Quick Answer: Most Google Ads agencies are built for e-commerce and local services, not for manufacturers selling $50K machined assemblies to engineers over a nine-month sales cycle. Before you sign, verify four things: they have run B2B manufacturing accounts before, they track RFQs instead of clicks, you own the ad account, and you know exactly who does the work. Get any of those wrong and you’ll pay for activity, not quotes.
A CNC shop owner told me his last agency sent a monthly report celebrating a 4.2% click-through rate. In that same month he received zero RFQs. The report never mentioned that. That gap, between what agencies measure and what pays your payroll, is what this list is about.
What Should a Manufacturer Look For in a Google Ads Agency?
1. B2B manufacturing experience, proven with accounts, not logos. Ask to see a campaign they ran for a metal fabricator, OEM supplier, or industrial equipment maker. Ask what the cost per RFQ was. An agency that has only run campaigns for dentists and roofers will burn your budget learning that “aluminum machining” attracts hobbyists unless you structure negative keywords around it. A B2B manufacturing marketing agency should be able to talk about spec-driven buyers without you explaining what an RFQ is.
2. They optimize for RFQs, not clicks. Clicks are the cost of doing business. Quotes are the business. If their reporting leads with impressions, CTR, or “engagement,” walk. The only numbers that matter are qualified RFQs, cost per RFQ, and which campaigns produced them.
3. Conversion tracking that survives an audit. This is where most industrial accounts fail. Google’s automated bidding optimizes toward whatever you tell it is a conversion. If the “conversion” is a page view or a button click instead of a submitted quote form, Google will happily deliver thousands of worthless conversions. Ask the agency to explain, specifically, which events feed their bidding strategy. If they can’t answer in plain language, they don’t know.
4. They understand a long sales cycle. An engineer who downloads your spec sheet in March may not send a PO until November. That changes everything: bidding strategy, remarketing windows, how you judge success at 30 days versus 180. Agencies trained on e-commerce expect same-week purchases and panic when they don’t see them, then start “optimizing” your account into the ground.
What Contract Terms Protect You?
5. You own the ad account. Non-negotiable. Some agencies run your ads inside their own Google Ads account. When you leave, your campaign history, keyword data, and conversion learning leave with them, and you start from zero. The account, the data, and the billing relationship should be yours. The agency gets manager access.
6. Flat fees beat percentage-of-spend. An agency paid 15% of ad spend earns more when you spend more, whether or not the extra spend produces quotes. That incentive works against you. A flat fee tied to a defined scope keeps the recommendation honest: if $4K/month in spend generates the RFQs you need, nobody profits from pushing you to $8K.
7. Short terms, clean exits. Twelve-month contracts with auto-renewal clauses protect the agency, not you. Month-to-month or 90-day terms mean the agency has to earn the renewal with results. Read the cancellation clause before anything else.
Who Actually Does the Work on Your Account?
8. Find out who touches your campaigns. At most agencies, the senior strategist closes the sale, then your account goes to a junior specialist managing 20 other clients, coordinated by an account manager who has never built a campaign. Ask directly: “Who writes the ads, adjusts the bids, and reviews the search terms, and how many accounts do they manage?” A $5K/month agency fee pays for rent, sales staff, and that layer of account managers before a dollar reaches actual expertise. The same budget with a solo senior consultant buys 100% expertise.
9. Search term reviews happen weekly, not quarterly. Industrial keywords attract junk: job seekers, students, DIY hobbyists, buyers in the wrong country. The search terms report shows exactly what queries triggered your ads. An account nobody reviews for months bleeds money on “cnc machinist jobs” and “how to weld at home.” Ask when they last added a negative keyword to a client account. The hesitation tells you the answer.
10. Google Ads shouldn’t be their only answer. Paid search works when buyers are actively searching. But engineers also ask ChatGPT for supplier recommendations now, and they research on LinkedIn. An agency that only sells Google Ads will recommend Google Ads for every problem. You want someone who will tell you when the money is better spent on industrial SEO and AEO visibility or on fixing a website that can’t convert the traffic you’re already paying for.
How Do You Test an Agency Before You Sign?
Ask each finalist one question: “If our RFQs don’t improve in 90 days, what happens?” Good answers involve a specific diagnostic process. Bad answers involve patience, brand awareness, or “the algorithm still learning.”
Then do the math on your side. If your close rate on qualified RFQs is 20% and an average job is worth $40K, one additional RFQ per month is worth $8K in expected revenue. That’s the yardstick every fee and every ad budget should be measured against.
Before you talk to anyone, it helps to know whether your own website is ready to convert the traffic. Ads pointed at a site with no clear quote path waste money no matter who manages them. The free RFQ Readiness Scorecard takes a few minutes and shows you where the gaps are.
