Exposed: 3 Shady Google Ads Agency Tactics That Steal Your Budget

I have written so much about things that agencies have done wrong that I don’t want to rehash it and sound bitter. Yet at the same time my goal is to protect business owners from the shady agencies. So in this post I am going to cherry pick 3 things that I have seen agencies do with my own eyes and I am going to talk about why these actions are the wrong thing to do.

I am also going to talk about how they impact your account.

Making Superficial Changes In The Change History

Agencies know that clients look at the change history in Google Ads. They also know some clients have used a lack of changes as justification to leave.

As a result, I have seen agencies go into an account every ten to fifteen days and make superficial changes like adding a single negative keyword or changing a keyword match type. These are two examples of superficial changes, but even those are wrong.

An agency should have a strong enough relationship with the client to admit when an account is low touch. They should also have the moral compass to offer a more affordable service or allow that customer to run their own ads internally.

Collecting a 2K retainer for a low touch account is not my idea of morality.

It also sets the client up for confusion later. If that client is ever in a position to grow or move on and they try to audit their account, they will come away thinking their account is fragile or overly sensitive because of all the micro changes. In reality, it is simply a low touch account, and that misunderstanding affects every future decision they make.

Management For A Client That Should Not Be Running Google Ads

I hate this with a passion, but it’s another issue that is rampant in the agency world. Some businesses simply should not be running ads. I once had a client come to me with a service that had extremely poor reviews. They desperately wanted their ads to run, but they had not addressed the terrible reviews online.

In my opinion, it is highly immoral to take this client’s money. The right thing to do is to explain the situation clearly and honestly. Explain that bad reviews will reduce any performance that could have happened with Google Ads.

What usually happens instead is that the client walks away believing Google Ads doesn’t work, when the real issue is the business foundation itself and the agency should have turned this work down.

I remember bringing this exact concern to an agency owner who told me that if I didn’t take clients like this, I “wouldn’t have a business.”

That comment stung, especially because it was before I had fully built my model of Google Ads training, second opinions, and coaching.

At the time, it made me question myself. Now, it just reinforces how important it is to stay aligned with my own ethics and build a Google Ads consulting business around what I know the market desperately needs. And it is not another agency.

Running All The Client Ads Out Of A Singular Google Ads Account

This one was new to me until this year. I took on a local service client, and we were reviewing the ads running in their current account through the Ads Transparency Center in Google. The agency was holding this account hostage, and while we were looking, we found solar panel installation ads running in the exact same account.

This scam completely stumped me at first. I went to an agency owner I trust, and he explained that this was likely done so the agency only had to verify ads one time. If you have a ton of low‑touch clients, verification takes time, and this shortcut lets them scale without doing the work.

That explanation told me everything I needed to know. This agency is trying to maximize scale, running a volume‑based model with low retainers and who knows what else behind the scenes.

The damage to the client is enormous. They never own their data because their campaigns live inside a master account. The data that does exist is flawed because it’s mixed with unrelated industries. They end up paying more for ads because nothing is running with clean signals. It’s terrible, and this client — who I am still working with — has lost thousands starting from scratch.

How This Shows Up If It’s Happening to You

Across all of these situations, the symptoms tend to look the same long before you realize what’s actually going on with your ads. It usually starts with a quiet sense that something feels off. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but the reporting feels thin, the communication feels surface‑level, and the work being done never seems to match the size of the retainer you’re paying. You might notice that changes in your account feel random or unnecessary, or that you’re being shown activity without ever seeing meaningful strategy behind it. That’s often the first sign of superficial management.

Another symptom is that you’re kept at arm’s length from your own data.

• Maybe you’ve never been given full access to your Google Ads account.

• Maybe you’re only shown screenshots or summaries instead of being allowed to look inside.

• Maybe you’ve asked for clarity and gotten vague answers.

When an agency is running your ads inside a master account or trying to hide low‑touch work, transparency is always the first thing to disappear.

You may also feel like ads aren’t working.

And then there’s the performance itself.

If your results swing wildly without explanation, if your data never seems to stabilize, or if your ads feel disconnected from your actual business, it’s often because the account isn’t being run cleanly.

What To Do Next

If any of this sounds familiar, the next step is to talk to someone who will give you a straight answer about what’s actually happening in your ads account. That’s the work I do every day. I look at your setup, your data, your signals, and your business reality and tell you the truth about whether the problem is Google Ads or the way it’s being managed.

The great part is that I am not doing this to take your retainer or manage ads for you. My business exists to give you back control of your ads.

If you’re unsure or starting to recognize these patterns, reach out. We can look at your account together and figure out the right path forward for your business.