logins in a password manager, and keep at least two people in your company with admin access so one departure does not lock you out.
Questions about search ads management
Which match types should a new account use?
Small and new accounts often start with phrase and exact match, which keep ads close to the searches you chose. Broad match lets Google find related searches and relies heavily on conversion data, so it is usually tested once tracking is reliable and negative lists are built up.
Who decides the ad budget?
You do. A provider can explain how daily campaign budgets work, how search volume and click prices affect spend, and how to split money between services. Ad spend is billed by Google or Microsoft to you, and you can lower or pause it in the account.
How do I know what changed in my account?
Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising both keep a change history you can open yourself. A provider should also send a plain summary of what they changed, why, and what they are watching next. If you only receive charts with no notes, ask for the reasoning behind the changes.
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