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    European Search Awards 2026 · Best Small PPC Agency

    Takeover · Operational

    Changing PPC agency shouldn't mean blowing up everything that's already working.

    Most businesses considering JudeLuxe don’t have a catastrophic Google Ads account. That’s precisely why changing feels risky.

    We don’t rebuild accounts simply to put our fingerprints on them. Nothing changes because we’re new. It changes because we can justify changing it.

    This page is what actually happens between granting access and the 90-day review, so you can decide whether the disruption is worth it before you serve notice.

    01 / Before access changes

    What to sort out before anyone touches the account

    • 01Read your termination clause: notice period, minimum term, and what triggers it
    • 02Confirm the brand owns the Google Ads, Merchant Center, Analytics and Tag Manager accounts
    • 03Confirm ownership of the CSS membership, feed tool, scripts and any custom dashboards
    • 04Export historic performance data you would not want to lose access to
    • 05Decide who inside the business owns the commercial decisions after the move
    • 06Agree whether the switch happens before, during or after your peak trading window

    02 / The rule

    What we preserve, and what we change

    A takeover that rebuilds everything on day one is not diligence. It is destroying evidence.

    WE PRESERVE

    • Conversion tracking and its history, unless it is demonstrably wrong
    • Campaigns currently carrying profitable volume, until evidence says otherwise
    • Learning periods on bid strategies that are performing
    • Audience lists, remarketing pools and customer match data
    • Historic budget pacing through any live peak trading window
    • Anything the incumbent built well, credited plainly

    WE CHANGE

    • Conversion values, so bidding sees contribution rather than revenue
    • Brand and generic separation, so incrementality becomes measurable
    • Product data enrichment, so the feed carries margin, stock and BOI® job
    • Structure that cannot express a commercial priority
    • Reporting that reports activity instead of outcomes
    • Anything we can justify in writing, at the point we can justify it

    03 / Sequence

    From access to the 90-day review

    One variable at a time, so performance movement can still be attributed to a decision.

    BEFORE DAY 1

    • Access transferred at admin level on Google Ads, Merchant Center, Analytics and Tag Manager
    • Commercial data gathered: margin, stock, customer economics where it exists
    • Objectives and the one commercially accountable decision-maker agreed
    • Stakeholders named, including whoever finance will send to the review

    DAYS 1 TO 30: UNDERSTAND

    • Tracking validated before anything is optimised
    • Account audit, including the existing campaign logic and the wins already in place
    • Margin and product economics, stock position, customer economics
    • Risks documented. Waste stopped only where it is unambiguous and reversible
    • No unnecessary restructuring

    DAYS 31 TO 60: PRIORITISE

    • Highest-confidence interventions first, one variable at a time
    • Campaign architecture changed only where the economics require it
    • Commercial segmentation applied across the catalogue
    • Measurement rebuilt so contribution, not platform revenue, is the readout
    • Testing begins with a stated hypothesis and a decision rule

    DAYS 61 TO 90: SCALE THE RIGHT THINGS

    • Learnings incorporated, budgets adjusted against what the evidence supports
    • Commercial priorities integrated into targets and allocation
    • Testing expanded where signal volume allows
    • Roadmap established and a 90-day review against the baseline, verdict either way

    04 / Restraint

    What we won't do during transition

    Changing things is easy. Knowing what to leave alone is the harder discipline.

    We won't rebuild everything because we're the new agency.

    We won't reset campaigns unnecessarily.

    We won't blindly implement Google's recommendations.

    We won't increase spend simply because Google says there's headroom.

    We won't optimise before validating measurement.

    We won't pretend three weeks of data proves something it doesn't.

    05 / Objections

    The four things brands actually worry about

    Will performance dip during the handover?

    It can, and anybody who promises otherwise is guessing. We reduce the risk by changing one variable at a time, holding bid strategies that are working, and refusing structural rebuilds inside a live peak window. Where a dip is likely, we say so before it happens and quantify the expected recovery period.

    We are mid-peak. Should we wait?

    Usually yes for a rebuild, no for the diagnosis. We will take access, fix measurement and stop unambiguous waste during peak, then sequence structural work for the first quiet window. Rebuilding a Shopping structure in late November is not bravery.

    Who talks to the incumbent?

    You do, on your terms and your timetable. We do not contact them, do not ask you to justify the decision, and do not need them off the account before we start. If they hold assets, we will give you an exact list of what to request.

    What if you find the account is fine?

    Then we will tell you, and the engagement will be smaller than you expected. Roughly one account in ten needs less than the brand assumed. Saying so early costs us fee and keeps the relationship honest.

    Switching questions

    It can, and anybody who promises otherwise is guessing. Most of the risk sits in the first few weeks, while measurement is validated and changes are made one at a time. We hold bid strategies that are working, avoid structural rebuilds inside a live peak window, and say in advance where we think a dip is likely.

    No. We change what we can justify changing, in writing, against a commercial reason you can check. Anything the incumbent built well stays, and we say so.

    Only where a change requires it. Bid strategies that are performing are left alone; where a structural change does reset learning, we sequence it deliberately and tell you to expect a period of noise rather than a clean read.

    You do, always. The brand should own every asset: Google Ads, Merchant Center, Analytics, Tag Manager, the feed and the CSS membership. We hold access, never title.

    Google and Microsoft Ads are managed in-house by senior people, with a founder involved. The named team on your account is agreed at kickoff.

    You grant admin access to the new agency's manager account from Google Ads under Access and security, and do the same in Merchant Center, Google Analytics and Tag Manager. You never need to give away ownership of the accounts, and you should not: the brand should own every asset, with the agency holding access rather than title.

    That is entirely your call and it does not affect how we start. Access can be granted alongside the incumbent's, so nothing is disrupted while notice runs. Most contracts require 30 days' notice; check the termination clause and any asset ownership terms before you serve it.

    Diagnosis inside week one, measurement and waste fixes inside the first month, structural rebuild across days 30 to 90. Accounts with clean data and a simple catalogue move faster. Accounts with 20,000 SKUs, broken conversion values and no margin data take the full window.

    Admin access to the advertising and measurement stack, a product-level cost or margin export, current stock data if it exists, and one commercially accountable person to make decisions. That is genuinely the list.

    We keep it, and we say so. Nothing changes because we are new. It changes because we can justify changing it, in writing, against a commercial reason you can check.

    Then the question is not whether the account is broken, but whether it is being run against your commercial priorities: margin, stock, cash and the customers worth having. If it is, staying put is the right answer and we will say so.

    Measurement and unambiguous waste inside the first month. Structural and allocation changes across days 31 to 90. Anything faster than that is either a small account or a guess. We review against the baseline at 90 days and give a verdict either way.

    When the problem sits outside Google Ads: pricing, margin, stock availability, site experience or demand. When you are mid-peak and a rebuild would cost more than it returns. When your current agency is already doing the commercial work and the gap is reporting rather than management. And when your spend or catalogue means the fee would not pay for itself. We would rather say that early than take the retainer.

    Before you serve notice, get an independent read of what the account is actually doing.

    Book a commercial review