While there are many paid advertising channels, with more and more popping up, Google is still one of the most popular options, despite having been around for many years.
It’s really no surprise – Google has a massive user base, great algorithms, and a variety of ad options, making it a solid advertising option for most businesses. That being said, since Google is a paid advertising platform, you will need to be ready to invest some money in your ads.
And not only should you make sure that you spend enough on Google, but you also need to ensure that you’re spending enough to see the results you want. This post is going to help you with this so that you can find the perfect Google Ads budget for your business and create an efficient ad strategy.
The elephant in the room: what’s the minimum?
Let’s start with a simple question: what’s the minimum Google Ads budget you need? While the answer to this question is hard to determine, I have realised that a good estimate is an ad spend of at least £2,000 per month. This monthly budget allows you to have enough money to create multiple ad groups and campaigns and gather data quickly enough to make educated optimisations when it comes to your Google Ads campaigns.
If you want to learn more about the reasoning behind this, click here for a blog post dedicated to the minimum paid ads budget we strive for at my ads agency, Snowball Creations.
That being said, I do want to add a quick disclaimer that the £2,000 monthly budget is just a ballpark figure. There are countless other things that play a role in what your average daily budget will be, such as whether you want to specifically run an inexpensive ad, or you want to invest in an eye-catching, big, full-page ad.
The good news: you get to allocate your own budget
The good news about Google Ads is that you get to decide how much to spend, where to spend it, and how to spend it.
Since Google uses a pay-per-click, or PPC, system, you will pay for every time someone clicks on your ad. Therefore, your aim should be to get really good clicks for your ads; in other words, people who have a higher chance of wanting your product or service.
Pro tip: spend your budget wisely
You should also use whatever budget you have in the most effective way possible. Even if you have a big budget, you should try to make sure that you are targeting users whose searches overlap with what you have to offer. You can do this in a few ways:
1. Choose good keywords
You want your ads to be showing up for certain searches, which means you need to have specific keywords that you are targeting. The more conversions a keyword brings in, the more you should spend on it.
However, you also need to keep in mind that highly competitive keywords are going to cost you more in ad spend than a low-volume keyword with minimal searches. If you are struggling to find well-performing keywords, consider either using the Google Ads keyword planner or getting a professional Google Ads agency to do your ad management for you.
2. Aim for a higher quality score
While a bigger budget will always help your ads get more visibility than a smaller budget, it’s not just about the money. Google will also assign a quality score based on factors like ad relevance, click-through rate, and landing page experience. Optimising these areas could lead to a lower ad spend.
3. Think about your ad position
As mentioned, Google has an array of different options for where you can show your ads. Some of these include the Google Search Network, Google Display Network, and YouTube. The placement you choose will affect your price.
4. Target certain locations
More isn’t always better. If you show your ads to as many people as possible, you may think that you will get a better response, but that’s not always the case. For example, if you only sell products within the UK, having your ads shown worldwide is a waste of money.
5. Don't be stagnant
Finally, you’re not going to have the perfect Google Ads campaigns right off the bat. But that’s the point of running ads and doing A/B tests – you gather data, and this data helps you determine which ads perform best so that you can optimise those even further. This will help you figure out which ads are worth higher Google Ads fees.
Final words
While anyone can run ads, you need to have a substantial budget in place to make it worth your time and money, in my opinion. So yes, I do believe that there is a minimum you need to spend to run Google Ads.
But more importantly, I believe that you need to know how to spend your money to make the most of it. If you feel like your knowledge is lacking in this department and you need some help, fill in the form below to have my paid ads agency help you manage your Google Ads account.