The short version
- Get the contract length and the cancellation process in writing before you talk about anything else.
- Make sure your business owns its Google Business Profile and domain. For ad accounts, know whose name they're in and what happens to them if you leave, and get it in writing.
- Ask what the monthly report shows. Calls, leads and cost per lead beat rankings and impressions.
- Anyone who guarantees #1 on Google is a red flag. Google says there's no way to pay for a better local ranking.
- Ask to see a real case study with dates, numbers and what didn't work.
Before you sign with any plumbing marketing agency, get straight answers to three things: how you get out, who owns what, and what they’ll actually report each month. Everything else matters less. Below are the 17 questions we’d ask if we were in your boots, what a good answer sounds like, and the red flags that should end the call.
Print this out. Ask every agency the same questions, including us.
Contracts and money
1. How long is the contract, and how do I cancel?
Why it matters: A long contract protects the agency, not you. If results don’t show up, you’re stuck paying anyway.
Good answer: A clear term (month-to-month, or a short starting period) and a simple, written way to cancel.
Red flag: A 12-month term with no exit, or “we’ll talk about that later.”
2. What exactly is included in the monthly price?
Why it matters: “Full-service marketing” can mean almost anything.
Good answer: A specific list: how many pages, what happens to your Google Business Profile, which ad platforms, how often things get updated.
Red flag: “We customize everything.” That usually means you’ll find out what’s included after you pay.
3. Is there a setup fee, and what does it pay for?
Why it matters: Setup fees are common, and that’s fine. What matters is that you know what you get for it.
Good answer: An itemized list: website build, profile cleanup, tracking setup, first campaign.
Red flag: A big upfront fee with no clear deliverables, or “initial investment” months billed at a much higher rate.
4. Is ad spend included, or is it separate?
Why it matters: This is the number one surprise on plumbers’ bills. Some agencies bundle a small ad budget; most bill management and ad spend separately.
Good answer: A clear split between what you pay the agency and what goes to Google or Meta, with ad spend billed to your own card so you see every dollar.
Red flag: One lump sum where you can’t tell how much actually reached the ad platforms.
Ownership
5. Who owns my Google Business Profile?
Why it matters: It’s your most valuable marketing asset.
Good answer: “You do. We’ll ask to be added as a manager.” Google lets owners add managers without giving up ownership.
Red flag: The agency creating a new profile in its own account.
6. Who owns the website and domain if I leave?
Why it matters: Some agencies keep the site, or only hand it over after the contract term. Some build on platforms you can’t take with you.
Good answer: A plain, written answer about what you keep (domain, content, design and files) and what you pay for after you leave, like hosting.
Red flag: “You’d have to rebuild,” or a buyout fee you only learn about when you try to leave.
7. Whose name are the ad accounts in?
Why it matters: Ad accounts can sit in your name or in the agency’s business account. Either setup can work. What matters is that you know which one it is, and what happens to the account, the ads and the data if you leave.
Good answer: A straight answer about whose name the account is in, who pays the ad platform, and what happens to the account when you cancel, in writing.
Red flag: “Don’t worry about that,” or an answer that changes when you ask to see it in the contract.
Reporting and proof
8. What will my monthly report show?
Why it matters: You can’t manage what you can’t see.
Good answer: Calls, form leads, where each came from, and cost per lead. Bonus points for booked jobs.
Red flag: Pages of rankings, impressions, reach and “engagement,” with no calls in sight.
9. Can I see a real case study?
Why it matters: Anybody can say “we grow businesses.”
Good answer: A named client (with their permission), dates, before-and-after numbers, what they changed and what didn’t work.
Red flag: Percentages with no baseline, no dates and no names, or results from a completely different industry.
10. How do you track calls and leads?
Why it matters: Without tracking, nobody knows which marketing works.
Good answer: A specific setup for forms, calls and ad leads, and an honest explanation of what can and can’t be tracked.
Red flag: “We’ll know it’s working when you get busier.”
How the work gets done
11. Who actually does the work?
Why it matters: The person who sold you isn’t always the person who builds your campaigns.
Good answer: A name, and a way to reach that person.
Red flag: A rotating account manager who has to “check with the team” on everything.
12. Do you guarantee rankings or a number of leads?
Why it matters: Google’s own help page says, “There’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google.”
Good answer: “No. Here’s what we’ll do every month, and here’s how we’ll report it.”
Red flag: “We guarantee page one in 90 days.” Run.
13. How long until I see results?
Why it matters: Realistic expectations keep you from quitting too early, or staying too long.
Good answer: Ads can bring leads within weeks. Google Maps improvements take weeks to a few months. Organic SEO takes 3 to 6+ months.
Red flag: Big promises with fast timelines across the board.
14. How do you get reviews?
Why it matters: Reviews drive Map Pack rankings, but bad review tactics can get your profile penalized.
Good answer: Ask every customer the same way, with a direct link. No incentives, no filtering, and no asking staff to collect reviews that name them, which Google’s policy bans as of April 2026.
Red flag: Review contests for your techs, “gating” so only happy customers reach Google, or anything that sounds like buying reviews.
15. Will you build pages for every town around me?
Why it matters: Google’s spam policies call pages “targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page” doorway abuse.
Good answer: Pages only for towns you really want, each with genuinely local content. See our guide to service-area pages.
Red flag: “We’ll launch 200 city pages next week.”
16. Are your leads shared with other plumbers?
Why it matters: Lead marketplaces work differently from your own marketing. Angi’s 2025 annual report describes fees paid by pros “for consumer matches (regardless of whether the Pro ultimately provides the requested service).”
Good answer: Calls and forms from your own profile, website and ads go only to you.
Red flag: “Leads” that are really bought lists, or marketplace leads sold to more than one company.
17. Do you charge extra for “AI SEO”?
Why it matters: It’s the newest upsell. Google says there are no special requirements to appear in its AI features.
Good answer: “The basics that help you in Google Maps also help you in AI answers, so it’s part of the work.”
Red flag: A separate monthly fee for something vague. More in our AI search breakdown.
How to use these questions
Ask every agency the same 17 questions and write the answers down. The good ones will answer most of them in plain English without being asked twice. The ones that dodge questions 1, 6 and 8 are telling you everything you need to know.
For what it’s worth, here’s how we answer the big ones: our price is on our pricing page, our client result is on our results page, and we work month-to-month. If you want to put us through all 17, book a free market check and bring the list.