“How much does Google Ads cost?” has two parts: media budget (money to Google) and work (you or an agency).
1. Media budget
You pay per click (CPC) or per conversion in automated strategies. CPC depends on industry, competition and ad/landing quality.
Practically: the budget should allow enough clicks and conversions to learn — typically a stable period of several weeks.
2. Management fee
Agencies charge a monthly retainer or a percentage of spend. The model should not create a bad incentive (spend more only so the fee rises). Ask what is included: setup, ads, optimization, reporting, landing recommendations.
3. Hidden costs
- Landing page fixes
- Tracking (GTM, GA4, call tracking)
- Your team’s time following up leads
- Creative and copy
How to calculate a minimum
- How many leads per month do you want?
- How much can you pay per qualified lead (vs margin)?
- Budget ≈ target leads × target CPL (plus learning buffer)
Related services and pages
More from the blog
- What does a digital marketing agency do? (clear and concrete)
- Digital marketing for small businesses: where to start
- How to choose a digital marketing agency (question checklist)
- SEO or Google Ads — what first for a small business?
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