Changing Google Ads agency is mostly a paperwork problem with one expensive trap. The trap is switching access off in the wrong order, so the ads stop or the reports go blank while you are still paying for clicks.
This checklist is for a business that already has a Google Ads account. It does not tell you whether to change agency. It helps you do it without losing the enquiry route.
Google's help page on unlinking says that if the account is on monthly invoicing and the manager account being unlinked is the paying manager, the account stops serving after the unlink. Change the billing set-up first. Source: Google Ads Help, About unlinking accounts from your manager account, read 31 October 2026.
Start with who can sign in
Write down the customer ID, the business administrator, and one contact at the outgoing and incoming agency. Then check that a person from your business can sign in with their own Google login. A monthly report by email is useful, but it does not prove you can run the account.
Sort the assets into two piles: what sits inside your Google Ads account, and what the agency supplies from elsewhere. The second pile usually holds the landing-page domain and hosting, analytics, tag management, tracking phone numbers and whatever catches the form enquiries. A campaign can look healthy while one of those has quietly gone.
Never put a Google password into a handover document. Use the account’s own access controls.
Map what depends on the old agency
Google states that an unlinked account keeps its campaign history. It also lists what can change: billing, shared remarketing lists, and conversion tracking that used the manager’s cross-account tag, which stops recording conversions for clicks after the unlink. Work through your own set-up against this table.
| Item | Question to settle | Evidence to keep |
|---|---|---|
| Account access | Who can approve the handover and make changes? | Named owner, confirmed sign-in |
| Billing | Who pays Google, and does it run through the outgoing manager? | Current set-up and the agreed replacement |
| Conversion tracking | Are conversions recorded in your account or through the manager's tag? | Action names, source, responsible person |
| Landing pages | Who controls the domain, hosting and page edits? | Ownership record, continuity plan |
| Phone numbers | Will the advertised and tracking numbers keep ringing you? | Number list, who rents each, forwarding checked |
| Enquiries | Where do form messages land, and who replies? | Receipt test, reply route |
Mark any unknown as unknown. An assumption is not a completed check just because the old agency relationship is ending.
Save a campaign baseline before anyone edits
Take a dated summary of ad spend, daily budget, active services, locations, landing pages and what each conversion means. Add campaign performance month by month, average cost per click, and a copy of the search terms report so you can see which searches the money has been going on. A click on a phone link, an answered call, a form send, a qualified enquiry and a won job are five different numbers.
Google separates primary and secondary conversion actions. Secondary ones are generally not used for bidding, with one exception: when a secondary action sits inside a custom goal, it is used. So ask the new agency to write down the actual campaign goals instead of assuming every conversion in the table counts the same way. See Google Ads Help, About primary and secondary conversion actions, read 31 October 2026.
Note the account structure too: how the campaigns and ad groups are split by service and area, so a new team can see why it was built that way. Check whether Google Analytics is linked, and by whose login. Add the services you want, the area you can cover and the reasons an enquiry would be a poor fit. Keep customer names out of a widely shared file when totals answer the question.
Agree the order of changes
Give every step an owner, a date and a proof. A workable sequence:
- Document the current set-up.
- Settle access and billing.
- Confirm the incoming team can sign in.
- Check tracking and phone numbers.
- Only then remove the outgoing team’s access.
Do not touch bids, budgets, goals and landing pages just to look busy during the handover. Record any change that is needed, so a transition problem can be told apart from a campaign decision later. Agree who can pause the ads if a contact route breaks and who can approve extra spend.
Test the route a customer takes
Click the advertised links on a phone. Ring the numbers. Send a clearly labelled test enquiry with whoever receives them and confirm it arrived and who replied. Our website enquiry test walks through that. A tidy dashboard says nothing about whether a customer can reach you.
Close the handover when the evidence exists: your own access works, billing is clear, the assets you need are still yours, the numbers ring and every open item has a named owner. If something is unresolved, write down what is unresolved and how it affects you.
Thinking of running paid search in-house instead of hiring another agency? The same checks apply, with you as the new manager. Reviewing the campaign as well as the agency? Start with Google Ads for tradesmen. To talk through your services, area and enquiry route, call Mudfish. A conversation does not commit you to any advertising budget.