We screened 25 Google Ads agencies in depth, opened every case study they publish, and found that three of them show a Google App Campaigns result for a mobile app. Three. That single number is why this list is organised the way it is.
Google Ads was AdWords until 2018, and App campaigns were Universal App Campaigns until the same rebrand, which is why both names still appear in search and in agency copy.
A Google Ads agency for an app does something quite different from a Google Ads agency for a website. App campaigns for installs, for engagement and for in-app actions reach users across Search, Google Play, YouTube, Discover and Display from one campaign, with no placement control and asset groups doing the work that keywords do elsewhere. Bidding runs on target CPA or target ROAS against in-app actions. Conversion setup runs through Firebase, GA4 or an MMP, with on-device conversion measurement and SKAN on the iOS side. Search, Performance Max and Demand Gen sit next to it for web-to-app funnels. Reporting is read in trials, purchases, LTV and payback rather than in clicks.
TL;DR
- Of 25 Google Ads agencies screened, three publish a Google App Campaigns result for a mobile app. That single number is why this list is organised the way it is.
- For subscription apps: Applica. For apps and games: Admiral Media. For ecommerce brands with an app: AdVenture Media. For early-stage consumer apps: NoGood. For Search and Shopping: JumpFly, SmartSites and WebFX. For B2B SaaS pipeline: Directive and KlientBoost. For enterprise retail: Tinuiti.
- A Google Ads agency for an app and one for a website are different disciplines. App campaigns bid on target CPA or target ROAS against an in-app action; Search is bought on keywords and cost per click.
- Creative assets are inventory in an App campaign. Without video volume the campaign has nothing to serve, which is where agencies without production capacity run out of road.
- Google has two official statuses, Google Partner and Premier Partner. Check a candidate in the Google Partners Directory rather than reading the badge.
How we selected. We looked at what each agency publishes: whether a figure is tied explicitly to Google Ads, whether the client is named, how deep the metric goes, and above all whether any of the work is App campaigns for an app rather than Search, Shopping or Performance Max for a website. Partner status is quoted exactly as stated. Google runs two official tiers, Google Partner and Premier Partner.
The failure patterns are consistent. Optimising to installs instead of in-app actions and value. Too few creative assets, especially video, so the campaign has nothing to serve. Wrong conversion events, or a Firebase and MMP setup that was never reconciled. Android and iOS treated as one plan. And PPC agencies built for lead generation applying a Search playbook to an app that sells a subscription.
Why Google Ads agencies matter in 2026
For most Android-first apps, Google is not one channel among several. It is the channel, and the one place where automation has moved the entire job to the inputs: the conversion event you send, the bid you set, the assets you supply and how you pace budget.
The campaign reaches everywhere and shows you almost nothing. One App campaign serves Search, Google Play, YouTube, Discover and Display. You cannot steer placement. You can only change what you feed it.
Value bidding needs clean events. Target CPA against an in-app action and target ROAS against predicted value are the two settings that separate an app account from a lead-gen account, and both collapse if the event data is wrong.
Creative assets are inventory. Video, images, text and HTML5 are not decoration here; the asset group is the campaign. Agencies without production capacity run out of road at the moment scale starts.
Search and Performance Max carry the web funnel. For subscription apps running web-to-app, the Google side of that funnel is usually where first-party data is captured.
On scale, the external read worth citing: AppsFlyer's 2026 Performance Index, which ranked 57 media sources across 27.2 billion installs from nearly 25,000 apps, has Android rankings dominated by Google Ads. For an Android-first app that is the whole argument for getting this hire right.
Not sure your App campaigns optimise for the right event?
Talk to Applica's UA team.
The shortlist at a glance
| No. | Agency | HQ | Founded | Team | Core Google Ads expertise | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Applica | London | 2022 | 25+ | Google App Campaigns for installs and in-app events; Search, Play, YouTube | Subscription apps |
| 2 | AdVenture Media | Woodmere, NY | 2012 | 50 to 249 | App campaigns alongside Search and Shopping for ecommerce | Ecommerce with an app |
| 3 | JumpFly | Hoffman Estates, IL | 2003 | 50 to 249 | Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen | Ecommerce and local lead gen |
1. Applica: Google App Campaigns built around payback
Applica is a mobile app growth agency for subscription apps in FinTech, WellTech and EdTech. Google App Campaigns management sits next to Meta, Apple Ads and TikTok in a single cross-channel plan, with assets produced in house and campaigns bid against in-app events rather than installs.
Founded 2022 · HQ London · Team 25+ specialists · Google specialties App campaigns for installs and in-app actions, asset strategy across video, image and text, event setup through an MMP, Search and Performance Max for web-to-app
Results published with both the channel and the client named
- NEMO, an investing app: cost per first-time deposit 3x lower on Google Ads and 8x lower on Meta over seven months, while a six-figure monthly budget scaled
- Drops, a language learning app: +40% non-organic users in a single quarter and +62% non-organic ARPU across Meta, Google and Apple Ads, with account structures holding an average ROAS of 130% and higher
Why that matters here. Cost per first-time deposit is a payer metric, named to the channel that produced it. In a category where three agencies out of twenty-five publish any App campaigns result at all, that is the distinction worth checking for.
Recognition. Google Partner and Meta Business Partner. Clutch 5.0 from 19 reviews. $100M+ in ad spend managed, 10,000+ ads produced, 500+ growth experiments, 50+ Tier-1 apps.
They showed a good blend of experience in the team setup, and the quick turnaround in activating campaigns was also impressive.
Pras Murukesvan, Growth Marketing Head, Nemo Money
Pricing model. A monthly fee plus a percentage of ad spend once media passes a threshold, with creative production included rather than billed per asset. Applica works with subscription apps from $100K MRR.
Best for: subscription apps that need Google bid against trials and purchases.
2. AdVenture Media: the cleanest App campaigns statement outside the app world
An ecommerce and B2B performance shop with the most explicit App campaigns case in the screen. For CityDrinks, working inside alcohol advertising restrictions, it reports a 35% increase in app installs, a 53% increase in purchases and a 57% increase in purchase conversion value, with the strategy expanded to App campaigns on Google and Meta. On Battle Born Batteries it reports a 117% increase in Google Ads revenue.
Founded 2012 · HQ Woodmere, New York · Team 50 to 249 · Clutch 4.9 from 97 reviews
Best for: ecommerce brands running an app alongside the store.
3. JumpFly: named results on Search and Shopping
A twenty-year Google specialist with named client results and Google Premier Partner status. For LIJA it reports a 65% increase in online revenue with Demand Gen and Performance Max lifting conversions 53%. For WetPlants, an 86.4% revenue increase with acquisition costs down 35.4%.
Founded 2003 · HQ Hoffman Estates, Illinois · Team 50 to 249 · Clutch 4.9 from 97 reviews
No app work: 62 case studies, none mentioning App campaigns, and the service page lists only Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Display and YouTube.
Best for: ecommerce and local lead generation on Search and Shopping.
4. SmartSites: the deepest named Google revenue set
Under a heading that says plainly "Remarkable Google Ads results", SmartSites publishes named clients with revenue attached: Shadyfront Holdings at +4,201% revenue, +3,802% orders and +217% ROAS, Kelly Bee Recovery at +3,088% revenue, Bullion Exchanges at +3,524% ROAS.
Founded 2011 · HQ Paramus, New Jersey · Team 370+ · Clutch 4.9 from 370 reviews
Read the multiples with the baselines in mind, because none is published, and four-figure percentage lifts usually start from a very small number. App campaigns appear nowhere in their campaign-type list.
Best for: SMB and local businesses wanting Google and SEO from one team.
5. Admiral Media: the only agency that names Google App Campaigns
The closest app-side comparison in this list and the only agency in the screen that names the campaign type and ties it to a purchase metric. On NeuroNation it reports a 34% lower cost per in-app purchase while spend rose 48%, and separately 147% more purchases at a 40% lower CPI, explicitly through Google App Campaigns. On ChatPDF it reports 320% ROAS with 42% lower CAC and 156% more subscriptions, attributed to App campaigns bid toward subscription events against a 90-day LTV target.
Founded 2019 · HQ Dubai · Team 10 to 49 · Clutch 4.9 from 49 reviews
Two caveats for anyone comparing. The ChatPDF case is tagged Google and Meta on their own index, so the 320% is not Google-only. And NeuroNation appears four times across their site with four different figure sets, while the standalone case study page attributes its numbers to no channel at all.
Best for: apps and games wanting paid, creative and ASO from one team.
6. NoGood: Google UAC named as the top channel
A growth agency with one of the only app cases in the category where Google is named as the winning channel. For Mirror, a journaling app, it reports roughly 60,000 registrations at a $4.7 cost per registration and a $0.70 CPC, with Google UAC called the top performing channel, inside a campaign that drove 148,000 paid installs on $608,000 of spend over 13 months.
Founded 2016 · HQ New York · Clutch 5.0 from 3 reviews
Several of their headline numbers elsewhere are unlabelled, but the Google claim itself is clean.
Best for: consumer apps and startups wanting growth marketing rather than media buying alone.
7. Directive: the biggest Google number in the set, and the least checkable
A B2B SaaS agency reporting $2.55M in pipeline generated from Google Ads, plus $1.59M from Google Search and 90% of paid media closed wins from Google Search.
Founded 2013 · HQ Irvine, California · Team 50 to 249 · Clutch 4.8 from 56 reviews
Every one of those figures is anonymised and the backing material is a gated PDF, which is why it sits here rather than higher. No app work.
Best for: B2B SaaS pipeline generation.
8. WebFX: scale, reviews, and a thin Google layer
The largest review base in this screen by a distance. Its clearest Google figure is Northside Towing at a 5x, or 435%, increase in ROI from Google ad spend, with the engagement scoped as SEO, local SEO and PPC together.
Founded 1995 · HQ Harrisburg, Pennsylvania · Team 500 to 750 · Clutch 4.9 from 454 reviews
Its cleanest Google-only result, a Performance Max client at 141% more conversions and a 52% lower cost per lead, is anonymised. No App campaigns anywhere.
Best for: mid-market businesses buying search and paid together.
9. Tinuiti: enterprise measurement on Performance Max
For Murad UK it reports a 98% year-over-year ROAS improvement on shoppable Performance Max campaigns and 28% higher ROAS during Broad Match and AI Max testing.
Founded 2004 · HQ New York · Team 1,000 to 9,999
They publish three substantial articles on Google App Campaigns and no App campaigns case study.
Best for: enterprise retail and marketplace advertisers.
10. KlientBoost: reputation, with the proof gated
A PPC-first agency with 406 Clutch reviews and Google Premier Partner status.
Founded 2015 · HQ Costa Mesa, California · Team 50 to 249 · Clutch 4.9 from 406 reviews
It is here on reputation rather than on published evidence: there is no named-client Google figure in readable form on the site, only self-graded averages such as a 30% reduction in cost per acquisition within 90 days, with every case study locked in a PDF. No app service page.
Best for: B2B and SaaS lead generation.
What this category does not publish
Three patterns came out of the screen and all three are worth knowing before you shortlist.
The App campaigns column is nearly empty. Of 25 agencies screened, three publish an App campaigns result for an app. SmartSites, KlientBoost, Power Digital, WebFX and JumpFly all enumerate their Google campaign types explicitly, and App is absent from every one of those lists.
The app agencies do not attribute anything to Google. Moburst publishes 45 case studies and not one mentions Google Ads or App campaigns, while publishing educational guides on exactly that topic. ConsultMyApp names only Apple Search Ads and TikTok. Phiture's paid proof is Apple Search Ads. yellowHEAD's deepest figures are ASO. The expertise is real; the Google attribution is missing.
And the lists themselves. Of eight ranking listicles we opened, five rank their own publisher and four of those put themselves first. Across roughly a hundred ranked slots in those lists, not one entry is an app or App campaigns specialist. This article is also published by an agency and we are on it, which is why the method above is written out and every figure names its source.
How to choose among Google Ads agencies
Whichever agency you pick, check your CAC payback first: the channel only looks expensive or cheap next to what a payer returns in twelve months.
There is no single top Google ads agency, only the one whose account structure matches what you sell. Most comparisons of top Google ads agencies and google ads management agencies stall because half the candidates have never run an App campaign.
App campaigns specialist or Search PPC agency. Ask directly whether they have run App campaigns, for which apps, and what the bid strategy was. A Search specialist is not a worse agency, just a different one.
Bidding strategy. Installs, in-app actions, or value. Target CPA and target ROAS against a predicted LTV are the app answers; cost per click is not.
Creative assets. How many video assets per asset group, produced by whom, refreshed how often.
Measurement. Firebase or GA4, which MMP, how SKAN conversion values are mapped, and whether on-device conversion measurement is in place.
Android and iOS as separate plans. If the answer treats them as one, the iOS side is being guessed.
Web-to-app. Whether Search, Performance Max and Demand Gen are used to capture first-party data before the store.
Partner status. Check a candidate in the Google Partners Directory rather than reading the badge on the website.
Pricing and account ownership. Percentage of spend, flat fee, or both, and who holds the account at the end.
Get your Google App campaigns reviewed by Applica
Comparison
| Agency | Focus | Deepest Google-attributed result | App campaigns published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applica | Subscription apps | Cost per first-time deposit 3x lower | Yes |
| AdVenture Media | Ecommerce, B2B | Google Ads revenue +117% | Yes, CityDrinks |
| JumpFly | Ecommerce, local | Revenue +65% | No |
| SmartSites | SMB, local | Revenue +4,201% | No |
| Admiral Media | Apps and games | Cost per in-app purchase -34% | Yes, NeuroNation |
| NoGood | Consumer apps | 60k registrations at $4.7 | Yes, Google UAC named |
| Directive | B2B SaaS | $2.55M pipeline, anonymised | No |
| WebFX | General | ROI +435%, mixed with SEO | No |
| Tinuiti | Enterprise retail | PMax ROAS +98% | No |
| KlientBoost | B2B, SaaS | None named, PDF-gated | No |
Why app teams choose Applica for Google Ads
App campaigns bid against in-app events, trials and payback rather than installs. Assets produced in house, video first, and refreshed before performance decays rather than after. Event setup reconciled through an MMP before budget scales, not during the first bad week. Android and iOS planned separately, because SKAN makes them different problems. Google run inside a cross-channel plan with Meta, Apple Ads and TikTok, with budget moved by marginal ROAS and payback rather than by channel loyalty.
Conclusion
The best Google ads agencies in the general sense are easy to find: this category has more reviewed, certified, long-established shops than any other in digital. The hard part is that almost none of them has published an App campaign result, and almost none of the app specialists has published a Google one. The best google ad agencies for an app sit in that small overlap, and the fastest way to find them is to ask for the campaign type and the conversion event before anything else.
Choose a Google Ads partner that bids for paying users, not just installs.
FAQ
What are the best Google Ads agencies?
For a mobile app, the best Google Ads agencies are the ones publishing an App campaigns result with a named client and a metric below the install. On that test the list is short: of 25 agencies we screened, three publish App campaigns work at all. For a website, the strongest named Google revenue evidence in our screen came from SmartSites, JumpFly and AdVenture Media.
How do I choose among Google Ads agencies for a mobile app?
Ask which campaign type they run, what event they bid against, and how conversions are measured. App campaigns with target CPA or target ROAS against an in-app action is the app answer. Search campaigns with keyword and cost-per-click reporting is the website answer, and the two are not interchangeable.
What are Google App campaigns, and do I need an agency to run them?
App campaigns, formerly Universal App Campaigns, serve across Search, Google Play, YouTube, Discover and Display from one campaign. You supply assets, conversion events and bids; Google decides the rest. You do not need an agency, but you do need creative volume and clean event data, which is usually what an agency is actually being hired for.
How much do Google Ads agencies charge?
Typically a percentage of ad spend, a flat monthly fee, or both, often with a minimum budget. Several of the agencies in this list keep pricing behind a call. What matters more than the model is whether creative production and measurement setup are inside the fee or billed on top.
What does Google Partner or Premier Partner status mean?
Google runs two statuses: Google Partner, and Premier Partner, which is limited to a small share of agencies per country. Anything else, such as premier agency partner, certified premier partner or Google-certified, is an agency's own wording rather than Google's, so check the Google Partners Directory rather than the badge.
Who can manage Google App campaigns for my app?
A short list, on published evidence: Applica for subscription apps, Admiral Media for apps and games, AdVenture Media for ecommerce brands with an app, and NoGood for consumer apps at an early stage. Most other Google Ads agencies, including several excellent ones, have never published app work at all.
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