PPC Management & Paid Ads, From a Freelance PPC Consultant
Profitable PPC campaigns across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads and paid social, planned and run directly by me for businesses in Bradford and across the UK. Honest reporting, no lock-in, every pound accountable.
What PPC is, and how it actually works
PPC stands for pay-per-click. It is a model of online advertising where you only pay when someone clicks your ad, not when it is shown. That makes it one of the few marketing channels where you can tie spend directly to results.
The best known example is Google Ads. When someone searches for what you sell, an instant auction decides which ads appear and in what order. Crucially, it is not simply whoever bids the most. Google combines your bid with your Quality Score, a measure of how relevant and useful your ad and landing page are, so a well-built campaign can outrank a competitor paying more per click. That difference is what separates paid ads that drain your budget from paid ads that turn a profit.
Paid ads are the fast counterpart to SEO. Where SEO builds rankings over months, a properly structured campaign can put you in front of high-intent customers within days. The trade-off is that the traffic stops when the spend stops, which is why the two work best together: paid ads for immediate leads, SEO for long-term, compounding organic traffic.
My job is to make every pound work hard: the right people, searching with real intent, seeing the right message, landing on a page built to convert, with everything measured so we can prove what works and cut what does not.
Why work with a freelance PPC consultant, not an agency
Most paid-ads work is sold by agencies, where the senior person wins the pitch and a junior runs the account. You pay agency rates and overhead for work that is often delegated, templated and stretched across dozens of clients.
Working with an independent consultant is different. You deal directly with the person planning and running your campaigns. No account-manager layer, no hand-off, no being passed around. You get senior, hands-on expertise applied to your account, at a cost that reflects the work rather than the office and the sales team.
By day I lead digital marketing for a major UK IT solutions and services provider, accountable for performance across substantial budgets. Through Harrison Mann I bring that same discipline to small and growing businesses, and where a campaign needs a particular specialist I draw on a trusted network rather than pretend to do everything alone. Agency-level thinking, delivered directly, without the agency overhead.
Is your Google Ads budget generating leads or just burning cash?
Google Ads is one of the most measurable, controllable marketing channels available. It is also one of the easiest to waste money on. Most campaigns I audit are making the same avoidable mistakes.
The paid channels I manage
PPC is no longer just Google search ads. I plan and run campaigns across the platforms that fit your customers and your goals.
Google Ads (Search)
The core of most campaigns. Text ads shown when people search for exactly what you offer, the highest-intent traffic there is. I structure campaigns tightly, write ad copy that earns the click, and manage bids and budgets so you capture demand without overpaying.
Google Shopping and Performance Max
For ecommerce and product businesses, Shopping and Performance Max put your products, prices and images in front of buyers across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Gmail and Display, driven by Google's machine learning and steered with the right data and guardrails.
Microsoft Ads (Bing)
Often overlooked, Microsoft Ads reaches an older, higher-income and frequently less competitive audience, which can mean a lower cost per click and strong returns, especially in B2B and professional services.
Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram)
Where Google captures existing demand, paid social creates it. Meta's targeting and creative formats are powerful for awareness, retargeting and lead generation, particularly for consumer brands and local services.
LinkedIn Ads
For B2B, LinkedIn lets you target by job title, company, industry and seniority, ideal for reaching decision-makers with a considered, higher-value proposition.
Remarketing and retargeting
Most people do not buy on the first visit. Remarketing brings them back with tailored ads to people who have already visited your site, usually at a far lower cost per conversion than cold traffic.
What my PPC management includes
A profitable campaign is the sum of many parts done well. Here is what I handle.
Account and competitor audit
Before spending another penny, I audit your existing account, or your competitors' if you are starting fresh: what works, what wastes money, where the opportunities are.
Strategy and forecasting
A clear plan tied to your goals, leads, sales or revenue, with realistic forecasts for spend, cost per result and return, so you know what to expect.
Keyword and audience research
For search, the exact terms your buyers use, including high-intent long-tail keywords and the negative keywords that stop you paying for the wrong clicks. For social, the audiences most likely to convert.
Account structure and setup
Tightly themed campaigns and ad groups, correct match types, sensible budgets and bidding, and clean conversion tracking from day one. Good structure is what makes everything else work.
Ad copy and creative
Compelling, honest ad copy and creative that earns the click and sets the right expectation, tested continually so the best performers win.
Bid, budget and ROI management
Ongoing management of bids and budgets to maximise return, shifting spend towards what converts and away from what does not, and protecting you from the traps that quietly burn budget.
Landing pages and conversion rate
The click is only half the job. I make sure the page people land on matches the ad and is built to convert, because the cheapest way to improve a campaign is often to improve the page, not the bid.
Conversion tracking and reporting
Proper tracking so we measure real outcomes, calls, forms, sales, not vanity metrics, with clear, honest monthly reporting on the numbers that matter: cost per lead, conversion rate and return on ad spend.
Google Ads management with enterprise-level discipline.
I bring certified Google Ads experience from managing enterprise campaigns at scale, applied to local and national budgets that need to work efficiently. I build every campaign with tight keyword targeting, dedicated landing pages, accurate conversion tracking and ongoing optimisation.
By day I manage digital marketing campaigns for a major UK IT solutions and services provider. The same campaign discipline, bidding strategy and performance analysis goes into every Harrison Mann Google Ads engagement.
Every campaign includes a dedicated landing page. Ads perform dramatically better when traffic lands on a page that matches the search intent exactly. I design and build these as part of the service.
Everything included:
- Campaign strategy and setup
- Tightly structured ad groups
- Compelling, tested ad copy
- Extensive negative keyword lists
- Conversion tracking (forms, calls, sales)
- Dedicated landing page (included)
- Google Analytics integration
- Quality Score optimisation
- Daily performance monitoring
- Monthly optimisation and reporting
- Regular search term review
- Honest plain-English reports
Most PPC clients pay a monthly management fee for the work, separate from your ad spend, which goes straight to the platform. Agreed up front, with no hidden margin on your media budget.
Qualified enquiries from people actively searching for what you offer. Clear data on cost per lead. A campaign that improves month on month as the algorithm learns what converts.
How I run a PPC campaign
Three phases, applied with discipline.
Audit and strategy
Understand your business, goals and numbers, audit the landscape, and build a plan with realistic forecasts before any spend.
Build and launch
Create the account structure, keywords and audiences, ad copy and creative, conversion tracking and landing-page improvements, then launch in a controlled way.
Optimise and scale
The real work. Continual testing of keywords, audiences, copy, creative and bids, cutting waste and scaling what returns, with monthly reporting and honest assessment throughout.
PPC and SEO work better together
Paid ads buy immediate visibility; SEO builds visibility that lasts. Run together, paid delivers leads now while SEO compounds, and the data from each improves the other: the keywords that convert in paid show you where to focus SEO, and a strong organic presence lifts trust in your ads. I can run both, so they pull in the same direction.
Explore local SEO servicesWhat clients say.
"Searching for website designers gave us a long list to choose from, but we're so glad we found Richard at Harrison Mann. He's been incredibly helpful with digital marketing advice and support, and thanks to him, we've now got a solid plan in place to boost footfall at both of our salons."
"We wanted more control over our website, as we'd been relying on another agency to make updates. Being able to change content ourselves quickly was important, and the custom WordPress website now lets us do just that. The new site has already helped boost our sales."
"After opening our new flooring showroom, I knew we needed a strong online presence. Finding the right website designer in Bradford made all the difference. We now have a great site that shows up locally for the keywords our customers are searching. It's the little percentage improvements that the team have really helped us with, we're already seeing more people coming through the doors."
What PPC can and cannot do
- Put you in front of ready-to-buy customers within days
- Give you full control of spend, turn it up, down or off
- Deliver measurable, attributable results
- Scale quickly when something works
- Reach audiences SEO cannot, fast
- Be profitable without testing, the first version is rarely the best
- Succeed with a weak landing page or offer, ads bring people, the page converts them
- Keep delivering once you stop paying, unlike SEO
- Guarantee a fixed cost per lead before we have data
- Fix a fundamentally uncompetitive price or product
Honest expectations about Google Ads.
Paid advertising is the most measurable marketing channel available. That works both ways, it is also the most honest about whether something is working.
Depends on your sector and goals. A local tradesperson might achieve a positive ROI on £300/month in ad spend. A solicitor targeting competitive terms may need £2,000+. I will give you a realistic estimate for your specific market before I start.
Well-configured campaigns generate enquiries within the first week. Return on investment typically becomes clear within 60 to 90 days, as the algorithm learns what works and Quality Scores improve.
Google pushes automated features aggressively because they generate more ad revenue for Google. Manual, tightly controlled campaigns consistently outperform Smart Campaigns for small business lead generation. I manage manually.
Most campaigns that fail do so because of poor setup: sending traffic to the wrong page, not tracking conversions, targeting too broadly. I build the foundations correctly. If performance disappoints despite correct setup, I will tell you honestly and I will review the strategy with you.
The numbers I report on
No vanity dashboards. The metrics that tell you whether your money is working: cost per click (CPC), click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, cost per lead or acquisition (CPA), return on ad spend (ROAS), Quality Score and impression share. Every month, in plain English.
Paid ads in an AI-driven landscape
Ad platforms are increasingly run by machine learning, from Google's Performance Max to automated bidding. Used well that is an advantage; left unchecked it spends your money on autopilot. I set the strategy, data and guardrails that keep automation working for you, and as AI search tools begin carrying ads and answers, I keep your paid strategy current rather than stuck in 2019.
Frequently asked questions.
Ready to talk about Google Ads?
Tell me about your business, your target customers and your budget. I will come back with an honest assessment of whether paid search makes sense for you and what a realistic campaign would look like.