Paid Media

Google Ads in-house or agency: how to choose the right setup

Compare in-house Google Ads, an agency and a hybrid setup for Latvia. A practical decision guide from CPCInsider, co-founded by former Google specialist Arturs.

Arturs Rubins · 2026-10-05 · 4 min read

The choice between an in-house Google Ads specialist and an agency is mainly a question of capability, attention and ownership. An agency is not automatically better, and keeping work inside the business does not automatically make it cheaper. Compare the work your account requires with the people who can reliably do it.

CPCInsider co-founder Arturs Rubins previously worked at Google and advised major European advertisers. That experience is a useful qualification to consider alongside the proposed team, scope and reporting. It is not a substitute for checking whether the working arrangement fits your business.

1. List the work before choosing the supplier

Separate campaign management, copywriting, landing pages, tracking, creative production and sales follow-up. A person who can adjust bids may not have access or time to fix the website. A proposal labelled “Google Ads services” may cover only part of this list.

For a Latvian business, specify who can write and review the languages you actually serve. Include the person who can approve an offer and the person who will respond to enquiries. Without those owners, both internal and external campaign teams will wait for the same missing inputs.

2. Compare three operating models

Do not choose by media spend alone. One narrow service campaign can be simpler than a multilingual ecommerce account with many products, even when their budgets are similar. Map complexity and commercial risk before comparing proposals.

3. Compare total operating cost without mixing categories

Prepare a private comparison of staff time, external management, development, creative work and tools. Keep advertising spend separate from the cost of managing it. Use the same scope and evaluation period for each option; a low headline fee is not informative if essential work is excluded.

Google's third-party transparency requirements address disclosure of management fees and access to cost/performance information. Ask for an understandable breakdown and ongoing visibility into the account. Your business should know what it owns and how access is managed.

4. Use a responsibility test

Ask each candidate to explain what happens when clicks continue but enquiries stop. Who checks the form? Who verifies events? Who decides whether campaigns should pause? Who talks to sales? A useful answer assigns specific responsibilities and communication steps rather than promising a universal ROAS.

For a hybrid setup, a simple split might be: your team approves offers and handles enquiries; the specialist manages Search campaigns; the developer implements agreed tracking fixes. Record the handoffs and approval times. This is an example, not a mandatory service package.

5. Agree how you will evaluate the arrangement

Start with verified measurement, an agreed baseline and a review cadence. Evaluate decision quality, completed work and commercial results in context. Do not use one quiet week or an optimisation score as the entire performance assessment.

If agency support is the right model, use the agency selection guide for provider questions. If you are changing teams, follow the handover checklist to protect account continuity.

Discuss the capability you are missing

See our Google Ads management service or request a free performance audit. We can discuss whether campaign execution, measurement support or a hybrid working arrangement would address your current bottleneck.