Google Ads service pricing has two separate parts: SEONER's $200/month management fee (campaign setup, management, optimization) and your own ad budget, paid directly to Google or Meta. The second part is your call — typically anywhere from $100/month to several thousand, depending on scope.
Why the cost has two parts
Many clients assume the $200 covers ad spend too. It doesn't — that fee pays for the team's work: audience research, campaign setup, daily optimization, reporting. Your ad budget itself flows directly to Google or Meta — it's the platform's own real-time auction price for showing your ads, and it's never bundled into our management fee.
What affects your ad budget?
Competition in your niche (CPC)
Cost per click varies dramatically by industry. Legal or financial services often see CPC in the $1-3 range (high competition), while everyday consumer products can sit closer to $0.10-0.50. Your actual numbers depend heavily on your specific niche and target market — a quick campaign test is the only reliable way to know your real CPC.
Your campaign goal
If the goal is brand awareness, budget mostly buys impressions and can go further. If the goal is direct leads or sales (conversions), you typically need a larger budget and more patience, since the algorithm needs a "learning phase" to find the right audience before performance stabilizes.
Campaign type
Google Search Ads is usually the most expensive channel (highest-intent audience), Display and Shopping Ads tend to cost less, and social ads vary with audience size. Splitting a small budget across several channels at once usually underperforms — it's often better to concentrate early spend on the highest-intent channel (usually Search).
How to calculate your budget: a practical formula
The simplest version: Budget = Target clicks × average CPC. If your average CPC is $0.30 and you want at least 500 clicks a month, you need roughly $150/month. If your goal is a specific number of leads, add conversion rate to the formula: Budget = (Target leads ÷ conversion rate) × CPC. For example, if you need 10 leads and your conversion rate is 5%, that's 200 clicks, so at $0.30 CPC you'd need roughly $60 — though in practice you should budget extra for the initial testing period.
Recommended budget by business type
| Business type | Recommended monthly ad budget | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Small local business (cafe, salon) | $100–250 | Narrow local audience, low-to-mid CPC |
| Mid-size service business | $250–600 | Broader audience, multiple campaign types |
| Active online store (e-commerce) | $500–1,500+ | Shopping Ads, constant inventory turnover, high competition |
The common mistake: too small a budget
If your budget is too thin (say, $30-50/month), the algorithm can't gather enough data to exit its learning phase — which artificially inflates your CPC and leaves you with almost no visible results. In practice, putting more budget behind one channel (say, Search Ads only) tends to outperform spreading a small budget thin across many.
Comparing this to SEO pricing
SEO service pricing is set as a flat monthly fee and doesn't depend on ad spend at all, since there's no pay-per-click involved. Google Ads works on a two-layer cost model instead: management fee plus platform spend. For guidance on when to use each — or both together — see SEO vs Google Ads.
Bottom line
Planning your Google Ads budget means tracking two separate numbers: SEONER's $200/month management fee, and your own ad spend, which depends on your niche, goal, and campaign type. The most reliable way to get an exact recommendation is a free consultation through the Google Ads service page, where we size a budget to your specific niche and goals.