A national paid search account is a collection of regional auctions with very different prices and competitors. Managed as one campaign, budget flows to the cheapest regions, which are rarely the most valuable. The first thing to ask a national agency is how the account is structured geographically and how results are reported by region.
National is many auctions, not one
Cost per click for the same term can differ several-fold between metros, so a single national campaign optimised on average cost will concentrate where clicks are cheap. That looks efficient and frequently means the markets that matter are being underserved. Segmenting by region, then optimising, is the structural fix.
Report by region from the first month
A healthy national figure routinely hides one strong region subsidising several weak ones. Regional reporting is cheap to produce and is the single most revealing view of a national account, which is why it is worth insisting on before the relationship settles into a monthly summary.
Policy and state rules travel with the offer
Advertising policies restrict certain categories and require certification for others, and several states regulate privacy in ways that affect audiences and remarketing. A national account has to build to the strictest applicable standard, because running different rules per state is fragile and breaks quietly.
Fee structures at national scale
A percentage of spend on a large national budget can produce a substantial fee for the same work a smaller account gets for a fraction. Ask for the figure in absolute terms and what it buys weekly, and ask who touches the account. Large budgets attracting junior operators is a common and expensive mismatch.
Questions people ask about ppc agency usa
Should national campaigns be split by state?
By market rather than by state, grouped where behaviour is similar. The unit should be one you would set a different budget for.
Does a national agency need local knowledge?
Less than it needs discipline about segmentation and reporting. Local knowledge matters for local service categories, not for managing a national account well.
How much budget justifies a national agency?
Enough that segmentation is worth the management overhead. Below that, a focused campaign in the markets that matter usually beats thin national coverage.