Key takeaways
- "No results" can mean poor work, too early, or a problem the agency doesn't control, like slow follow-up.
- Agree a written goal in leads or sales, and judge reports on enquiries, not impressions or rankings.
- Make sure you own admin access to your ad account, analytics, website, domain and Business Profile.
- Ask for a 90-day recap and plan before you cancel, and secure every login before you give notice.
Quick scorecard
Tick whatever is true for you.
Before anything else, a fair warning: "no results" can mean three different things. The work might be poor. The work might be fine but it's too early. Or the work might be fine and something else is in the way, like a slow website or leads that nobody follows up. Each one needs a different decision, so it's worth working out which you've got before you cancel and start over with someone new.
1. Is it simply too early?
Different channels move at different speeds. Paid ads can produce clicks in days, though they usually need a few weeks of adjustment. SEO is slower: early movement can show in a couple of months, but meaningful lead growth often takes three to six, longer in competitive markets. Social media tends to build gradually, and rarely turns into sales quickly by itself.
If you're at month two of an SEO plan and expecting a flood of calls, the agency may not be the problem. If you're at month eight with nothing to show, that's a different conversation.
2. Did anyone agree what "results" means?
Ask yourself what you were promised at the start, and whether it was written down. "More traffic" and "better visibility" are easy to hit and don't pay the bills. A useful goal looks like this: 20 enquiries a month from the website, at no more than a certain cost each. If you never set one, neither side can say whether it's working.
3. Do the reports talk about leads, or about activity?
Look at your last report. Is the headline a number like impressions, rankings, followers or "traffic up 40%"? Those can all rise while the business gets nothing. The numbers that matter are enquiries, calls, bookings and, where possible, sales, and which channel each came from. A report that never mentions them is a warning sign, though not proof of bad work.
4. Do you own and control your accounts?
This is the one to check today. You should be able to log in as an owner or admin to your Google Ads account, Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Business Profile, your domain and your website hosting. If the agency set these up in their name and you only get a PDF each month, you're in a weak position. It's also the first thing that causes trouble if you decide to leave.
Ask for access now. It's a normal request, and how they respond tells you a lot.
5. Is the problem somewhere the agency doesn't control?
Be honest with yourself here, because good agencies run into these constantly. Leads come in but nobody calls them back for two days. The website is slow or confusing. Your prices are well above competitors with no visible reason why. The offer isn't clear. The business can't take on more work. Marketing can bring people to the door, but it can't make them walk through it.
A good agency will raise these issues with you. If yours never has, ask whether they've looked.
6. Can they explain what they did, in plain English?
You shouldn't need a glossary. If you ask "what did you do for me last month and why?" you should get a clear answer with specifics: pages changed, keywords added, ads tested, what happened as a result. Vague answers like "ongoing optimisation" and "building authority" with nothing behind them are a problem.
7. Warning signs worth taking seriously
Some things go beyond slow results. Be wary of guaranteed first-page rankings, secret methods they won't explain, large link-building packages with no named sites, long contracts with hard exit terms, no named person you can contact, and ad budgets that go through the agency's own account with no visibility into what's spent. Any one of these is worth raising directly.
8. Have you had the conversation yet?
Many owners go straight from frustration to cancelling without ever saying clearly what they expected. Try this first. Send a short email asking for: what was done in the last 90 days, what the results were in leads rather than traffic, what the plan is for the next 90 days, and what they need from you. Then see what comes back in the next week or two.
A good agency will welcome that. A poor one tends to dodge it. Either way you'll have a better basis for your decision.
If you decide to leave
Do it cleanly. Get access to every account and the website files first. Export your reports and data. Check your notice period and any exit terms in the contract. Don't announce you're leaving until you hold the logins, and then give notice in writing. If you're moving to a new provider, ask them to take over the setup so nothing goes dark while you switch.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the channel: weeks for ads, several months for SEO. What matters is that you agreed targets and milestones at the start, so you can judge against them.
Not before you've checked reasons 1 to 5. Switching resets progress, and if the real problem is your website or follow-up, a new agency will hit the same wall.
You should own them. Check your contract and ask for access now, before any dispute starts.
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