Are agencies at war with Google? It certainly feels that way for many PPC agency leaders.

“Every week, a client calls to say, ‘Hey, I just had a phone call from Google. They told me you guys don’t know what you’re doing.’”

This was the overwhelming sentiment at our most recent PPC Leaders event. 

Google’s aggressive sales tactics – contacting agency clients directly, pushing strategies like broad match or PMAX increases, and undermining agency work – have left agencies feeling frustrated, undermined, and, frankly, exhausted.

Here’s what agency leaders are saying about Google’s underhand tactics:

• “I had a Google rep sending my team an email that felt threatening this week: ‘We haven’t heard from you after multiple ways of contacting you, this is our last resort, we’ll now contact your client if you do not get in touch with us’. I wrote back saying this is not acceptable and asked for a manager to file a formal complaint. And this is not the first time it happened. Sadly feedback isn’t taken under consideration by Google as it has been happening for years…”
• “They called our PPC manager’s parents’ house once. They can be relentless.”
• “I find that ignoring them just makes things worse. They take ‘initiative’ and start contacting your clients directly, or making changes to the account without letting you know. They can also make changes that don’t show in the change history…”
• “This started July 1st 2022 and has been relentless since. They’ve done some utterly appalling things. Once our greatest ally and asset, now doing their best to become our greatest threat. It’s so sad.”

At Agency Hackers, we’re launching a campaign to put pressure on Google to address these issues. Here’s what we’re fighting for:

1. For Google to stop contacting our clients directly without our consent.
2. To raise awareness of the harm Google reps are causing with their campaign interference – and ideally create a way for agencies to opt out of these intrusive interactions.

This isn’t just about airing frustrations – it’s about creating change. If you’re tired of going head-to-head with Google’s aggressive tactics, this is your chance to join the conversation and be part of a united front.