Google ads management

Google Ads management

Who this is for, and who it is not for

If you run a small hotel, studios, or villas in Halkidiki or Thessaloniki and you’re tired of paying for clicks that don’t become enquiries, this is for you. It’s for owners who want calm, weekly control, and short reporting that connects spend to calls, forms, and bookings. It’s also for people who accept that Ads is not a “set it and forget it” channel and that small mistakes get expensive fast. If you want someone to “make it work” without access, without tracking, or while another provider keeps touching the same account, this is not for you.

The situation owners recognise

You open the Ads app and see spend going out every day, but reception says “nothing came from Google.” You ask for a report and get screenshots, impressions, and something called “optimization score,” but no clear answer on what changed and why. Then you try stopping the campaign and bookings dip, so you turn it back on and hope for the best. That loop is how budgets quietly bleed, especially in tourism where demand shifts week to week.

Most of the damage doesn’t come from one big mistake. It comes from dozens of small ones: wrong search terms, loose match types, location settings that leak, and landing pages that confuse tired travellers on mobile. Google Ads is a machine that will happily spend your money if you let it. Management is what stops it from spending in the wrong places.

What “management” actually means in operations

Ongoing management is weekly decision-making, not a one-time setup. It’s looking at what people typed, what you paid for, and what those clicks did next. It’s making sure the account is not drifting into broad traffic that looks nice in charts but doesn’t book. It’s also checking the boring parts: tracking, budgets, and whether the landing page still matches what the ad promises.

We’ve seen this fail many times when owners think the account is “running fine” because the spend is stable. Stable spend can still be waste. Owners usually notice the problem after the first season, when they compare bank statements and occupancy and can’t explain the gap. By then, the search terms have already trained the account to chase the wrong audience.

What changes after it’s in place

You stop guessing. Each week you can see what changed, why it changed, and what we’re watching next. You also get fewer surprises: sudden spikes, irrelevant clicks, and campaigns drifting into “research traffic” that never converts. The goal is not to create a perfect account. The goal is to keep the account pointed at revenue actions, week after week, in a market that shifts with weather, ferries, school holidays, and competitor pricing.

You’ll also notice something else: decisions get faster. When tracking is clean and reporting is short, you can decide if you want more volume, tighter cost control, or to protect margin during high season. That’s the point. Ads becomes a controllable lever, not a mystery bill.

What’s included (the ongoing work)

• Weekly checks on spend, search terms, and campaign drift, with actions taken where it matters.
• Search term cleanup to block irrelevant intent and protect budget from “curious clicks.”
• Budget control and pacing, so you don’t burn money early in the week and go dark when demand is highest.
• Landing page sanity checks: message match, mobile speed basics, and whether the page still answers the query.
• Tracking sanity: confirming that calls, forms, and key actions are recording consistently.
• Short owner reporting that ties spend to enquiries and bookings, not to vanity metrics.
• Seasonal adjustments: tightening or opening based on occupancy goals, not on Google’s suggestions.

Weekly checks: what we look at first

Every week starts with the same question: “Did we pay for the right intent?” Not “Did we get clicks?” Clicks are easy. Intent is what matters, especially for tourism where people search with very specific needs.

We look at search terms because that’s where reality shows up. You can have a campaign called “Luxury Villas” and still pay for searches like “jobs,” “for sale,” “long term rent,” “free cancellation only,” or “cheap hostel.” Some of these are obvious, others are sneaky, and they change as the season changes. If you don’t clean them weekly, you pay for them weekly.

We also check location settings and where impressions actually came from. Owners in Thessaloniki often assume they’re only showing in their area, then we find spend leaking to people searching from abroad with the wrong language intent, or to regions that never convert for that property. Google’s defaults are not built to protect your margin. They’re built to increase delivery.

For reference on how Google treats match types and why “close variants” can surprise you, Google’s own documentation is worth reading once, then forgetting. It’s here: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7478529

Search term cleanup: where money leaks quietly

Search term cleanup is not glamorous, but it’s where most small accounts win or lose. The mistakes are predictable. Broad match gets left open because “Google is smart now.” Then the account starts buying traffic for people who are not booking this season, not booking this location, or not booking this type of property.

In Halkidiki, we often see searches that look relevant but aren’t. “Halkidiki apartments” can mean a summer holiday, or it can mean someone looking for a long-term lease, or someone comparing every peninsula with no intent to book today. You don’t block everything, but you do block patterns that keep repeating and never convert. That’s not theory. That’s the difference between a campaign that pays for itself and one that just keeps spending.

If you want a neutral overview of why search terms matter and how intent is interpreted in PPC, Semrush has a clear explainer: https://www.semrush.com/blog/ppc-keywords/

Budget control: pacing, not panic

Most owners don’t need “more budget.” They need budget control. That means pacing spend across the week and across the month so you don’t run out when it matters. Google can spend more on certain days if it expects performance, and sometimes it’s right, but sometimes it’s just following noise.

We look at when enquiries actually come in. Not when clicks happen, but when calls and forms happen. Then we align bids and budgets to those windows. In tourism, weekdays and weekends can behave very differently, and it changes between shoulder season and peak season. If you don’t revisit it weekly, the account drifts.

This is also where owners get burned by “automated recommendations.” Google will suggest raising budgets, broadening targeting, and enabling features that increase reach. Reach is not your business goal. Bookings are. Google’s recommendation system is designed to increase platform usage, and that’s not a conspiracy, it’s just incentives. You can read about the “optimization score” concept straight from Google: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9061546

Landing page sanity: Ads can’t fix a confusing page

Even perfect targeting can’t save a landing page that doesn’t answer the question. If the ad says “Studios in Nikiti near the beach,” and the page opens on a slow homepage with a slider and no prices, no availability, and no clear call button, you’ll pay for bounces. People don’t “browse” on Ads traffic. They judge in seconds.

We don’t redesign your site as part of management, and we don’t turn this into a web project. But we do check sanity: does the page load acceptably on mobile, does the message match the keyword, and can a tired traveller complete the action without hunting. If not, we tell you exactly what’s blocking conversions in owner terms. Then you decide what to change.

If you want a simple benchmark for page experience factors, Google’s Core Web Vitals overview is a decent reference: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/core-web-vitals

Tracking sanity: without it, you’re driving with fogged glass

Tracking is where most “management” claims fall apart. If calls aren’t counted, forms aren’t recorded, or the booking engine isn’t tagged correctly, you will make the wrong decisions. And the worst part is you won’t know you’re making them. You’ll be optimizing for clicks, not for outcomes.

Each week we confirm that the numbers still make sense. Not perfect, but consistent. If last week you had 12 enquiries and this week tracking shows 2, we don’t assume demand collapsed. We check if something broke: a form change, a plugin update, a cookie banner blocking tags, a call button replaced, a new thank-you page missing. These are boring issues, but they cost real money.

This is also where “another provider touching the account” becomes a problem. If someone changes conversion actions, attribution, or auto-tagging settings without telling anyone, your reports become fiction. We’ve seen owners pay for months while the main conversion was misconfigured and reporting zero. Nobody noticed because the spend looked normal.

If you need a neutral definition of what conversion tracking is in Google Ads, start here: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6095821

What you see each week (and why it’s kept short)

You don’t need a 20-page PDF. You need a weekly note you can read in two minutes and act on. Each week you should be able to answer three questions without calling anyone.

First: what changed. That means actual actions, not “we optimized.” For example: blocked recurring search terms, tightened match types on a high-waste ad group, adjusted budget pacing, paused a keyword that attracted the wrong market, or split brand from non-brand to stop mixing performance.

Second: why it changed. Not theory. The reason in plain language, tied to what we saw in search terms, costs, and enquiries. If we tightened targeting, it’s because the account was paying for the wrong intent. If we opened it, it’s because occupancy goals required more volume and tracking supported it.

Third: what to watch next. This is where you stay in control. For example: “We’re watching if the new negative keyword list reduces irrelevant calls,” or “We’re watching if the new landing page headline improves form completion,” or “We’re watching if demand shifts after the holiday weekend.”

What this does not solve

Google Ads management won’t fix a property that is priced wrong for its reviews and photos. It won’t fix a booking engine that fails on mobile, or an owner who can’t answer enquiries quickly. It also won’t create demand in a week where demand doesn’t exist, or when your area is hit by events outside your control. Ads can redirect existing demand toward you. It can’t manufacture trust if your offer looks weak.

It also won’t fix a business that counts “success” differently every week. If one week you want direct bookings only, and the next week you’re happy with calls that ask for information, reporting becomes a fight. We need a stable definition of what counts. Otherwise you’ll feel like someone is moving the goalposts, and you’ll be right.

When this is a bad fit

It’s a bad fit if you want management but you don’t want to share the account. If the Ads account is owned by a previous agency and you can’t get admin access, you’ll always be at risk. You can’t build stability on borrowed access. It’s also a bad fit if you want us to “just run it” while another person edits campaigns, ads, or tracking. Two drivers, one steering wheel. It ends the same way.

It’s also not for owners who want constant daily messaging and explanations. Weekly control is enough for most small tourism businesses. If you need someone on chat all day, that’s a different relationship and it usually means the business is under stress in other areas.

Finally, it’s a bad fit if you don’t have any tracking and you refuse to add it. We can still reduce obvious waste by search term cleanup and targeting controls, but you’ll be making decisions blind. If this feels uncomfortable, we are not for you.

Boundaries that protect your budget (and our work)

We don’t run social media campaigns as part of this. We also don’t do “optimization” if other agencies have access and can change settings without notice. And we don’t turn Ads management into a general marketing advisory where every business problem becomes an Ads problem. Ads is one lever. It works when the basics are stable.

We also keep reporting tied to owner outcomes. If you want a report that makes everyone feel good, with big numbers and no accountability, it won’t happen here. You’ll get fewer metrics, but they’ll be the ones that matter. Sometimes that means admitting a campaign is not worth it for a property in a certain period. That’s not pessimism. That’s cost control.

What usually breaks management (the predictable failures)

The first breaker is missing or unreliable tracking. A site update, a cookie banner change, a booking engine redirect, and suddenly conversions drop to zero. If nobody checks weekly, you can lose a month before you notice. Owners often notice only when the receptionist says “calls are down,” and by then you’ve already paid for traffic you can’t evaluate.

The second breaker is shared access with “helpful” edits. Someone changes match types, adds broad keywords, turns on auto-applied recommendations, or imports conversions from Analytics without understanding the difference. The account starts chasing the wrong signals. Then performance becomes unstable and everyone blames the season.

The third breaker is unclear success. If you can’t tell us which bookings count, we can’t align decisions. Is success a phone call? A WhatsApp message? A completed booking? An enquiry from Germany only? If you don’t define it, Google will define it for you, and Google’s definition is “more activity.”

If you want a simple, credible overview of why attribution and “what counts” matters, Ahrefs explains the basics in plain terms: https://ahrefs.com/blog/ppc/

How to decide in business terms

Decide based on control and clarity, not on hope. If Ads is already a meaningful line in your monthly costs, then weekly management is about protecting that spend and making it accountable. You’re not buying “marketing.” You’re buying fewer wasted clicks, fewer surprises, and reporting that matches what you see in real enquiries.

If you’re not ready to share access, define success, and keep one set of hands on the account, pause. It’s cheaper to do nothing than to run Ads badly. Bad Ads doesn’t just waste money, it creates false confidence while your direct sales stay flat.

Contact, and what we need from you first

If you want to discuss this calmly, we can meet on-site in Halkidiki or Thessaloniki and look at the account like owners, not like dashboards. Bring three things so we don’t waste time: admin access to the Google Ads account, your last 30 days of spend, and a clear statement of which bookings count as success for you. If you don’t know the third one yet, we’ll ask a few questions until it’s clear, but we won’t pretend it doesn’t matter.

Not sure where to start? Contact our local team for friendly, personalised advice and to arrange a meeting in person.

No shortcuts. No noise. Data analysis. Use only what works.