Changing PPC agencies should be a piece of cake, right? Well, not always.

It’s no fun to realize your agency isn’t getting the results you need. It’s even more frustrating to find that they’re going to do whatever they can to keep you as a client — and not in a good way.

Making the switch can be daunting, but we’re here to help. Here are a few tips on how to protect your company and PPC accounts in the event your PPC agency relationship goes south.

Before you contact, check the contract

Many agreements have specific terms, like a mandatory cancellation notice period or clauses about working with competitors. These can limit your freedom to transfer your PPC accounts to a new management company. Read the contract carefully — it will give you a good idea of what to expect when you decide to change your PPC agency.

Get administrative access to your accounts

If your contract has a list of required steps to take when ending your relationship, you’re in an ideal situation. However, if there is nothing in your contract that discusses ownership of the PPC accounts, you may need to navigate the situation tactfully.

Getting administrative Google AdWords account access and the login credentials to any other ad and analytics platforms being used is crucial to maintaining control and bouncing back after cutting ties.

These are the most popular ad platforms your PPC agency may be using:

• Google AdWords
• Facebook Ads (which includes Instagram Ads)
• LinkedIn Ads
• Twitter Ads
• Bing Ads

You also may need access to your Facebook Business Pages, Google Analytics, and Google Console.

The unfortunate reality is that some companies may try to hold your accounts hostage if you try changing PPC agencies. This would require you to start over with new ads and build both your credibility and ad effectiveness from the ground up.

Don’t stand for this.

The accounts are in your business name, you’re paying to run them, and they should belong to you. Better yet, get administrative access for all accounts upfront to avoid the awkwardness of having to ask for it later.

If your PPC agency absolutely won’t give you access to the account, get some of the account’s data from a tool like SpyFu. SpyFu tracks keywords and ads by domain which will make it easier to rebuild your campaign if needed.

Find out where your landing pages are hosted

Any landing pages used in your ads should belong to you as well. It’s like owning a website — even if you were to change web development companies, your company website would remain in your possession.

Ask about where your landing pages are hosted. You may simply need to get the login credentials, or you may need to transfer the pages to a new hosting provider.

If you aren’t able to get access to your landing pages, take screenshots of each page so they can be recreated easily in the future. It’s a lot easier to rebuild a landing page with a screenshot than it is to design a new one.

Remove your old agency’s account access

When you change PPC agencies, it’s important to make sure the old management team can’t accidentally (or intentionally) touch your campaigns.

Removing them is also a courtesy. PPC managers receive tons of notifications from the accounts they’re managing, so eliminating notifications from accounts they’re no longer overseeing will help them focus on their other clients.

The exact methods of removing access from each account will vary by platform. In general, this will require one of two processes: removing admin privileges from individual users, or changing account passwords.

If you’re not sure how to do this, a representative from your new agency should be able to walk you through the process or do it themselves. Which brings us to…

Find a new agency

PPC accounts can’t be left stagnant. Google AdWords and other platforms regularly update their ad formats and tweak the ways their systems work. Your PPC campaigns also are operating inside of a larger ecosystem of accounts, so as other companies adjust their bids, your ad performance will change too.

Letting your PPC accounts go dormant is like leaving a car in the garage. If you want to have a car that runs, you need to take it out regularly. Otherwise, the battery will run out, the engine can rust, and your investment will need a lot of tuning up before it’s ready to run again.

Similarly, leaving your PPC account alone for a few months may sound harmless, but you might return to find thousands of wasted dollars and out-of-date campaigns to clean up.

If you’re planning to continue advertising after changing your PPC agency, be sure to find a new partner first (or very quickly after), or prepare an internal team member to take over the PPC management responsibilities.

Start out on the right foot

To avoid changing to a PPC agency that has the same problems as your old one, learn what to look for in a Google AdWords management team, and ask similar questions about contracts, Google AdWords account access, administrative privileges, and hosting.

It’s like hiring a driver for that fancy car: The more work you put into choosing the right person for the job, the less problems and more peace of mind you’ll have later on.

Looking for a new PPC management team?

How about one that monitors your account daily, specializes in advanced analytics and tracking, and doesn’t lock you into long-term contracts?

That’s us.

Find out more about ParaCore’s transparent process and how you can get a $100 ad credit for new pay-per-click campaigns. Get started here.