“How much does Google Ads cost?” has no single answer. For your business it does have a calculable one. Most of the confusion comes from mixing up four different costs.
The four costs
- Ad spend. What you pay Google. It is set by an auction. You bid, Google also scores how relevant your ad and page are, and the click price comes out of that. Competitive terms in your city cost more. A clear ad and a matching page can cost less for the same position.
- Management fee. What the agency charges to build and run the account.
- Tools and build. A landing page, call and form tracking, and a CRM or sheet to record outcomes.
- Your team’s time. Someone must answer leads quickly. If that is slow, the other three are wasted.
How management fees work
- Flat monthly fee. Predictable. Compare what each tier includes: campaigns, reporting, landing page changes.
- Percentage of ad spend. Common, but the agency earns more when you spend more. Ask how they decide when to stop raising spend.
- Setup fee plus monthly fee. Fair if setup includes tracking and a page. Ask what is delivered.
Whatever the model, the ad account should be in your name, and you should be able to leave and take it with you.
Work out what you can afford per enquiry
Do this before you ask anyone for a quote. The numbers below are an example only. Replace them with yours.
- Profit on one customer: ₹20,000.
- Of 100 enquiries, 40 are genuine (a 40% qualified rate).
- Of those 40 qualified leads, 8 buy (a 20% close rate).
So 100 enquiries produce 8 customers. That is 12.5 enquiries per customer. At ₹20,000 profit per customer, you break even at about ₹1,600 per enquiry. Pay less and the campaign makes money. Pay more and it loses.
That number is yours, not the agency’s, and it moves when your close rate improves. Next, ask whether Google can deliver enquiries at that price in your city. A good agency can tell you after looking at the keywords. A poor one promises a fixed number before looking.
How big should the budget be?
Work backwards from customers: target customers per month × cost per customer. A budget that is too small cannot buy enough clicks to learn anything, so you pay for a test that never ends. If your budget is small, narrow the scope: fewer keywords, one city, one service.
Red flags in a quote
- A guaranteed number of leads before any audit.
- The agency owns the ad account.
- No mention of tracking or landing pages.
- A report with clicks and impressions but no enquiries.
Our Google Ads tiers list what each includes. Or book a call, bring your numbers, and we will tell you whether the maths works before you spend.