Your business should retain control
Your business should retain administrative control of its Google Ads account, billing arrangements, website, analytics and lead records. An agency should receive permission-based access to perform agreed work, rather than become the only party able to access these assets. This is not just an exit safeguard. It makes campaign readiness, measurement and lead-quality decisions easier to verify.
For owners comparing Google Ads services in Pakistan or internationally, the useful question is whether the proposed setup lets you trace an advertisement through to a genuine business enquiry. If nobody can explain where that evidence lives, who can access it and how it survives an agency change, resolve those gaps before approving media spend.
Reported context: credentials deserve attention
A supplied Ars Technica report says Chainalysis disclosed the theft of customer credentials and tokens in a cyberattack. That report concerns a different business, not Google Ads, and does not establish that any advertising account has been compromised.
The practical implication is broader: credentials and access tokens deserve the same care as other valuable business assets. For an advertising engagement, use individual accounts, appropriate access roles and multifactor authentication where available. Avoid sharing an owner's password, and review both user permissions and connected applications when responsibilities change. These are general safeguards, not a claim that the reported incident affected HA Technologies or its clients.
A readiness checklist before granting access
Account control: Confirm that a business-controlled identity has administrative access. Record the Google Ads customer ID, billing responsibility, analytics property and relevant website accounts. Agree how agency access will be granted and removed.
Commercial scope: Define the service being advertised, locations served, customer eligibility and what makes an enquiry worth pursuing. For Pakistan-based businesses selling internationally, also establish supported languages, contact hours and any delivery or jurisdictional restrictions.
Landing-page control: Identify who can edit, test and publish the destination page. Check that its offer matches the advertisement, works on mobile and explains the service, coverage and next step clearly. Use verifiable business details and genuine evidence, not unsupported credentials or promises.
Lead handling: Test the form, phone route and any WhatsApp link before launch. Confirm that enquiries reach a monitored destination and that someone is responsible for responding. A working advertisement cannot compensate for an unattended inbox.
Exit readiness: Put handover expectations in writing, including campaign history, page assets, tracking documentation and lead exports where appropriate. Distinguish business assets from any agency-owned tools or licensed materials.
Own the measurement, not just the dashboard
Ask the agency to document exactly what each conversion represents. A click on a phone number or WhatsApp button indicates intent to make contact, but does not prove that a conversation happened. A successfully submitted form is stronger evidence of an enquiry, yet still does not establish that the prospect is suitable.
Separate supporting actions from the outcomes used to assess performance. Depending on your sales process, useful stages could include enquiry received, contact established, qualified opportunity and customer acquired. Test that conversion events fire at the intended moment and are not counted twice.
Keep qualification outcomes in a business-controlled CRM or structured lead register. Record consistent reasons for unsuitable enquiries, such as an unsupported location or a request for a service you do not provide. Where technically feasible and permitted, feed relevant downstream outcomes back into campaign measurement. Agree privacy notices, consent requirements, retention and data access before connecting systems.
Pitfalls and decision criteria
Be cautious if a proposal offers attractive reporting but cannot explain account access, conversion definitions or landing-page responsibilities. Other warning signs include treating every button click as a lead, collecting unnecessary personal information and promising rankings or guaranteed sales.
Do not interpret every difference between advertising reports and your CRM as misconduct. Attribution rules, reporting periods, consent choices and duplicate records can produce discrepancies. The important criterion is whether the provider can investigate and explain them.
Proceed when access is clear, the page and enquiry route work, and both parties agree how lead quality will be judged. Narrow the scope when only one service or market is operationally ready. Delay launch when enquiries cannot be received reliably or conversion measurement remains untested.
A scoped next step
For an HA Technologies Google Ads enquiry, share your website, target service, intended markets and current lead-handling process. Request a defined review of account control, landing-page readiness, conversion tracking and qualification criteria before committing to campaign management. Do not send passwords or raw customer records in the initial enquiry.