The choice is an operating model, not a rate card
In-house, freelancer and agency are ways of allocating context, specialist depth, continuity and accountability. Compare the total system required to produce profitable decisions, not only salary or retainer.
Calculate total cost on the same basis
For an in-house hire include salary, employer costs, recruitment, tools, training, management time and cover. For a freelancer include fee, internal briefing time, specialist contractors and continuity risk. For an agency include retainer or spend-based fees, creative/data scope, internal stakeholder time and any excluded work.
Hypothetically: an employee costs £65,000 fully loaded; a freelancer £30,000; an agency £48,000. If annual ad spend is £600,000, each model must be assessed on total contribution after media and management. A two-point fee difference matters less than a persistent difference in qualified acquisition or margin.
Decision matrix
| Condition | Likely fit | Main risk to control |
|---|---|---|
| Deep internal context, steady workload, cross-functional access | In-house | Single-person skill and continuity gaps |
| Focused account, clear brief, modest complexity | Freelancer | Capacity, cover and specialist breadth |
| Multiple markets/channels, tracking and creative needs | Agency | Distance from the business and opaque delivery |
| Strong internal owner plus specialist needs | Hybrid | Unclear decision rights |
Evidence to request from every option
- A 90-day diagnosis and measurement plan.
- Who actually performs work and who provides cover.
- Access, account ownership and handover terms.
- Examples of decisions made from CRM or margin data.
- Reporting that reconciles with the system of record.
- Expected response time, meeting cadence and change approval.
Score the options against the real bottleneck
Weight criteria before meeting suppliers: business context, Search/Shopping/YouTube depth, measurement, creative, speed, continuity, governance and cost. If tracking is the current failure, a cheap Search specialist without CRM capability is not the low-cost choice.
Run references around comparable complexity, not industry logos. Ask what went wrong, how the operator detected it and what the client had to provide. Avoid promises of a specific ROAS without account and commercial evidence.
Governance should not depend on the model
The advertiser should retain controlled access to Google Ads and core measurement systems, with contracts that define data, billing, IP/licences, security, termination and exports. Google’s access documentation distinguishes direct and manager permissions; choose access by role rather than convenience.
Map the work before choosing who does it
Google Ads management spans commercial strategy, campaign execution, conversion measurement, feed or landing-page work, creative, analysis and stakeholder communication. One person may cover several functions, but the responsibilities still exist. List each function, required hours, decision authority and backup.
A brilliant buyer cannot fix checkout code without developer access. An agency cannot import qualified outcomes if sales refuses CRM hygiene. The operating model must include internal dependencies, not just the person clicking in Google Ads.
Three hypothetical cost scenarios
Focused local service
£3,000 monthly media, one location and reliable tracking may suit a vetted freelancer plus an internal owner. Agency breadth could be unnecessary unless landing pages or CRM work are part of scope.
Multi-market ecommerce
£60,000 monthly media across Search, Shopping, PMax and YouTube may require feed, creative, analytics and market coverage. An agency or in-house lead plus specialists may reduce key-person risk.
Complex B2B
Media spend may be modest while sales cycles and CRM integration are complex. Choose for measurement and commercial understanding, not spend percentage. A hybrid with internal revenue operations and external media expertise can fit.
Run a paid selection exercise
Give finalists the same anonymised data pack and ask for a diagnosis, evidence requests, first 30-day plan and what they would not change yet. Pay for the work if it requires substantive analysis. Score reasoning, uncertainty and measurement depth rather than presentation polish.
Ask an in-house candidate how they would investigate a sudden qualified-CPA increase. Ask a freelancer how cover and handover work. Ask an agency who performs daily analysis and how specialists coordinate. Reference-check those exact claims.
Define a hybrid RACI
| Decision | Accountable | Responsible |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial targets | Business lead | Finance and marketing |
| Campaign changes | Marketing owner | Operator |
| Tracking specification | Analytics owner | Operator and developer |
| Page/creative release | Ecommerce or brand lead | Creative/development |
| Access and security | Business administrator | IT or operations |
Transition without losing control
- Document customer ID, users, managers, billing and linked assets.
- Export settings, history, conversion actions and active tests.
- Assign the new owner before removing the old one.
- Run parallel knowledge transfer without duplicate campaign edits.
- Test tracking and approval workflows.
- Remove access only after continuity is confirmed.
The account-access guide provides the detailed evidence register.
What the first 90 days should contain
| Period | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Days 1–30 | Access secured, measurement reconciled, economics defined and urgent faults controlled |
| Days 31–60 | Campaign/page priorities implemented with change records and quality guardrails |
| Days 61–90 | Mature outcomes reviewed, first experiments decided and operating cadence established |
Ask each candidate who owns every deliverable. An in-house hire may need agency or developer support during onboarding. A freelancer may need internal analytics access. An agency may need a named internal decision-maker.
Compare risk, not just capability
- Key-person risk: who covers absence or departure?
- Context risk: how does the operator learn margin, stock and lead quality?
- Execution risk: who changes feeds, pages, tracking and creative?
- Governance risk: who controls account access and billing?
- Incentive risk: does compensation reward spend, hours or outcomes?
No model removes all risk. The choice is which risks the business can manage internally and which require contractual or team controls.
Weighted selection scorecard
Assign weights to commercial understanding, media depth, measurement, creative/CRO, communication, continuity, governance and total cost. Score evidence from the paid exercise and references, not sales claims. Run sensitivity: if changing one subjective score changes the winner, gather more evidence.
Make the internal owner accountable regardless of model. Outsourcing execution does not outsource the business’s responsibility to set targets, provide data and approve customer-facing claims.
Contract and handover requirements
Name the Google Ads customer ID, access levels, billing, working files, data exports, subcontractors, confidentiality, security, notice duties and handover timing. Distinguish business-owned campaign assets from licensed agency tools. Contract wording and legal outcomes vary, so obtain appropriate advice rather than relying on a generic template.