Whether you are a Google Ads professional or a Google Ads agency owner, you most likely love your tools. They're part of your daily life and you simply cannot live (and work) without them. Let's face it: all 'modern' digital jobs require at least some kind of software -- and if you run a PPC agency, you'll definitely want to know everything about the ultimate marketing technology stack for Google Ads agencies. 

From industry-specific software to generic communication tools, a digital marketer's tech stack is large. As a Google Ads agency or as a digital marketer working for an ads agency, you need to choose the right tools to help you do your work in an organized and efficient manner. Because we know how important technology is for a digital marketer, we have put together a guide to the ultimate marketing technology stack for a Google Ads agency. 

What tools do you need as a Google Ads agency? We have made a thorough list and put it together in nine big categories: 

1. The 'Bread and Butter' of the Marketing Technology Stack for Google Ads Agencies

Yes, this is pretty obvious, but we advise you to put some effort into account and campaign configuration. Google Ads is a powerful tool, but you have to be thoughtful of how you use it to get the best results.

You might be excited to get those campaigns running as soon as possible, but things can get messy really fast if you just keep adding campaigns to an unstructured account. This is a risk especially if you are a PPC agency managing several customer accounts. We've already talked about this in our Google Ads Masterclass, so if you need extra tips on managing your Google Ads account, just head over to module 3 of our PPC course. 

While you can choose to manage your campaigns directly in Google Ads Manager, you also have the option of using an additional Google Ads management tool, like Wordstream. This, of course, depends on your preference and work style. 

2. Tracking and Analytics Tools

Your campaigns should bring you and your customers' results. While Google Ads offers a lot of information on the campaigns themselves, results can be more relevant when correlated with other metrics. 

Google Analytics is the ultimate analytics tool that shouldn't be missing from the marketing technology stack of a Google Ads agency. For example, it can help you compare campaign traffic with organic traffic or track user behavior once they have landed on the website. 

When you are experimenting with different types of campaigns, you should also keep track of the development of each campaign. In this situation, it is often useful to create custom URLs for each campaign. An easy-to-use free tool you can use for this purpose is Google URL Builder. 

3. Keyword Planning Tools

Just as Google Ads Manager is the 'bread and butter' within the marketing technology stack of a Google Ads agency, so are keywords at the core of your PPC campaigns. Of course, that means you need to conduct thorough research in order to get the most out of your campaigns. Google Keyword Planner is a good, free tool, but there are several tools out there that can offer a lot of insights into keyword trends. Popular digital marketing tools like SEMRush, Ahrefs, and Moz have all developed their own keyword research tools, and many digital marketers swear by them (even more than they do about Google's Keyword Planner).

4. Audience and Market Research Tools

The tools in this category can be used for keyword research purposes, but we are giving them a different category, as they are a bit more complex than that. 

Keywords are great, but keywords in good contexts are better. Many aspects define how relevant and useful a keyword will be for each business and for each ad. Sometimes, you will want to put in some extra effort to find out more about what your audience is interested in, especially when you don't know a market very well when there are trending topics in your customers' niche, or maybe just when you need some inspiration for your next campaign. 

Google Trends is a great free tool that can offer you a lot of insight into what people are searching for on Google. Another useful tool, that is focused on search questions, is Answer The Public. 

5. Campaign Optimization Tools

When striving for greatness - that is, a good CPC or a high number of conversions - optimization is essential. While you will of course make a lot of manual adjustments to your campaigns within Google Ads, you can take it one step forward and analyze your clicks and your traffic to optimize your campaigns. 

A tool that can help with that is ClickGUARD, which has developed an automated system meant to help you block fraudulent and wasteful clicks -- all at the switch of a flick. In doing so, ClickGUARD also helps you drive better quality traffic to your website by sifting through non-human clicks or clicks that don't have a buying intent. Not to brag, but this should really be essential in every marketing technology stack for Google Ads agencies. ??

6. Copywriting Tools 

Words matter. And they matter a lot when you are running search campaigns. Your ads are based on words and the message you decide to get across. In order to make your ads stand out, to make them intriguing or persuasive, you will need to put some effort into the copy of your ads. 

There is little room for errors in such small texts and no matter how inspired you may be, you will sometimes need expert help to double-check or improve your texts. To double-check your text for errors and improvement opportunities, you can use a tool like the Hemingway App or Grammarly.

For those moments of 'writer's block', when you just kind find the right words, you can try a tool like Thesaurus. This can help you expand your ad vocabulary with numerous synonyms and antonyms. 

7. Design Tools

The saying goes that an image can be worth 1000 words. While we don't believe that is always true, images are key for a good Google display campaign. Your team of designers will need appropriate tools to create stunning and compelling visuals for your ads. The Adobe Creative Suite (particularly Photoshop and Illustrator) are basic tools in any designer's arsenal.

But even if you are not a specialized designer, worry not. There are a lot of tools out there that can help you craft nice visuals. Desygner and Canva are two examples of editing tools that don't require a lot of design knowledge. 

8. Planning and Task-Management Tools

Now that we've covered the industry-specific tools that are an essential part of the technology stack of a Google Ads agency, let's have a look at those that can make any company's life (and work) easier. You can of course still manage some of your tasks in person or through calls, but technology can make things so much easier and transparent. 

Especially when part of a larger team, it is good to have a task-management tool, like Asana or Atlassian, that offers an overview of all your activities. This can help improve team efforts, as it makes it easier for your team to be aligned. It is also useful for each marketer to keep track of his/her tasks. 

Trello and Monday are excellent options as well, especially since they are considered to be quite agile and easy to use (even by someone brand new to them). While these kinds of tools are not marketing-oriented per se, they should definitely be part of a marketing technology stack for Google Ads agencies

9. Communication tools 

Last but not least, communication is vital for any organization. Especially if your team is working in a remote or hybrid context, it is important to offer them several channels for communication. In addition to email, you should have at least one instant messaging tool, like Slack. This allows the team to communicate fast and efficiently. If you hold frequent online meetings, you can use a dedicated video conferencing platform like Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. 

This may be a long list, but it is by no means exhaustive. It is a good starting point to building a good marketing technology stack for a Google Ads agency, but do keep an eye out for any other tools that could help you and your team. There are so many useful tools out there, many catering to some very specific needs. 
As our friends at Apple would've said back at the beginning of the 2000s, there's a tool for that (well, kind of, we adapted this to the topic ??)