agency managing competing companies AdWords accounts

[windybanks]

We are managing AdWords accounts as an agency for several clients, some of whom are competitors and may be bidding on some of the same keywords. They are all in the same account, separate campaigns. Come to find out that Google only serves up one at a time although they are separate entities, each with own goals, budgets and expectations. So now, I need to put our clients in separate accounts and have each of them email GG to allow us to continue maintaining their AdWords accounts. Do you think that GG is making it difficult for agencies to provide managed services? Is this the only way to make sure the AdWords are not getting spammed?

[webdiversity]

We prefer to give our clients a few things which make life easier for everyone.

Each client gets their own account, so if they want to see their results then they can, 24/7. Total transparency.

Exclusivity is quite an important issue. Obviously with phrase and broad match you can never guarantee that 2 clients sites won't show up when they are operating in industries with a bit of crossover, however, working for two companies in excatly the same industry is a recipe for disaster in my opinion.

I think Google are working hard to provide value add services for agencies, but dealing with agencies has been more of a pleasant surprise, they probably never envisaged that agencies could add value, but now recognise that they can.

It's not just about spamming Google, it's about transparency in dealings.

[windybanks]

I think to Google, it's about not double serving ads, which is good, but not what we are doing.

Transparency in dealings is a great point and I wish we would have set them up on their own accounts from the get-go. It sorta ballooned.

We target customers in the same industry because of the website services we provide. They know we may also be working for their competitor. We treat them each as their own entity and confidentially determine goals & budgets with each.

Google has been very responsive to our concerns. And most of our clients involved have already emailed them as Google requested to say they approve of us handling their accounts which allows us to create a new account from our office for them. And shows Google they are their own entity. Certainly I will appreciate the added benefit of giving them access.