Search engine marketing is a complex art—plenty of SEM agencies and generalist digital marketing firms offer it, but not all of them are created equal. Many offer cookie-cutter Google Ads campaigns with the same goals across all their accounts, only updating their structures and approaches when technology forces them to.
The very best search engine marketing agencies are those that can continually improve their strategies, incorporate new tools on the fly, and grow their clients’ revenue year over year.
As an experienced search engine marketing agency, we regularly audit search engine marketing programs for companies frustrated with their current partners. We hear the complaints all the time:
- “My agency is not being strategic enough, I feel like I’m bringing all of the strategy ideas.”
- “It seems like we are leaving money or conversions on the table.”
- “Our current agency doesn’t seem to have a deep understanding of our business and sector.”
- “Our agency continually delivers reports that contain errors or mistakes.”
- “It feels like a junior team is working on our account, we need more senior leadership to pay attention to our account,” or, sometimes, “It feels like we’re considered a small fish compared to the agency’s other clients.”
- “Our agency seems inflexible with its tactics. We need an agency that has a testing mindset.”
- “My agency’s rates were too high and I couldn’t validate their value”
If any of those thoughts have crossed your mind after a reporting call or a disappointing performance quarter, this blog is intended for you. We’ll break down where these complaints come from—and share the most common signs it might be time to fire your SEM agency and find a more aligned search engine marketing partner.
Telltale Signs That It’s Time For a New SEM Agency
Brands choose to leave their marketing agencies for countless reasons. But there are a few core issues that cause these relationships to splinter:
- Agency-Client Communication Breakdowns
- SEM Strategy Disagreements
- Reporting Discrepancies or Confusion
Problems arising from any of these situations often lead to suboptimal performance and mutual dissatisfaction. In this blog, we’ll focus on each of those three aspects individually, laying out the things that make for good agency-client relationships—as well as the specific complaints that we hear most from prospective clients when they’re on the hunt for a new SEM agency.
Common Communication Problems With Search Engine Marketing Agencies
Communication is the backbone of every relationship, and marketing partnerships are no exception. If you’re underwhelmed by how your SEM agency communicates—whether it’s response time, clarity, or tone—it may be a sign the partnership isn’t working.
SEM agency communication green flags:
- You have productive conversations that lead to actionable next steps
- Your questions are being understood and answered appropriately
- There is a feeling of mutual respect
- Both sides feel comfortable stating their opinions, even if they’re conflicting
- You develop a genuine rapport that evolves as the relationship ages
- You have complementary communication styles that help you stay on the same page
- You are satisfied with response times to your questions or requests
- There are little to no communication barriers linguistically and technically
To that final point: in tech conversations, it’s vital to understand your partner linguistically, as these conversations are often complex in nature—and missing the finer points can lead to big problems. Additionally, if there are consistent tech issues that prevent smooth communication in this remote relationship, those could turn into a barrier for the partnership.
On the other hand, there are plenty of signs you that can tell you communication with your SEM agency isn’t going well.
SEM agency communication red flags:
- You suffer poor response times to requests over email or messaging system (Slack, etc.)
- Calls frequently become tense, with one or both sides shutting down, with awkward interactions or silences
- The agency doesn’t answer your questions directly, or beats around the bush with their answers
- You don’t feel as if your agency explains performance thoughtfully and in a digestible manner
- No rapport and a super transactional exchange (unless this is your preference as the client)
These are all red flags. Often, these problems contribute to a sense that your account is on the backburner or isn’t the biggest priority to your agency partner—demonstrated by shallow or sporadic communication. Because communication is the bedrock of a good agency-client partnership, any of these issues are indicators that it’s time to find a new SEM agency.
Strategic Misalignment With Your SEM Agency
While the expectation is that your search engine marketing agency will use its expertise to lead strategy (that’s why you hired them, after all), a true partnership should give you the opportunity to shape the direction of your advertising efforts. Digital marketing strategy is meant to be challenged, tested, and expanded upon, and both parties should prioritize flexibility and adaptation in pursuit of success.
SEM strategy green flags:
- They’re proactive about recommending tests and roadmapping a path for tests
- They’re consistently making strategic recommendations based on performance and coming to your calls with new thoughts on how to improve existing performance
- They are willing to try out and validate your ideas/recommendations with data and next steps
- They can explain their point of view on certain strategies and collaborate in real time
- They’re thoughtful in how they’re deploying new strategies and attempting to be thought leaders in the SEM space
SEM strategy red flags:
- They don’t offer any testing roadmap and are unwilling to entertain your ideas and suggestions
- They are not contributing new ideas during strategy calls
- They’re constantly in “maintenance mode,” meaning they are consistently bringing up maintenance but not going into detail on what that entails and how it’s impactful to the account.
- Ad performance has remained stagnant for a long period of time or, even worse, is slipping. If your account is not evolving strategically, it’s easy for an SEM program to fall behind your competitors.
- You, as the client, feel like you’re feeding your agency ideas and their contribution is minimal
If you don’t feel as if you’re involved in a dynamic, strategic relationship, and your agency seems to be checking boxes rather than seeking out every incremental opportunity, then it is time to fire your SEM agency.
Reporting Failures That Signal a Weak SEM Agency
Search engine marketing is mostly about data: How you understand data and optimize from it. Because of that, how your agency generates reports on it and shares it with you is highly important. And because every company has different business needs, they shouldn’t be making cookie-cutter reports for all of their clients.
When you don’t have visibility into what’s working and what’s not, your budget is just a guess—and so is your strategy. Good reporting is more than a spreadsheet; it’s a conversation that helps connect performance to decisions.
SEM reporting green flags:
- Your reports clearly connect campaign performance to business outcomes (e.g., ROAS, CPA, LTV).
- You get breakdowns by search term, audience segment, device, geography, or other dimensions that matter to your business.
- There’s a cadence for reviewing results and adjusting strategy—not just reporting after the fact.
- Reporting includes thoughtful analysis, not just data exports.
- You understand what’s being tested, why, and what was learned.
- The agency is proactively flagging anomalies, wins, and risks before you have to ask.
SEM reporting red flags:
- You’re only getting topline metrics like impressions, clicks, and CTR—no visibility into conversions, revenue, or customer acquisition cost.
- Reports are sent as static PDFs with no explanation or context.
- You have to wait until the end of the month to learn whether you were over- or under-spending.
- No clear benchmarks, trends, or hypothesis-driven analysis of what’s impacting performance.
- There’s no regular discussion around testing results or next steps.
- You’re repeatedly asking for the same reporting fix—or being ignored entirely.
Ultimately, you need an agency partner that has the right tools to make your partnership successful, including strong reporting deliverables that reflect what matters to your brand’s growth. If your agency isn’t able to create detailed custom reports that help you optimize your account towards your goals, it may be time to find a new agency.
Finding the Right SEM Agency Partner
It’s important to have a strong working relationship with your agency partner—they should operate as an extension of your marketing team. Vetting potential agencies is not only understanding their technical capabilities, but how they communicate and operate internally as well.
It’s a lot like dating: not everyone will be a match, and that doesn’t mean a bad fit is a bad agency. But when you find the right one you’ll know—and you’ll keep them around. If you’re finding that you’re not happy with your current search engine marketing partner for any of the reasons listed above, it might be time to break up and move on. And if you’re looking to see if ADM’s performance marketing team is the right fit for your business, don’t hesitate to reach out to us for a consultation whenever you are ready.