How Much Do Google Ads Cost?

You shouldn’t be shocked to learn that most small businesses across Canada use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, particularly Google Ads.

The benefits of using this advertising stream are well known (we’ll discuss them more below if you need a refresher). Yet, despite the advantages, there is one question that plagues business owners:

“How much does Google Ad cost?”

Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut answer to this question. As you’ll see with our guide below, there are a few factors that might make it difficult to determine a final cost.

Your Guide to the Cost of Google Ads

What are the Benefits of Google Ads?

We did mention above that we’ll be providing you with a benefits refresher. If you know it well, then you can skip it (although you might miss out on some juicy information!). Here are some of the key advantages of Google Ads for small, medium and large businesses:

• Control how much you spend on ads
• Maximize any budget you have
• Manage and review the success of your ads
• Make instant improvements or changes to your ads
• Reach a wider audience
• Get instant sales and results
• Boost brand awareness and enhance your SEO rankings

What Impacts the Cost of Google Ads?

Three key factors impact how much you’ll spend on Google Adwords. Let’s take a look at them below:

Your Industry – Competitive and mainstream industries might result in you paying more for ads to stay competitive and reach your audience. We’re referring to the likes of lawyers, accounting, real estate, marketing and insurance. Why does this happen?

As the keywords used are super competitive, you need to spend a lot of money to appear in search results. This, in turn, creates a chain effect that drives up cost-per-click prices.

Depending on what industry you are in and how difficult it is to compete, how much you invest in Google Ads will be greatly affected.

Current Trends – Customer behaviours are always changing, impacting how you use and spend on Google Ads.

For example, the COVID-19 pandemic caused some industries to prosper (the healthcare industry mainly) and some to suffer (arts and entertainment). What happens is that there is an increase in demand for some products and services and less for others.

COVID aside, behaviour changes can occur depending on social, economic, newsworthy and seasonal factors. Depending on what industry you’re in, your ads will be affected.

Agency Fees & Costs – If you wish to manage your ads yourself, you’ll save on the fees that come with hiring a professional. However, you might not get the results you want due to a lack of experience, time and resources.

If you hire a digital marketing agency to handle your Google Ads, you’ll have to pay them a fee for their services. They usually offer a flat monthly fee for the service, but in some situations might be results-based. In many cases, you can get a package deal that includes SEO, social media marketing and website design. If it’s worth it, take it!

Average Cost of Google Ads

As you can read above, these factors influence how much you spend on Google Ads. However, some ballpark figures can help you, depending on your industry, product, and service.

• WebFX states that “most companies spend $9000 to $10,000 per month on Google Ads.”
• WordStream offers similar prices saying that “small businesses spend around $1,000 per month whereas others, such as PPC management agencies, spend upward of $30,000 per month” with an “average of $9,813 per month spent on PPC advertising.”
• Brandtastic says that “the average cost-per-click across all industries for Google Ads on the search network is $2.69.”
• White Shark Media also mentions it “[depends] on the client, industry, objectives, and locations targeted, for starting budgets range from $1,000 to $10,000 per month.”

If you don’t know how much you have to, or need to, spend on your Google Ads, the best course of action is to speak to a digital marketing agency that specializes in PPC marketing. Only they can maximize your budget and give you the results you want with your Google Ads campaign!