A Google Ads specialist who runs the account against cost per result

It depends on account size and scope, so I quote per engagement rather than publishing a rate card. What I will tell you before quoting is whether the account is worth managing at all: if the tracking is broken or the budget is too small to gather usable conversion data, I will say so rather than take on work that cannot succeed.

Performance Max optimises towards a conversion goal across every Google surface, while Demand Gen is built for attention among people who are not searching for you yet. The practical rule is that PMax needs existing conversion history to learn from, so running it on a new account with no signal usually wastes budget. Demand Gen is judged on engagement first, conversions later.

Because automated bidding optimises towards whatever you tell it a conversion is, so a broken signal means the algorithm confidently spends against the wrong outcome. Scaling budget on top of that multiplies the error instead of the result. Tracking gets verified first, every time.

Yes. A one-off audit is a common starting point: I review structure, tracking, wasted spend and quick wins, then hand over a prioritised list your team can action. Plenty of clients start there and decide about ongoing management afterwards.