There is no fixed price for Google Ads. You set your own budget, and you pay Google when someone clicks your ad. What a click costs depends on your industry, your area and how many other businesses want the same searches. Most South African benchmarks put the average at roughly R9 to R15 a click. Some industries pay under R10, while legal and insurance terms can go well past R100.
The useful number is not what a click costs. It is what an enquiry costs, and whether that enquiry is worth it.
The two costs
Ad spend goes to Google. You choose a daily budget, you can change it any day, and with Search ads you only pay when someone clicks.
Management is what it costs to set up and run the account: keyword research, ad writing, targeting, conversion tracking, landing pages and ongoing tweaks. You either pay with your own time or pay someone to do it. Keep the two separate when you compare quotes. A “R5,000 a month” package means something very different if R3,000 of it is the agency’s fee.
What a click costs by industry
These are typical ranges from published South African benchmarks. Treat them as a starting point, not a quote:
- Legal services: often R50 to R150+ a click
- Insurance and financial services: often R60 to R130+
- Property and real estate: roughly R20 to R70
- Home services and trades (plumbers, electricians, pest control): roughly R15 to R60
- Retail and e-commerce: roughly R5 to R40
Why the spread? Clicks cost more when a customer is worth more and when more businesses bid for them. An attorney who wins a case or an insurer who signs a policy can afford a R120 click. A shop selling a R200 product cannot.
For a real number for your own business, open Google Ads’ free Keyword Planner and enter the exact searches your customers use, in your area. It shows a likely range for each one.
What sets your cost per click
Competition. The more advertisers bidding on a search in your area, the more each click costs.
Location. Johannesburg and Sandton are usually more competitive than smaller towns, and the price follows.
Quality. Google rewards ads that are relevant to the search and that lead to a useful page. A well-matched ad and landing page can pay less per click than a competitor who bids more but sends people to a vague homepage.
Targeting. Broad keywords and wide areas pull in clicks from people who were never going to buy. Tight targeting and negative keywords cut that waste.
Timing. Running ads only when you can answer the phone keeps you from paying for clicks you cannot convert.
How much budget to start with
Google has no minimum. The question is how much you need to learn something. A budget that buys fifteen clicks a month tells you almost nothing. You want enough clicks to see which searches, ads and areas turn into enquiries, and then you put more behind what works.
For many local service businesses that means a few thousand rand a month in ad spend to start. Competitive industries such as legal, finance and medical need more to compete at all. Expect the first few weeks to cost more per enquiry than later months. That is the account learning, and it is when you tighten targeting and cut what does not work.
Work it out backwards
The best way to set a budget is to start from what an enquiry is worth to you. Here is a simple example with round numbers:
- R5,000 a month in ad spend at an average of R15 a click buys about 330 clicks.
- If 5% of those people enquire, that is about 16 enquiries, or roughly R300 per enquiry.
- If one in four enquiries becomes a customer, each new customer cost about R1,250 in ad spend.
If a customer is worth R10,000 to you, that is a good deal. If they are worth R800, it is not, and the fix is a better landing page, tighter targeting or a different channel, not a bigger budget. Your own conversion rates will be different, which is why tracking them from day one matters.
What management usually costs
Agencies tend to charge in one of three ways:
- A flat monthly fee, the same each month regardless of spend
- A percentage of ad spend, commonly somewhere around 10% to 20%
- A once-off setup fee, sometimes on top of either of the above
Whichever model you choose, ask what the fee includes: conversion tracking, landing pages, how often the account is actually worked on, and what the monthly report shows. Make sure the Google Ads account is in your name, so your data stays with you if you ever change provider. Read more in how to choose a digital marketing agency.
Where budgets get wasted
- No conversion tracking, so nobody knows which clicks became enquiries
- Sending clicks to the homepage instead of a page built for that search (see lead generation)
- No negative keywords, so you pay for “jobs”, “free” and “DIY” searches
- Targeting the whole country when you serve a few suburbs
- Leaving Google’s default settings on, such as showing Search ads on the display network
Is it worth it?
Google Ads is the fastest way to reach people who are searching for what you sell right now, and you can switch it off any day. The trade-off is that the enquiries stop when the spend stops. Many businesses run ads for steady enquiries while SEO builds visibility that lasts. The full comparison is in SEO vs Google Ads, and the different campaign types are explained in how to advertise your business on Google.
How we price it
We scope Google Ads management per account instead of using a rate card. We look at your industry, your area and what a customer is worth to you, then recommend an ad budget and quote our fee separately. Ad spend is never hidden inside it, and you see spend, leads and cost per lead in a plain-language monthly report. See our pricing page for how quoting works, or tell us what you sell and where.