White Label Agreements with Marketing Agencies: What They Cover and How to Set One Up

A white label agreement is the contract that lets one agency do the work while another sells it under its own brand. For PPC, that contract decides who owns the Google Ads account, who talks to the client, and what happens to live campaigns if the partnership ends. Write it badly and you get a client-facing mess. This article covers how these agreements work, which clauses matter most, and what to check before you sign. It is general information, not legal advice.

How a White Label Agreement Works Between Agencies

In a white label arrangement, the reseller owns the client relationship and the brand. The provider does the work behind the scenes and stays unnamed. The client believes they are working with the reseller, and in every practical sense they are: the reseller sets expectations, sends invoices, and takes the calls.

For Google Ads, the split usually looks like this:

• Provider: builds campaigns, manages bids and budgets, reviews search terms, and produces reports.
• Reseller: handles onboarding, client communication, strategy conversations, and billing.

It helps to separate white label from two nearby models, because people mix them up:

• Referral partnership: one party passes a lead to another, who then contracts with the client directly. The referrer may get a fee, but they do not own the relationship or the delivery.
• Named subcontracting: the provider does the work and the client knows who they are. The provider may even speak to the client. That changes confidentiality, communication, and non-solicitation terms completely.

White label is not automatically a referral deal, and a referral agreement is not a substitute for one. If you sign the wrong template, the contract will describe a relationship you are not actually running.

An illustrative example

Suppose a small web design agency keeps getting asked whether it also runs Google Ads. It has no PPC specialist and does not want to hire one yet. It signs a white label agreement with a PPC freelancer who builds and manages the campaigns, while the design agency sells the service as its own, invoices the client, and runs the monthly check-in. The freelancer never appears in client emails or reports. Every point in that arrangement, from who sees the client to who is paid when, needs to be on paper. Verbal understandings tend to fall apart the first time a client is unhappy.

Clauses Every White Label Agreement Should Include

Templates vary, but a workable PPC agreement covers the same core ground. Here are the clauses to look for, and what each should actually say.

Scope of services and deliverables

The scope of work is the list of what the provider will do. Name the campaign types (Search, Performance Max, Shopping), how often the account is optimized, the reporting cadence, and the number of revisions or new campaigns included. Then say what is out of scope: landing page design, conversion tracking setup, creative production, or work on other ad platforms. Anything you leave unlisted becomes an argument later.

Confidentiality and non-disclosure

A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) or confidentiality clause keeps the provider invisible. It should cover the existence of the arrangement, client details, pricing, and any data the provider sees. Spell out what the provider may not do, such as mentioning the client in a portfolio or case study.

Non-solicitation

A non-solicitation clause says the provider will not approach the reseller's clients to offer services directly. It usually runs for a defined period, often during the agreement and for some months or years after. Enforceability varies by location, which is one reason to get a lawyer to look at it.

Pricing, payment terms, and ad spend

State the fee, the invoice date, the payment deadline, and late-payment consequences. Say explicitly who pays Google for ad spend. Assuming it is obvious is how disputes start.

Termination and transition

Define the notice period, who can end the agreement and why, and what happens to active campaigns during the handoff. Cover how long the provider keeps managing after notice is given, how account access is transferred, and whether a handover document is required.

Who Owns the Google Ads Account, Data, and Work Product

This is the part generic white label guides skip, and it is where PPC deals get messy. A Google Ads account holds conversion data, campaign history, and the learning built up over months. Whoever controls the account controls all of it.

Three account structures

• Client-owned account, provider added as a user. The client owns the account and its history, and the provider works inside it with an assigned access level. This is the safest model for continuity, but the provider's access can be visible to the client unless you plan how invitations are handled.
• Reseller-owned manager account (MCC). A manager account lets one login oversee multiple Google Ads accounts. The reseller links client accounts to its manager account and gives the provider access to them. This keeps the reseller in control, though the exact linking and access behavior is worth checking against current Google Ads Help documentation on manager accounts and user access levels before you design your setup.
• Provider-owned account. The provider runs campaigns in its own account. It is simple for the provider but risky for the reseller and client, since history and data may leave with the provider.

Most resellers are better served by the first or second option, with the client or reseller as the account owner.

Write ownership down before launch

State who owns the ad account, the conversion data, and the campaign history. Then address intellectual property: ad copy, landing pages, keyword lists, and negative keyword lists. A negative keyword list built over a year is real work product. Decide whether it transfers to the reseller on exit, and say so plainly. Without that, a provider can claim the work leaves with them.

Access and offboarding

Define access levels per person, and make removing access a named step in the termination clause. When the agreement ends, the reseller or client should remove the provider's access promptly and confirm it in writing.

Quality Control, Reporting, and Accountability

Because the reseller's name is on the work, the reseller needs a say in how it is done. Build that into the contract.

Approval steps. Decide which actions need sign-off first: budget changes, new campaigns, new ad copy, or changes to bidding strategy. Routine optimization can stay with the provider, but anything that changes spend or messaging should go through the reseller.

Reporting. Agree on a white-labeled report format with the reseller's branding and no trace of the provider. Also decide who presents results. In most arrangements the reseller talks to the client, and the provider supplies the numbers and an explanation the reseller can relay.

Service levels and liability. Set response times for questions, an escalation path for urgent problems, and a clear answer on who is responsible when something goes wrong. Overspend from a budget error and ad disapprovals or account suspensions from policy violations are the typical cases. Some contracts cap the provider's liability or require it to carry insurance; a lawyer can advise on what suits your situation.

Agree on a standard routine

An illustrative example: both agencies agree that the provider reviews the search terms report weekly. Search terms are the queries people actually typed, which is different from the keywords you bid on. Irrelevant queries get added as negative keywords so they stop triggering ads. Writing that routine into the agreement gives both sides a shared definition of "managed."

If either side wants to do that review faster, Keywordme is a Chrome extension that works inside the Search Terms Report in Google Ads. You choose which terms to add as negatives or keywords and apply match types yourself, so every action is user-reviewed rather than automatic.

Pricing Models and Margins in White Label Deals

Pricing in white label PPC varies widely by market, service level, and account size. This article does not cite benchmark rates, because any figure would need a named source and year. Instead, here are the structures you will run into:

• Flat monthly fee per client: predictable for both sides, but needs a scope that limits work.
• Percentage of ad spend: fees scale with budget, though effort does not always scale the same way.
• Hourly: transparent, but it can make the reseller's costs hard to forecast.
• Tiered packages: fixed bundles by account size or service level, easy to resell as a menu.

Calculating your margin

Your margin is what the end client pays you minus what you pay the provider, minus your own costs. Those costs include account management time: onboarding calls, monthly reviews, report walkthroughs, and the occasional panicked email. Resellers often forget to price that in and discover their real margin is thinner than the spreadsheet suggested.

For illustration only, imagine you charge a client a flat monthly fee and pay the provider a lower flat fee. If you spend a few hours a month on calls and reporting, value those hours at your own rate before calling the difference profit.

Billing for ad spend

Decide whether the client pays Google directly or whether you pass the media budget through. Paying Google directly keeps your cash flow clean and avoids you fronting spend. Passing it through can simplify the client's experience but puts the risk on you. Whichever you choose, write it in.

Hidden costs

Budget for tool subscriptions, extra revision rounds, custom reporting requests, and onboarding time for new accounts. If these are not in the price or the contract, someone absorbs them, and it is usually the reseller.

Common Mistakes and Red Flags Before You Sign

Most failed white label deals trace back to a short list of avoidable problems:

• Vague scope. "Manage Google Ads" can mean anything. Without a list of deliverables, every extra request becomes a negotiation.
• No exit plan. Without a transition clause, you can be left with unmanaged campaigns and a client asking why results dropped.
• Provider will not share access or raw data. If a provider resists giving you account access or exports, treat that as a serious warning sign. You cannot protect a client you cannot see into.
• Missing NDA or non-solicit terms. Without them, nothing stops a provider from contacting your client.
• Handshake terms. Verbal agreements are hard to prove and easy to remember differently.

Questions to ask before signing

1. Who will actually work on my accounts, and how many accounts do they handle?
2. Which account structure do you use, and will I have full access?
3. What does your standard report look like, and can it carry my branding?
4. How do you handle search terms review, and how often?
5. What is your response time, and how do you escalate urgent issues?
6. What happens to the campaigns, data, and lists if we part ways?
7. What happens if there is an overspend or a policy suspension?
8. Can you provide references or examples of similar work?

Finally, have a lawyer review the final contract. Clauses like non-solicitation and liability limits depend on where you operate, and a template from the internet will not account for that.

Get the Paper Right, Then Test It on One Account

A good white label agreement settles four things up front: scope, ownership, confidentiality, and exit terms. If those are clear, the day-to-day work tends to take care of itself. If they are fuzzy, no amount of good PPC will save the relationship.

Start by drafting or adapting a template, then have a lawyer review it. Before you roll the arrangement out across your client list, run it on a single account for a month or two and see where the workflow creaks. Search terms review is a good place to start, since it is routine, repeatable, and easy to standardize.

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