--- title: "Real estate PPC: write the campaign brief" description: "Compare PPC proposals with a brief covering seller or buyer purpose, website destinations, spending controls, inquiry measurement, and handover." canonical: "https://scalewithsearch.com/articles/real-estate-ppc-campaign-brief" --- ## Site navigation - [Scale With Search](https://scalewithsearch.com/) - Services - Services - [AI systems](https://scalewithsearch.com/ai-systems) - [Site build](https://scalewithsearch.com/work#site-build) - [Whole website fix](https://scalewithsearch.com/work#whole-website-fix) - [Content library with SEO](https://scalewithsearch.com/work#content-library) - [Working session](https://scalewithsearch.com/audit) - Start here - [Send your brief](https://scalewithsearch.com/work#send-your-brief) - [Example scope](https://scalewithsearch.com/work#review-the-example-scope) - [Prices and terms](https://scalewithsearch.com/work#prices-and-terms) - Industries - Real estate - [Real estate agents and teams](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/real-estate) - [Platforms, ownership, and IDX](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/real-estate/real-estate-website-platforms-ownership-idx) - [Search, content, and AI](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/real-estate/real-estate-search-content-ai) - [Inquiries, campaigns, and handoffs](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/real-estate/real-estate-website-inquiries-campaigns-handoffs) - [Buyer, seller, and local pages](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/real-estate/real-estate-buyer-seller-local-resources) - [Rules, privacy, and trust](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/real-estate/real-estate-website-rules-privacy-trust) - Browse by business - [Trades and home services](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/#group-trades) - [Health, wellness, and animal care](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/#group-practices) - [Law, finance, and IT](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/#group-professional) - [Marketing and SEO agencies](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/#group-agencies) - [Shops and manufacturers](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/#group-manufacturing) - [Restaurants, shops, studios, and nonprofits](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/#group-local-services) - Chiropractic practices - [Chiropractic and wellness practices](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/chiropractic-and-wellness-practices) - [Chiropractic and physical therapy clinics](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/chiropractic-and-physical-therapy-clinics) - [All industries](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/) - Resources - Free tools - [AI readiness check](https://scalewithsearch.com/check) - [Free tools](https://scalewithsearch.com/tools/) - [Free Starter Kit](https://scalewithsearch.com/kit/business-memory-starter-kit.zip) - Guides - [AI-native library](https://scalewithsearch.com/ai-native) - [Industry intelligence](https://scalewithsearch.com/intelligence) - [Office job guides](https://scalewithsearch.com/guides/) - [Business memory](https://scalewithsearch.com/articles/business-memory-for-ai-agents-guide) - [Agent governance](https://scalewithsearch.com/articles/ai-agent-governance-guide-small-business) - [Migration and ownership](https://scalewithsearch.com/articles/leaving-vendor-ai-memory-guide) - Articles - [All articles](https://scalewithsearch.com/articles/) - [What changed](https://scalewithsearch.com/changes/) - About - Evidence - [Proof](https://scalewithsearch.com/proof) - Scale With Search - [About](https://scalewithsearch.com/about) - [How it works](https://scalewithsearch.com/how-it-works) # Real estate PPC: write the campaign brief before buying ads Before buying real estate PPC, name the seller or buyer inquiry you want. Write a brief covering its website destination, spending authority, and reporting evidence. Use the same brief to compare providers. Approve the destination and inquiry route before approving campaign activation. Pay-per-click describes advertising charged by the click. Google calls this cost-per-click pricing, or CPC. A paid click is the chargeable action in that model. [Google's CPC definition](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/116495?hl=en). Use the worksheet below for a proposed Google search campaign supporting your own real estate website. It is a buying and operating plan. Fill in the unknowns with your agent or team details and the provider's written answers. ## Choose the inquiry before choosing the package Start with the service you can fulfill. Decide whether this campaign should support a seller representation conversation, a buyer question, or an inquiry about an authorized listing. Give each purpose its own destination and measurement definition in the proposal. For a seller campaign, prepare a page explaining your listing process, the market you serve, and what an initial conversation covers. Ask for a contact invitation that describes that conversation. Leave an instant valuation promise out unless your website provides the promised service. For a buyer campaign, identify what the visitor can inspect before contacting you. Check that any property information and listing material have permission for use. Define what happens when a listing changes or is no longer available. Treat these as proposed page purposes. They are not observations about your market or forecasts of demand. Ask the campaign provider to show the research behind its recommendation, with the collection date, location, and assumptions attached. ## Give each provider the same campaign brief Copy this worksheet into your request for a proposal. Require an answer beside every field before selecting a provider. Keep missing answers visible rather than filling them with a benchmark from another market. | Brief field | What to enter or request | | --- | --- | | Intended inquiry | Seller representation, buyer question, or listing inquiry; define what counts as relevant | | Market and service | Places you serve and the representation you can provide | | Channel and scope | Google Search or another named channel; specify any proposed additional networks or campaign types | | Website destination | Exact page address, approved opening, contact action, and person responsible for updates | | Search plan | Keyword research, proposed match types, exclusions, and reasons for each choice | | Public wording | Draft ads, supporting records for claims, and the person approving them | | Spending | Media allocation, provider fees, setup charges, optional tools, billing terms, and review date | | Authority | Who approves activation, increases, new channels, and destination changes; who can pause | | Measurement | Conversion actions, reporting settings, received-inquiry records, and treatment of tests and duplicates | | Operations and exit | Review cadence, repair responsibilities, cancellation terms, account access, and handover files | Keep website work and campaign management as separate scope items. Ask which provider supplies each task. Resolve a missing destination page before agreeing that the campaign is ready. Agent Image's PPC page lists landing-page development and conversion-tracking setup in its buyer/seller package. Use that pairing as a prompt to inspect both deliverables in any proposal. The package description alone does not test your destination or inquiry route. [Agent Image's PPC package description](https://www.agentimage.com/real-estate-marketing/ppc/). ## Put spending controls in writing Ask for separate prices for advertising, management, initial setup, website changes, and optional tools. Require the proposal to identify who receives each payment. Record the initial spending authorization and the conditions for changing it. An average daily budget in Google Ads is not a fixed daily spending ceiling. For most campaigns, Google states a daily spending limit of twice that budget and a monthly limit of 30.4 times it. [Google's average daily budget explanation](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6385083?hl=en). Ask the provider to explain the limits applying to the proposed campaign, including shared budgets or planned budget changes. Request the monthly billing exposure in writing. Keep management fees outside the media-spending figure when comparing proposals. Define a review date and a person authorized to pause. Agree what should trigger an immediate pause, such as a broken inquiry route or an unapproved public claim. Ask how spending is monitored against your authorization. Leave a universal recommended budget out of the brief. Request a forecast with its assumptions, then decide what spending your business can authorize. Keep forecast inquiries separate from received inquiries in later reports. ## Inspect the page the advertisement opens Compare the proposed ad with the destination's opening and contact label. Check that the page identifies you, explains the advertised service, and offers the promised next step. Ask the provider to justify sending traffic to a general home page when a specific service is advertised. Google requires destinations to work on common browsers and devices, be crawlable by AdsBot, and be accessible in the targeted location. Its policy also covers mismatches between the advertised destination and the final or tracking URL. [Google's destination requirements](https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6368661?hl=en). Have the website maintainer test the exact destination with the proposed tracking parameters and redirects. Check the contact action on a phone and desktop. Arrange a clearly marked sample inquiry using details you control. Save the visible submission result and the matching received message. Name the person who confirms receipt. Require a repair and repeat test if the message is missing or lacks the information needed to answer. - [Build a real estate landing page around a clear next step.](/articles/real-estate-landing-page) - [Test the seller inquiry path on your real estate website](/articles/seller-inquiry-path-agent-website) - [Check your real estate website in 30 minutes](/articles/real-estate-website-audit) ## Require a search and housing-targeting review Ask the campaign provider to explain its matching choices and proposed exclusions. Google's matching options govern how closely a keyword must match a search. Negative keywords exclude search terms, and they do not match close variants. [Google's matching guidance](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7478529?hl=en), [negative-keyword guidance](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2453972?hl=en). Use those rules to review whether the campaign could admit requests outside your services. Ask who inspects observed searches after launch and who approves changes. Keep the buying brief focused on responsibility and review; retain the detailed keyword list as its supporting material. For housing ads in the United States and Canada, Google prohibits targeting by age, gender, parental status, marital status, and ZIP code. Its policy permits city and radius targeting subject to its conditions. [Google's restricted-targeting policy](https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/143465?hl=en). Require the provider to document the applicable platform restrictions and proposed settings. Have the appropriate reviewer check public housing claims and brokerage requirements. Treat the platform-policy check as one part of the review. ## Define what a reported conversion means Google Ads supports conversion measurement for website actions, phone calls, and offline actions. It allows separate conversion actions for different activities. [Google's conversion measurement options](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722054?hl=en). Ask for the action name, trigger, counting rule, and campaign goal behind each reported conversion. For a seller form, prefer an event tied to accepted submission over a button press alone. Ask how the provider will test failed submissions and repeated confirmation-page visits. Google's website setup supports URL-based page-load measurement and code-based measurement for actions such as button clicks. It also warns that duplicate tagging can cause duplicate conversion reporting. [Google's website conversion setup](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6095821?hl=en). Require a test showing which event fires, what the website accepts, and what the recipient receives. Keep those results as separate evidence. Review any tag changes with the website maintainer before installation. Ask which actions influence bidding. Google uses primary actions for bidding when their standard goal is used. Secondary actions normally serve observation, but a custom goal can use them for bidding. [Google's primary and secondary conversion guidance](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/11461796?hl=en). Review the actual goal configuration before accepting a statement that a page view is for observation only. Request an explanation when the provider proposes optimizing around an action other than your intended inquiry. ## Review inquiries alongside the advertising report Use these proposed reporting definitions consistently across review periods. Agree on them with the provider and the person answering inquiries before launch. | Record | Definition to agree | | --- | --- | | Advertising cost | Media spending for the stated campaign and period; show service fees separately | | Platform conversions | Named actions reported under disclosed goal, counting, and attribution settings | | Received inquiries | Contact records confirmed at the receiving destination; label tests, duplicates, and spam separately | | Relevant inquiries | Received contacts matching the service and market criteria agreed in the brief | | Appointments | Conversations booked and confirmed in your own records | Request the underlying exports and settings. Compare campaign dates with the received records before drawing a conclusion. Calculate media cost per relevant inquiry only when the spending and counted inquiries cover the same campaign and period. If reports show conversions but no corresponding received inquiries, inspect event triggers and delivery first. If received inquiries concern unsupported services, review observed searches, ad wording, and the destination together. Record the proposed correction and its approval before making changes. ## Agree on operations and handover before signing Name the provider's recurring tasks: search review, spending review, tracking checks, reporting, and proposed revisions. Set the cadence in writing. Give the person answering inquiries responsibility for reviewing relevance and recording appointment outcomes. Require direct access to the accounts and reports your business needs to inspect. Ask who controls billing, who can remove provider access, and what remains available after cancellation. Put the domain, destination-page files, tracking configuration, campaign exports, and unresolved work in the handover list. Ask for a sample report showing received-inquiry reconciliation, rather than selecting from a click chart alone. Inspect any claimed client result with its period, campaign scope, and supporting evidence. Hold a proposal with unresolved spending authority or account access. ## Bring the destination problems into the website fix Bring your current website, completed brief, proposed ads, destination page, and inquiry-test results to [the real estate website page](/for/real-estate). Request a written scope for the whole website fix, with page and inquiry-delivery checks. Assign advertising management, campaign spending, and activation to the separately chosen campaign provider. Give the website maintainer the approved destination requirements before work begins. ## Related: Real estate - [Build a real estate landing page around a clear next step.](/articles/real-estate-landing-page) - [Test the seller inquiry path on your real estate website](/articles/seller-inquiry-path-agent-website) - [Check your real estate website in 30 minutes](/articles/real-estate-website-audit) ---- ```text .|########||. .|########||. .|########||. |##||. .||##|. |##||. .||##|. |##||. .||##|. |#|. .|#|. |#|. .|#|. |#|. .|#|. |#| |#| |#| |#| |#| |#| .#| |#. .#| |#. .#| |#. .#. .#| .#. .#| .#. .#| |#. .#| |#. .#| |#. .#| |# ...... #| |# ...... #| |# ...... #| .# ||#########| #| .# ||#########| #| .# ||#########| #| .#. |######||######|. .#. .#. |######||######|. .#. .#. |######||######|. .#. #. .##|###|##|#|######| .# #. .##|###|##|#|######| .# #. .##|###|##|#|######| .# || |##|#||||||||||||#||#| || || |##|#||||||||||||#||#| || || |##|#||||||||||||#||#| || # |#||||||||||||||||||||#| #. # |#||||||||||||||||||||#| #. # |#||||||||||||||||||||#| #. || |#||||||||||||||||||||||#| || || |#||||||||||||||||||||||#| || || |#||||||||||||||||||||||#| || # .#||||||||||||||||||||||||#| # # .#||||||||||||||||||||||||#| # # .#||||||||||||||||||||||||#| # || ....|||#||||||##|#|||#|#||##||||....|. || || ....|||#||||||##|#|||#|#||##||||....|. || || ....|||#||||||##|#|||#|#||##||||....|. || #. . ....|# ....#||| ||| .#||| ....#. .# #. . ....|# ....#||| ||| .#||| ....#. .# #. . ....|# ....#||| ||| .#||| ....#. .# # . ||||#| .#####|| . .#| .#||| ||||# #. # . ||||#| .#####|| . .#| .#||| ||||# #. # . ||||#| .#####|| . .#| .#||| ||||# #. .| ||||| #. |#|||||. || #. |#||. .||||| || .| ||||| #. |#|||||. || #. |#||. .||||| || .| ||||| #. |#|||||. || #. |#||. .||||| || || |.... #. ....|#. |. ...|. ....|| || || |.... #. ....|#. |. ...|. ....|| || || |.... #. ....|#. |. ...|. ....|| || #. .||||||##||||||##||####|||||||#||||||#| .# #. .||||||##||||||##||####|||||||#||||||#| .# #. .||||||##||||||##||####|||||||#||||||#| .# # .||####|###########################|. # # .||####|###########################|. # # .||####|###########################|. # # .#||||||.#.|| # |. ..# #| #|||||#| # # .#||||||.#.|| # |. ..# #| #|||||#| # # .#||||||.#.|| # |. ..# #| #|||||#| # # .#|||||| .. |# ## |#| ...#|#|||#| # # .#|||||| .. |# ## |#| ...#|#|||#| # # .#|||||| .. |# ## |#| ...#|#|||#| # # .#|||#|# .# .#| #| ##|.#..#|||||#| # # .#|||#|# .# .#| #| ##|.#..#|||||#| # # .#|||#|# .# .#| #| ##|.#..#|||||#| # # .#||||||############|######|||||#| # # .#||||||############|######|||||#| # # .#||||||############|######|||||#| # # |...||#||||||#||||#|#||||||#|||||#||| |.| # # |...||#||||||#||||#|#||||||#|||||#||| |.| # # |...||#||||||#||||#|#||||||#|||||#||| |.| # #. .. ||||# .|||##|. |#| .|| || .|||#. #| # .# #. .. ||||# .|||##|. |#| .|| || .|||#. #| # .# #. .. ||||# .|||##|. |#| .|| || .|||#. #| # .# || | ...|| ...##| | #| .|. |. ##### .. .| || || | ...|| ...##| | #| .|. |. ##### .. .| || || | ...|| ...##| | #| .|. |. ##### .. .| || || ||||| || ||||#| . |. |. |#. ||||| |#| || || || ||||| || ||||#| . |. |. |#. ||||| |#| || || || ||||| || ||||#| . |. |. |#. ||||| |#| || || .# |.....#|....|#.||||.|||##.|#|....||.#||.#. #. .# |.....#|....|#.||||.|||##.|#|....||.#||.#. #. .# |.....#|....|#.||||.|||##.|#|....||.#||.#. #. #.|||||||#############################| ||| .# #.|||||||#############################| ||| .# #.|||||||#############################| ||| .# || ##||#||#||||||#||#||#||#||##. || || ##||#||#||||||#||#||#||#||##. || || ##||#||#||||||#||#||#||#||##. || # .#|||||||||#||#|||||||||||#| # # .#|||||||||#||#|||||||||||#| # # .#|||||||||#||#|||||||||||#| # || |#||||||||||||||||||||||#| || || |#||||||||||||||||||||||#| || || |#||||||||||||||||||||||#| || .# |#||||||||||||||||||||#| #. .# |#||||||||||||||||||||#| #. .# |#||||||||||||||||||||#| #. || |#||||||||||||||||||#| || || |#||||||||||||||||||#| || || |#||||||||||||||||||#| || #. .######|#|#########| .# #. .######|#|#########| .# #. .######|#|#########| .# .#. |#####||||#####| .#. .#. |#####||||#####| .#. .#. |#####||||#####| .#. |# ||########|| #. |# ||########|| #. |# ||########|| #. |# ...... #| |# ...... #| |# ...... #| |#. .#| |#. .#| |#. .#| |#. .#. |#. .#. |#. .#. .#| |#. .#| |#. .#| |#. |#| |#| |#| |#| |#| |#| .|#|. .|#|. .|#|. .|#|. .|#|. .|#|. |##||. .||##| |##||. .||##| |##||. .||##| .||########||. .||########||. .||########||. 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