Google search ads management in Japan – weekly care from one bilingual contact

What you hand over to a search ads management agency

Managing search ads means planning, running and improving Google Ads (and often Yahoo! JAPAN Ads) campaigns against a clear goal. Compared with training someone in-house, outsourcing gives you a specialist who watches the account closely every week. The scope usually covers:

• Planning: target and negative keywords, campaign and ad group structure, location and schedule settings
• Ads and assets: headlines, descriptions, sitelinks, call assets
• Tracking: conversions for forms, calls or purchases, linked with GA4
• Ongoing work: search term reviews, bid strategy and budget changes, ad tests
• Reporting: a summary of results, what to try next, ideas for the landing page

If you have not launched yet, a solid Google Ads setup comes first. When you compare quotes, ask which of the items above are included – that is where most price differences hide.

What to check before you hire an agency

Contracts and reporting vary a lot between agencies in Japan. A few questions up front save trouble later:

• Ownership: are the Google Ads and GA4 accounts created in your name, and do you keep the data if you leave?
• Fees: a percentage of ad spend or a fixed fee, plus any minimum or setup charge
• Who does the work: can you talk directly to the person running the account, and how often does that person change?
• Reporting: monthly reports, and can you ask about progress in between?
• Contract terms: minimum period and notice needed to cancel

A management fee of around 20% of ad spend is a common benchmark in Japan, and small budgets often come with a fixed minimum. See ad management fees for how fees are built and search ads cost for setting the ad budget itself.

What weekly Google Ads management looks like

Good management is a steady weekly routine. The first one to two months need the closest attention while the account settles; after that the same checks continue every week:

• Search terms: spot irrelevant searches that triggered your ads and add them as negatives
• Budget: move money toward campaigns that convert and check for budgets running out early
• Bids: compare actual cost per conversion with the target and adjust the bid strategy
• Ad copy: replace weak headlines and test new messages
• Tracking: confirm form and call conversions are still recorded correctly
• Landing page: speed, form errors, and whether the content still matches the season or offer

Automated bidding does much of the math today, yet people still decide which searches deserve budget and which actions count as success. A weekly review is the most reliable way to keep wasted spend low.

The report numbers that matter

A useful report tells you what happened and what comes next. Compare these numbers with the previous month or year:

• Cost and conversions: what you spent and how many inquiries or sales it brought
• CPA or ROAS: cost per conversion, or revenue per yen of ad spend
• CTR and CPC: how well the ads attract clicks and how competitive the auction is
• Impression share: how often you missed showing because of budget or rank
• Top search terms: the ones that converted and the ones that were excluded

A good report also lists the changes made that month and the tests planned for the next. If you are unsure whether your current account is in good shape, our Google Ads account audit guide shows what to look at.

What to prepare before outsourcing

Having this ready makes the first conversation much faster. Rough answers are fine:

• The result you want more of – inquiries, bookings, calls or sales – and what one is worth to you
• Your planned monthly ad budget and target areas, days and hours
• Your main products or services and what sets you apart from competitors
• If ads are already running: read-only access to the account or the last few months of results
• The state of GA4 and Google tag setup, and who can access the website admin

When switching agencies, check first who owns the current account. Accounts registered to an agency sometimes cannot be transferred, so confirming ownership early protects your historical data.

How UNANOBO manages search ads

Before any campaign changes, UNANOBO builds a free demo of the page your ads will send visitors to, based on your current site and brand. You check it on a computer and a phone. If ads are already running, read-only access lets us review the current setup and reflect it in the structure proposal.

The process is free demo, feedback, launch, growth. Once you go ahead, the founder personally handles keyword work, weekly optimization and monthly reports, so your contact never changes. Ad and analytics accounts stay in your name, and everything runs by message in Japanese or English.