Key Takeaways
- Search engine marketing and PPC are still power channels in B2B, 64% of B2B marketers use SEM/paid search and 61% say it produces their best paid results, so choosing the right Google Ads agency is a direct pipeline decision, not a side project.
- The best Google Ads agencies for 2024 don't just optimize clicks; they build full-funnel programs that report on qualified pipeline, SQLs, and revenue so sales leaders can actually forecast from ad spend.
- Benchmarks show B2B Google Ads conversion rates average around 3.0%, and B2B services advertisers often see ~$5.47 CPC and ~$116 CPA, your agency should know these numbers cold and have a plan to beat them.
- Top shops like KlientBoost, Directive, HawkSEM, Disruptive, Tinuiti, and others have case studies showing 80-300%+ lifts in leads or conversions for complex B2B accounts, which is the performance bar you should expect.
- Your SDRs and AEs need to be tightly aligned with your Google Ads agency, shared ICPs, qualification criteria, and feedback loops can turn raw form fills into high-intent meetings and real pipeline.
- Most B2B teams see the best results when they pair an expert Google Ads agency for high-intent inbound with a specialized outbound partner like SalesHive to consistently fill the rest of the pipeline.
- Don't pick a Google Ads agency on price or brand name alone; prioritize B2B experience, tracking and CRM integration, and communication cadence, then run a 90-day pilot with explicit pipeline and CAC targets.
Google Ads for B2B in 2024: Not dead, just less forgiving
If you own pipeline in a B2B company, you’ve probably heard “Google Ads is dead.” The data says otherwise: 84% of B2B marketers use paid channels, 64% use SEM/PPC, and 61% say SEM/PPC produces their best paid results. That’s not a dying channel—it’s a core lever.
What changed in 2024 is the margin for error. You can’t “set and forget” campaigns, measure success by cheap leads, and expect revenue to show up. The teams winning with Google Ads treat it like a revenue program: tight ICP targeting, landing pages that qualify, and measurement that connects keywords to opportunities.
That’s why agency selection matters. The right Google Ads partner helps you translate spend into sales-ready demand and works in lockstep with your SDR motion—so you don’t end up with a dashboard full of MQL noise and a forecast that still feels empty.
Why Google Ads still drives pipeline: intent plus predictable benchmarks
B2B buying journeys are long and committee-driven, but they still involve search—especially when buyers are validating vendors, comparing options, and pressure-testing pricing. A useful north star is the average B2B Google Ads conversion rate of about 3.04%, which gives revenue leaders a reality check on whether clicks are turning into demo requests and form fills.
Benchmarks also make budgeting more grounded. For B2B services search campaigns, averages cluster around 5.1% CTR, $5.47 CPC, 4.9% conversion rate, and about $116 CPA. Those numbers aren’t “good” or “bad” on their own—but a serious agency should know them cold and explain exactly how they plan to beat them for your niche.
| Metric (B2B services search) | Benchmark to plan around |
|---|---|
| CTR | ~5.1% |
| CPC | ~$5.47 |
| Conversion rate | ~4.9% |
| CPA (cost per lead) | ~$116 |
Google Ads can outperform generic PPC when it’s managed well: one cross-channel view shows Google Ads averaging about a 3.75% conversion rate versus a 2.35% average across PPC. Practically, that means your agency’s job isn’t just “more traffic”—it’s protecting intent, tightening relevance, and proving that conversions become qualified pipeline.
How to evaluate a Google Ads agency through a B2B lens
Start with B2B reality: long sales cycles, multiple stakeholders, and a lead that looks “good” in marketing may be worthless to sales. Before you interview anyone, define a “good lead” with your SDRs and AEs—ICP, disqualifiers, required fields, and what counts as an SQL in your CRM. If an agency can’t align to that definition, they’ll optimize the wrong thing no matter how smart they are.
Next, demand measurement that goes beyond clicks and form fills. You want keyword-to-opportunity visibility, offline conversion tracking, and a reporting cadence that lets sales leadership forecast from spend. The strongest B2B agencies will talk about opportunity stages, pipeline value, and CAC—not just CTR and CPC.
Finally, treat the engagement like a controlled experiment. A well-designed 90-day pilot should specify test budgets, expected learning milestones (weeks 2–4), and clear outcomes (days 60–90) tied to SQLs and opportunities. If an agency won’t put these expectations in writing—or won’t give you admin access to your own account—that’s a hard pass.
Implementation: turning ad leads into SQLs with SDR alignment
Most “Google Ads underperformed” stories aren’t actually ad-platform problems—they’re workflow problems. If leads sit unworked, get routed incorrectly, or receive generic follow-up, your CPA looks fine while pipeline stays flat. Fixing this requires shared SLAs: speed-to-lead, minimum touchpoints, and a disposition system that your SDR team can apply consistently.
This is where pairing paid search with a dedicated sales development agency becomes a multiplier. When we run SalesHive SDR pods alongside a Google Ads program, we treat inbound hand-raisers like a priority queue while still running structured outbound to fill gaps. In practice, that often looks like a coordinated cold email agency plus cold calling services motion, with talk tracks that mirror the landing page promise so the handoff feels seamless.
Just as important, the feedback loop must flow back into the ad account. Your outsourced sales team should be tagging lead quality in the CRM (SQL, recycle, disqualified with reason), and the agency should be using that data to refine keywords, audiences, and bidding. This is the difference between “lead gen” and a scalable, pipeline-producing system.
If your Google Ads reporting stops at leads, you’re buying activity—not pipeline.
10 best Google Ads agency choices for 2024 (and what they’re best at)
There isn’t a single “best” agency for every B2B team—there’s the best fit for your ACV, sales cycle, and internal bandwidth. Some shops are brilliant at creative testing and landing page CRO, others excel at enterprise reporting and offline conversion imports, and some win by owning the entire performance stack across channels.
To set the performance bar, look at what top agencies have proven in public results. Directive has shared an example of increasing qualified pipeline 109% quarter-over-quarter by shifting paid media focus from MQLs to sales-ready opportunities, and KlientBoost has published B2B outcomes like a 326% conversion-rate lift and an 86% cost-per-lead reduction in a single program. Disruptive Advertising also highlights large lead gains—like 294% monthly signups in one case and 806.25% leads in two weeks in another—showing what disciplined testing can unlock when the offer and funnel are right.
| Agency | Best for |
|---|---|
| KlientBoost | Creative-first performance and conversion-focused testing for B2B SaaS and services teams |
| Directive Consulting | B2B SaaS pipeline-first paid media programs that connect spend to revenue outcomes |
| Disruptive Advertising | Structured PPC management with strong emphasis on experimentation and ROI discipline |
| Tinuiti | Scaled performance marketing for complex, multi-channel brands (reported $3B+ media managed) |
| HawkSEM | Teams that want rigorous reporting and performance systems built around measurable business outcomes |
| WebFX | Full-service digital marketing support with PPC execution and analytics coverage |
| SmartSites | Mid-market companies looking for PPC management with broad industry coverage |
| PBJ Marketing | B2B and lead-gen oriented paid search programs with strategic account management |
| Seer Interactive | Data-heavy organizations that value experimentation, measurement, and analytics depth |
| JumpFly | Companies that want focused paid search management and consistent operational execution |
Use this list as a shortlist generator, not a substitute for diligence. For each agency you interview, ask for two B2B references you can speak with live, and insist on seeing how they track from keyword to SQL to opportunity. The strongest partners won’t just show wins—they’ll show how they made decisions when results didn’t improve right away.
Common mistakes that make “good agencies” look bad (and how to prevent them)
The most common mistake is optimizing for the wrong conversion. If your primary goal is an ebook download, you’ll often get cheap volume—and terrible sales outcomes. In B2B, the conversion action must reflect buying intent (demo, pricing, consultation, qualified contact) and be backed by qualification logic on the landing page so your SDRs aren’t buried in low-quality follow-up.
The second mistake is measurement gaps. Without offline conversion tracking and clean CRM attribution, you can’t teach Google’s bidding algorithms what “good” looks like, and you can’t hold the agency accountable for pipeline. Even a simple operational discipline—standard UTMs, consistent lead source fields, and weekly lead-quality reviews—creates a compounding advantage over time.
The third mistake is ignoring the “hidden leak”: follow-up. If you don’t have SLAs and a clear cadence, your CPA rises because you’re paying for leads you never convert. This is where a B2B sales agency or SDR agency can be the difference-maker, whether it’s in-house or sales outsourcing—because speed-to-lead, consistent touchpoints, and tight messaging are what turn inbound interest into meetings.
Optimization tactics that separate average accounts from elite B2B programs
Start with structure and intent control. High-performing B2B accounts typically segment by funnel stage, isolate high-intent terms, and aggressively manage negatives to avoid paying for students, job seekers, or irrelevant “how-to” traffic. The goal is not maximum impressions—it’s maximum relevance for the ICP your sales team can actually win.
Then, get serious about value signals. The more your agency can import offline outcomes (SQLs, opportunities, closed-won) and tie them to campaign decisions, the more your account moves from “lead gen” to revenue optimization. That’s how you end up outperforming generic PPC averages and pushing toward Google Ads’ stronger baseline conversion rates (for example, 3.75% versus 2.35% across PPC).
Finally, make landing pages a first-class workstream. Ads can earn the click, but pages earn the conversion, and B2B pages should do more than look good—they should qualify, route, and set expectations for the sales conversation. When your agency and your outbound sales agency share messaging and objections, you also improve downstream conversion because every touchpoint reinforces the same value story.
Next steps: build a full-funnel engine by pairing paid search with outbound
If you want this to work in 2024, approach it like a revenue system: benchmark your last 6–12 months against realistic norms (CTR, CPC, CVR, CPA), define what “qualified” means with sales, and then interview agencies with that rubric. When an agency can explain how they’ll connect spend to pipeline—and how they’ll act on CRM feedback—you’re talking to a true B2B partner.
Most B2B teams also get better predictability by combining Google Ads with outbound. Paid search captures in-market demand; outbound creates demand by reaching the ICP that isn’t searching yet. When those programs share audiences and insights—like retargeting site visitors from outbound sequences—you get compounding effects instead of isolated channels.
At SalesHive, we’ve seen this pairing work across SaaS, fintech, manufacturing, and professional services by running coordinated SDR execution (calls, email, and follow-up) while the Google Ads agency focuses on high-intent acquisition. If you’re evaluating sales outsourcing, compare vendors like you would any provider—review process, SLAs, and fit (including looking at SalesHive reviews and SalesHive pricing as part of diligence). Done right, you end up with a predictable system: Google Ads drives hand-raisers, and a disciplined SDR motion turns them into meetings and net-new pipeline.
Sources
📊 Key Statistics
Action Items
Benchmark your current Google Ads performance against B2B norms
Pull the last 6-12 months of data by campaign and compare CTR, CPC, conversion rate, and CPA to B2B services benchmarks (around 5.1% CTR, $5.47 CPC, 4.9% CVR, and $116 CPA). Use this to quantify whether you need optimization, a new agency, or a bigger bet on the channel.
Define a 'good lead' with sales before hiring an agency
Sit down with sales leadership and SDRs to document your ICP, disqualifiers, and the exact fields that define an SQL in your CRM. Hand this to any agency you interview so they can design campaigns and conversion tracking around the same definition of quality.
Shortlist 3–5 Google Ads agencies with proven B2B results
Use this guide's list plus your own research to identify agencies that have verifiable B2B case studies, Premier Partner status where relevant, and strong reviews. Ask each for at least two B2B references you can speak with live.
Design a 90-day pilot plan with clear KPIs and reporting
With your chosen agency, agree upfront on test budgets, target CPL and CPA, SQL and opportunity goals, and what will be reported weekly vs. monthly. Make sure dashboards roll all the way from keyword to opportunity stage so sales can hold marketing accountable.
Integrate your SDR workflow with Google Ads leads
Work with your outbound team (or a partner like SalesHive) to define SLAs for speed-to-lead, follow-up cadences, and talk tracks tailored to Google Ads leads. Ensure disposition feedback loops back into the ad account so targeting and messaging improve over time.
Pair your Google Ads program with outbound to smooth pipeline
Use Google Ads to harvest in-market demand while having SDRs proactively target ICP accounts that aren't searching yet. Share lists between channels (e.g., retargeting visitors from outbound sequences) so you get compounding effects instead of isolated campaigns.
Partner with SalesHive
Since 2016, SalesHive has booked over 100,000 sales meetings for more than 1,500 B2B clients across SaaS, fintech, manufacturing, and professional services. Our US-based and Philippines-based SDRs plug into your CRM, mirror your messaging, and run targeted outreach into the same ICP your Google Ads campaigns are chasing. We also handle list building and data cleanup, so your reps spend time selling, not prospecting.
Because we work month-to-month with risk-free onboarding, you can spin up an SDR pod alongside a new agency engagement and quickly see how coordinated outbound plus paid search impacts total pipeline. Your Google Ads agency fills the top of the funnel with high-intent hand-raisers; SalesHive makes sure those leads get worked properly while also uncovering net-new opportunities your ads will never reach on their own.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Do B2B companies still get good ROI from Google Ads in 2024?
Yes, when it's run correctly, Google Ads is still one of the highest-ROI paid channels for B2B. Industry data shows Google Ads conversion rates averaging around 3-4%, outperforming generic PPC averages, and B2B-specific benchmarks hover around a 3.04% conversion rate. For sales teams, the key is working with an agency that optimizes toward SQLs and opportunities instead of cheap top-of-funnel leads and that feeds CRM data back into Google Ads for smarter bidding.
How much should a B2B company budget for a Google Ads agency?
Most B2B teams will need at least a few thousand dollars per month in media spend plus a management fee that typically ranges from 15-25% of spend or a flat retainer tied to scope. Because B2B CPCs can average $4–$8+ in competitive spaces, you generally want enough budget to buy several hundred clicks per month in your core segments so you can generate meaningful conversion data. The right agency will help you back into a test budget based on your deal size, CPL targets, and sales cycle length.
Do I really need a B2B-specialized Google Ads agency?
If your deals involve multi-step sales cycles, multiple stakeholders, or ACVs above a few thousand dollars, a B2B-specialized agency is worth its weight in pipeline. They'll understand lead qualification, routing, offline conversion tracking, and how to balance top-, mid-, and bottom-funnel campaigns. Generalist PPC shops often optimize for easy conversions (like downloads or free trials) that look good in dashboards but don't translate into closed revenue for your sales team.
How long does it take to see results from a Google Ads agency?
Assuming a solid budget and clean tracking, you'll usually see early indicators (CPC, CTR, initial conversions) within the first 2-4 weeks and more stable performance after 60-90 days as bidding algorithms and negative keyword lists mature. In B2B, because sales cycles often run 2-6 months, it can take a full quarter or more to see clear opportunity and revenue trends. That's why it's so important to feed opportunity data back into Google Ads and to have realistic expectations agreed upon with your agency.
How should my SDR team work with a Google Ads agency?
Treat your SDRs as an extension of the ad program. Share ad copy, landing pages, and value props with them so their cold calls and email follow-up feel like a natural continuation of what prospects saw in the ad. Ask SDRs to tag every Google Ads lead with quality and disposition in the CRM, and review those patterns with the agency weekly. This feedback loop helps filter out low-value keywords, tighten demographic and firmographic targeting, and prioritize the segments that generate real opportunities for your pipeline.
What's the difference between a Google Partner and a Google Premier Partner?
Both designations indicate that an agency meets Google's standards for certification and performance, but Premier Partners sit in roughly the top 3% of agencies by factors like spend under management, growth, and product adoption. Premier status doesn't guarantee B2B expertise, but combined with strong B2B case studies it's a useful signal that the agency has deep platform access, dedicated Google support, and experience running larger, more complex accounts.
Should I use Google Ads alone or combine it with outbound sales?
For most B2B companies, you'll get the best results by combining both. Google Ads is fantastic at capturing high-intent buyers actively searching for solutions, while outbound SDRs can proactively reach ideal accounts that aren't in-market yet. That combination gives your sales team a mix of warm inbound leads and targeted outbound meetings, smooths out pipeline volatility, and shortens sales cycles when prospects see your brand in multiple channels.
How do I know if my current Google Ads agency isn't good enough?
Red flags include: no access to your ad accounts, thin reporting that stops at leads instead of opportunities, resistance to integrating with your CRM, and an inability to explain what's driving performance in plain language. If your SDRs complain consistently about poor lead quality and your CPA sits well above industry benchmarks without a clear plan to fix it, it's time to either tighten expectations or look for a more B2B-savvy agency.
