There is no independent ranking of Taboola agencies, and most "best agency" lists are written by the agencies themselves. So instead of another list, here is the checklist we would use if we were hiring a Taboola agency for our own brand: the three kinds of agency you will meet, eight things you can verify before you sign, the questions to ask on the first call and the red flags that should end the conversation.
Key takeaways
- "Taboola agency" covers three different products: agency account rental, generalist paid media agencies and native specialists. Know which one you are buying.
- The strongest proof is a case study published by Taboola (Realize) that names the agency. Results published only on the agency's own site are weaker evidence.
- The ad account should be opened in your company's name, with media paid directly to Taboola.
- Native needs pre-sell pages (advertorials, listicles) and server-side tracking. An agency that only "manages bids" will struggle.
- Walk away from guaranteed ROAS, "safe page" cloaking and agency-owned accounts.
The three kinds of "Taboola agency"
If you search for a Taboola agency, you will find three very different services under the same name:
| Agency account rental | Generalist paid media agency | Native specialist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | Access to an "agency account", usually for a fee on top-ups | Taboola as one channel next to Google and Meta | A team that runs Taboola, Outbrain and MGID every day |
| Who runs the campaigns | You | The agency, often a junior buyer | The agency, ideally senior media buyers |
| Creatives and advertorials | Not included | Usually adapted from Meta or Google | Built for native: headlines, thumbnails, pre-sell pages |
| Who owns the account | The rental provider | Usually you | Usually you |
| Best for | Experienced in-house buyers who only need access | Brands with a small native test inside a bigger media plan | Brands that want native to become a real acquisition channel |
None of these is wrong. The problem starts when you pay for one and expect another.
8 things to verify before you sign
- Official partner status. Taboola, Outbrain and MGID run partner programs. A partner can open your account with a dedicated platform account manager and escalate approvals. Ask how long they have been a partner and who their contact at Taboola is.
- Case studies published by the platform. Taboola publishes case studies and interviews on its Realize blog that name the agency. That is the closest thing to third-party proof in this market. Results on the agency's own site are fine, but ask for the period, the spend and how ROAS was measured.
- Account ownership. The account should be in your company's name, with your billing, and you should keep it, its data and its pixel history if you part ways.
- A transparent fee model. Common models are a setup fee plus a monthly retainer and/or a percentage of ad spend. Ask directly whether any margin is added on top of your media. You should always see what goes to media and what goes to management. See how our fees work as an example.
- Who actually runs your account. Ask for the name of the person who will log in every day and how many accounts they manage.
- Creative and pre-sell capability. On native, people click from a news site, so most DTC funnels need a pre-sell page (an advertorial or a listicle) between the ad and the product page. Ask to see examples, and how many new headlines and thumbnails they test per week.
- Tracking. Pixel plus server-to-server conversions, purchase and intermediate events, and a reconciliation with your shop or attribution tool. Reports should talk about CPA and ROAS, not CTR.
- Compliance without cloaking. Ask how they handle ad and landing page rejections. The right answer is a compliance review before submission, not a "safe page" shown to the reviewer.
Questions to ask on the first call
- Are you an official Taboola partner, and can you introduce us to the account manager?
- Which Taboola case studies or Realize articles name your agency?
- Will the account be opened in our company's name?
- How do you charge, and do you add anything on top of the media spend?
- Who will run our campaigns day to day?
- Who writes the advertorials and the ads, and how often do you test new ones?
- How do you set up tracking, and how do you reconcile it with our shop data?
- What budget and timeline do you need for a fair test in our market?
- How do you structure campaigns by device and placement?
- What happens to the account and the assets if we stop working together?
Red flags
- Guaranteed ROAS or CPA before anyone has looked at your funnel.
- "Safe pages" or cloaking to get past platform review. It gets accounts banned, and the ban hits your brand.
- An account you don't own, or media you can't see in your own dashboard.
- No creative plan. Native without new headlines, thumbnails and pre-sell pages every week stalls fast.
- Hidden media markup or a fee that isn't written down.
- Long lock-in contracts for a channel you haven't tested yet.
What a realistic first test looks like
Setup (account, tracking, compliance, first advertorial and ads) usually takes about two weeks, partly because the platform reviews accounts and ads. After launch, expect a few weeks of testing before judging a channel. In our own accounts, roughly 0.3% to 1.2% of clicks convert into a purchase on a DTC funnel, and the differences between devices and browsers are large, so a good agency splits campaigns by device from day one. See our Taboola benchmarks for the full numbers, and use the native ads budget calculator to size the test budget.
Where Digital Brothers fits
We are a native specialist: an official partner of Taboola, Outbrain and MGID, run by two founders who manage every account themselves. Taboola has featured our work on its Realize blog (performance advertising, motion ads, cookieless audiences). The account stays in your name, creatives and advertorials are included, and there is no margin on your media. Use the checklist above on us too: book a free strategy call.
Frequently asked questions
What does a Taboola agency do?
A full-service Taboola agency opens and sets up the ad account, installs tracking, writes the pre-sell pages and ads, launches the campaigns and optimizes them every day: bids, budgets, publishers, devices and creatives. Some agencies only rent out account access, which is a different service.
How much does a Taboola agency cost?
Most charge a one-time setup fee and then a monthly fee: a fixed retainer, a percentage of ad spend, or both. The media itself is paid to Taboola. Ask whether any margin is added on top of the media, and get the fee structure in writing.
Do I need an agency to run Taboola ads?
No. Anyone can open a Taboola account and run campaigns. An agency is worth it when you don't have someone in-house who already knows native creatives, pre-sell pages, tracking and platform policies, because those are where most first tests fail.
Should I use an agency account or my own account?
For a brand that plans to stay on native, your own account is usually better: you keep the data, the pixel history and the account manager. Rented agency accounts make sense mainly for buyers who only need access and run everything themselves.
How long does it take to see results on Taboola?
Setup takes about two weeks, then plan for several weeks of testing headlines, thumbnails, pre-sell pages and device splits before deciding whether to scale.
Roberto Dell'Ariccia
Co-founder, Strategy & Media Buying
Roberto Dell'Ariccia is co-founder of Digital Brothers. He leads strategy and media buying and helps DTC brands scale beyond Meta with native ads on Taboola, Outbrain and MGID.
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