Straight answers from 18 years of managing paid search. No fluff, no theory you cannot act on this week.
Budget should be reverse engineered from job value and close rate, not copied from a competitor. Here is the math I use with landscaping clients.
They sit on the same search results page and cost money in completely different ways. Here is how to decide where your budget belongs.
Volume is easy. Quality is where accounts fall apart. These are the five causes I find in nearly every audit.
If your manager earns more when you spend more, the advice you get is quietly shaped by that. Here is the difference in practice.
Every takeover starts with the same audit. You can run most of it yourself in an afternoon.
Send me your details and I will review your account and tell you what I would change.