How to choose a Google Ads agency in Miami: 8 questions and the red flags

Many business owners hire their first Google Ads agency on trust and a good sales call. The problems show up months later: an account you can’t access, a report full of impressions, a contract you can’t leave. These questions surface all of that before you sign.

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Eight questions to ask before you sign

Ask	A good answer	Be careful if
Whose name is the Google Ads account in?	Yours. The agency gets access and you can remove it any time.	It’s the agency’s account and you’d lose the history if you leave.
Do I pay Google directly?	Yes, with your own card, and you see every charge.	Ad spend goes through the agency and you can’t see what Google actually charged.
How exactly do you charge?	A flat fee or a stated percentage of spend, in writing.	The fee is vague or mixed into the “ad budget”.
How long is the contract?	A short initial term, then month to month.	A year or more with exit penalties before you’ve seen results.
What will your reports show?	Calls, forms, sales and cost per lead, plus what was changed and why.	Mostly clicks, impressions and “reach”.
Can I see the search terms we pay for?	Yes, any time, in the account itself.	The answer is “that’s proprietary”.
Who will actually work on my account?	A named person you can talk to directly.	Nobody can tell you, or it changes every month.
How do you track calls and forms?	Conversion tracking is set up and tested before budget goes up.	“Google tracks it”, or tracking comes “later”.

Red flags worth walking away from

• Guaranteed results or a guaranteed top position. Ad position is decided in an auction every time someone searches, and results depend on your market and offer. Nobody can honestly guarantee either.
• “Unlimited” or “all-inclusive” for a very low monthly price. Someone has to review search terms, budgets and ads every week; very cheap usually means nobody does.
• No access to your own account or data. If they won’t add you as an admin, assume you’ll leave with nothing.
• Reports that never mention money. If leads, sales or cost per customer never appear, the agency is grading its own homework.

What the Google Partner badge does and doesn’t tell you

To earn the badge, an agency’s manager account needs an optimization score of at least 70%, at least $10,000 in ad spend across managed accounts over 90 days, and at least half of its account strategists certified in Google Ads (Google Ads Help). It tells you the agency manages a certain volume and its team has passed Google’s exams. It doesn’t tell you whether they’ve worked in your industry, how they report, or whether your account will be in your name. Use it as one signal, not as the decision.

What it should cost

You pay two things: ad spend to Google and a management fee to the agency. For most local services in Miami we recommend starting around $1,500 a month in ad spend; clicks cost anywhere from about $1.26 to over $245 depending on the industry (see the Miami data). Management fees are usually a flat monthly amount, a percentage of spend, or both above a certain budget. What matters is that you know the exact number before you start.

How PeakFlint answers these questions

• The Google Ads account is in your name; we work with the access you give us.
• You pay Google directly with your own card.
• Management starts at $1,000 a month plus a one-time $300 setup, for up to $5,000 in ad spend; above that it’s 12–15% of spend. All in writing.
• Three months to start, then month to month.
• Weekly reports with calls, forms, cost per lead and what we changed.
• Full access to search terms and everything else in your account.
• You work directly with Nicolás Menalled, the founder.
• Tracking is set up and tested before any budget goes up.

We don’t guarantee results, because nobody honestly can. We commit to the work and to reporting the outcome against your sales. How we run Google Ads.

Common questions