Google Ads (previously known as Google Adwords) is an online advertising platform where you pay to advertise your content (e.g., service offerings, products, and videos) to users within the Google Ads Network.

Google Ads can be highly profitable—or they can drain your wallet. Understanding Google Ads costs can help you maximize your ad spend and turn your investment into revenue.

This 2024 cost-per-click (CPC) analysis will help you identify critical factors influencing campaign costs and show you how to allocate your budget more effectively to improve your return on investment (ROI).

What Factors Influence the Cost of Google Ads?

Considering the following factors is crucial as they significantly contribute to Google Ads pricing.

1. Industry

Your industry directly impacts your Google Ads costs.

Overall, the average CPC in Google Ads across industries is $2.69 for Search and $0.63 for Display.

Competitive industries such as finance, insurance, and fitness have a high average cost per click compared to other sectors. You'd need a large budget to win top ad positions and reach more users in these highly competitive verticals.

Image Source: Wordstream

Cost per click (CPC) is the amount an advertiser pays each time someone clicks on their ad, and it determines the cost of acquiring potential customers through Google Ads.

In sectors like real estate or law, securing a single client can bring in significant revenue. Making a higher CPC reasonable to attract that customer.

B2B companies generally have lower Google Ads costs than B2C because they target a more specific audience of professionals and businesses, leading to less competition.

Understanding how your industry affects your ads costs is essential when planning your campaigns so you can set realistic cost expectations.

2. Ad Type & Campaign Strategy

Google advertising costs vary based on ad types and strategies.

Here are five types of Google Ads:

1. Google Search ads: Shown on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) when users search for specific keywords. They connect you with potential customers who are in the market for what you offer.
2. Google Display ads: Visual banners shown across the Google Display Network (GDN) on various websites and apps. They target users based on interests, demographics, or the content they view—not the keywords they search for.
3. Google Shopping ads: Provide a visual display of products in the search results with details such as prices and user ratings. These ads offer users a quick glance at your product features. Shopping ads can appear in different positions on SERPs. While they often appear at the very top of the page, they can also be found on the right side.
4. Google video ads: Video ads on YouTube that engage users via visuals, sound, and storytelling before, during, or after a selected video.
5. Google App ads: Designed to promote mobile apps. After providing elements like text and images, Google automatically generates ad formats to help you promote the mobile app. These ads can appear on Google Ads network including YouTube, Google Display Network, and its search engine.

Certain ad types, such as search and display ads, may require higher bids because they are more competitive and get more engagement.

Your campaign strategy—whether focused on maximizing clicks, conversions, or impressions—also dictates costs. For instance, strategies aiming for high visibility during peak hours may result in higher costs.

Balance between achieving campaign objectives and managing spend to adopt a cost-effective approach. We discuss this in more detail later.

3. Bidding Strategy

How much do Google Ads cost when considering your bidding strategy?

Your bidding strategy influences your Google Ads costs by determining how much you pay for user interactions such as clicks or conversions.

Bidding in Google Ads involves setting a maximum amount you’re willing to pay for a click or other interactions like watching a video ad to completion. When you bid, you're entered into an ad auction to compete with other advertisers.

Bidding strategies fall under two major categories:

1. Manual bidding: Enables you to set the maximum cost you’ll pay for a click on each ad and keyword. This strategy is ideal if you already know which keywords yield more clicks and conversions. You would manually allocate a higher budget to those keywords.
2. Automated bidding: Allows Google’s algorithms to set bids for you based on the likelihood of your ad generating a click or conversion. Within automated bidding, Smart Bidding uses machine learning to optimize for conversions or conversion values via various strategies that better align bidding with your campaign goals.

Expanding on the types of automated bidding strategies, you have:

• Maximize clicks: Ideal for driving traffic, this strategy aims to get as many clicks as possible within your budget. It’s a cost-effective way to increase site visits but doesn’t guarantee quality traffic.
• Target impression share: Bids are set specifically to push your ad to the top of the page. Costs can vary widely depending on your target impression share and competition.
• Target cost-per-action (tCPA): Aims to maximize conversions within your specified budget, for example, keeping costs at or below $20 per conversion. It adjusts bids to ensure more conversions without exceeding your cost limit.
• Target return on ad spend (tROAS): Focuses on more conversion value or revenue based on the ROAS you set. Implementing this strategy effectively requires a history of at least 15 conversions in the past 30 days.
• Maximize conversion: This strategy is part of Smart Bidding and can be tailored with a tCPA or tROAS to meet specific goals. It focuses on getting as many conversions as possible while spending your budget.
• Maximize conversion value: Similar to “maximize conversions,” this strategy focuses on getting the most conversion value for your campaign within your budget. Also adjustable with a tROAS for more precise goal targeting.

Another type of bidding strategy is enhanced CPC (ECPC), which merges manual and Smart Bidding. While you set your manual bid, ECPC adjusts it when the situation is more likely to lead to a conversion. It uses various signals like browser type and time of day to get the best value for conversion.

4. Schedule

Online traffic changes throughout the day or week, influencing the cost of ads.

Ad scheduling, also known as dayparting, involves specifying the hours or days to show your ads to potential customers.

This practice enables you to allocate more of your budget to peak times when potential customers are more active, ensuring better visibility and more clicks.

Let’s say you run an overnight emergency vet clinic.

Using dayparting to target keywords like “vet near me open now” during late hours can ensure pet owners experiencing late-night emergencies see your ads. This strategy will cost you less than running an ad during peak daytime hours when more vet clinics are advertising.

5. Device Targeting

Device targeting means specifying the devices (mobiles, tablets, or computers) where you want your ads to appear.

How does device targeting influence your Google Ad cost?

It has to do with the number of users across devices.

The more users, the lower the CPC because advertisers can reach a larger audience, reducing competition. Targeting desktop users might result in a higher CPC because of the smaller number of users.

In 2023, mobile devices drove 53.66% of global website traffic compared to 46.34% from desktops.

We recommend analyzing your audience’s device usage patterns on your website before setting your device targeting strategy in your Google Ads campaign. This step will ensure you spend your budget to reach your audience only on the devices they regularly use.

6. Trends

Several trends, including increased competition and shifting user engagement, drive up Google Ads costs across various industries.

• Click-Through Rate (CTR) increase: Most industries experienced an increase in CTR, suggesting that ads engage audiences more effectively. However, this doesn't necessarily mean lower costs. Higher engagement can lead to more competition among advertisers for the most effective keywords and ad placements, potentially driving up the cost per click (CPC).
• Rising Cost Per Click (CPC): For many industries, CPC increased. This rise in cost can be attributed to more advertisers bidding on the same keywords, reflecting a more competitive advertising environment. You might need to increase their budgets with higher CPC to maintain visibility and effectiveness.
• Conversion Rate (CVR) decline: Despite higher engagement rates, most industries saw a decrease in conversion rates. This means that while more users click on ads, a smaller percentage take the desired action (like purchasing the product or service). This decline in conversions can lead to higher costs per conversion, requiring advertisers to optimize their ads and landing pages for better performance.
• Higher Cost Per Lead (CPL): CPL has risen in nearly all industries, indicating that acquiring leads is becoming more expensive. Refining your targeting strategies and improving ad relevance can help you lower CPL.

Stay updated with the latest changes, and be prepared to adjust your strategies to focus on optimizing ad content and targeting to balance higher costs.

7. Campaign Management Fees

Campaign management fees are the charges for hiring a digital marketing agency or a professional to manage your Google Ads account. If you choose not to run the campaigns yourself.

Such charges usually cover tasks like:

• Keyword research
• Campaign setup
• Optimization
• Reporting

How much are campaign management fees? The fee structure may vary. 

Some professionals charge a flat fee, others charge a percentage of the ad spend, and some might offer a hybrid fee structure.

For example:

Suppose an agency charges 15% of the ad spend as a management fee, and your advertising budget is $1000. In that case, you’ll pay an extra $150 for management services.

It might seem counterintuitive to spend more money above your marketing spend, but working with skilled professionals can help you achieve better campaign performance and ROI.

Here’s why:

• Expertise: Professionals know the ropes and can help you avoid costly errors and set up successful campaigns from the start
• Efficiency: They handle the ongoing campaign tasks, freeing you to focus on your business
• Trends: They keep your strategy fresh by staying updated with the latest digital marketing trends
• Analytics: Pros dig into data, providing insights to refine your marketing and boost performance

How Google Determines Your CPC

Google calculates your CPC based on several key factors:

Auction-Time Ad Quality

This factor includes the expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and the landing page experience.

• The expected CTR is a prediction of how likely users are to click on your ad
• Ad relevance examines how closely your ad and keywords align with the user’s search intent-
• The landing page experience assesses whether the webpage users land on after clicking your ad is relevant, useful, and user-friendly

High-quality ads and landing pages can lead to improved ad performance and potentially lower CPCs.

Max CPC Bid

The maximum CPC bid is the highest amount you’re willing to pay for a click on your ad. This bid plays a critical role in the ad auction process, influencing how often your ad is shown and its position on the SERP.

A higher max CPC bid can increase your ad's visibility but may also lead to higher advertising costs. It’s important to balance your bid with the expected return on investment from each click.

Ad Rank Thresholds

Ad Rank thresholds are the minimum requirements that your ad must meet to appear in a particular position on the search results page. These thresholds ensure that only high-quality, relevant ads are displayed to users.

Google assesses your Ad Rank by factors such as your max bid, quality score, and the competitiveness of the keyword. Meeting or exceeding these thresholds is essential for your ad to be eligible for display.

Competitiveness of Auction

In more competitive auctions, where multiple advertisers are bidding for the same keywords, the potential CPC tends to be higher. The competitiveness of an auction is influenced by the demand for certain keywords and the number of advertisers willing to pay for visibility.

In such scenarios, having a well-thought-out bidding strategy and high ad quality can be crucial to succeed without overspending.

Search Context

The context of the user's search includes factors like the user's location, the device used for the search, the time of day, and the nature of the search query. Ads that are more relevant to the specific context of the user’s search are likely to perform better. Tailoring your ads and keywords to match the search context can increase their effectiveness and efficiency.

Impact of Assets and Ad Formats

The relevance and effectiveness of your ad formats and extensions, such as sitelinks, callouts, or structured snippets, play a significant role in determining your ad's performance. These assets can enhance your ad's visibility and appeal, leading to higher engagement rates.

Here’s a high-level overview of how Google determines CPC:

Say five advertisers are competing for four ad positions above search results. Their Ad Ranks are 80, 50, 30, 10, and 5.

If the minimum Ad Rank to show above search results is 40, only the first two advertisers exceed this and will be shown. The advertiser with an Ad Rank of 80 pays just enough to beat the Ad Rank of 50. The advertiser with an Ad Rank of 50 pays enough to beat the minimum of 40.

For positions below search results with a minimum Ad Rank of 8, advertisers with Ad Ranks of 30 and 10 will appear. The one with Ad Rank 30 pays just enough to outbid the Ad Rank 10, and so on.

How to Budget for Google Ads Cost

When you create a campaign in Google Ads, you set an average daily budget. This is what you’re comfortable spending for each campaign.

Google recommends starting with a spend of $10-$50/day.

But first, let’s get into some key terms:

• Ad budget: Your average daily budget acts as a guiding figure for your spending. It's not a strict cap but a baseline to inform Google Ads how much you're willing to spend on average each day.
• Ad bid: This is the amount you're willing to pay for a click on your ad. You can set bids for each ad group or keyword. Google Ads uses your bid in combination with other factors (like ad quality) to determine ad placement.
• Ad spending: Actual spending can vary day by day. Google may spend more on days when traffic is high and your ad is performing well, potentially going up to twice your average daily budget. On quieter days, spending might be less.
• Ad cost: This refers to the total amount you're billed for the ads. Google ensures that while daily spending can vary, you won't be charged more than double your daily budget on any given day.

Google Ads allows you to adjust your daily budget as you learn what works best for your campaigns.

Google optimizes spending with your average daily budget as a guide for the days when your ads are likely to perform best.

This means on days with higher search traffic or potential for better ad engagement, Google may allocate more of your budget to capitalize on these opportunities. However, on days with lower traffic or engagement, spending is adjusted accordingly.

This approach aims to maximize your ROI by strategically using your budget where it has the greatest potential impact.

There are two limits:

• Daily spending limit: The maximum amount Google Ads can bill you for a campaign in a day. It’s usually 2x your average daily budget. This limit exists to accommodate the variability of web traffic and ad performance to maximize results.
• Monthly spending limit: The maximum amount Google Ads can bill you for a campaign over a month. It’s your average daily budget multiplied by the average number of days in a month (30.4 days).

Image Source: Google

To explain the daily spending limit, let’s say you start a new campaign with an average daily budget of $10. On days with a high number of clicks, you might spend $20. On slower days, you may only spend $8.

Set Your Average Daily Budget

While setting up your campaign, Google recommends a budget. You can accept that budget or add your own.

It’s the last step before reviewing your campaign details and publishing.

If you want to change the budget after you create the campaign, click on the “Settings” icon beside the campaign name under your “Campaign” table.

Click on “Budget” to edit your current budget in the input box and click “Save.”

Setting Bids for Google Ads

Determine your maximum CPC bid.

Bid more, and you’ll likely see more visitors—but at a higher cost. Bid less, and you’ll save money, but you may attract fewer visitors to your website.

Think of Google Ads not just as a highest-bid-wins auction but as a balancing act between what you pay and the quality of your ads. You could win ad placements against competitors with higher bids because your ads are more relevant to the audience.

Usually, you end up paying less than your max CPC bid.

Google doesn't always charge you your max CPC bid. It figures out the smallest amount you need to pay to keep your ad's position. Your actual CPC is the amount you end up paying.

Determining the right bid boils down to how valuable a click is to you.

If you’re unsure where to start, Google suggests a $1 max CPC bid.

But the golden rule?

Set a max bid below the point where you no longer profit.

For example:

You run a small bakery. 

Each time someone orders a batch of cookies, you make $15 in profit. After tracking your website's traffic and sales, you notice that for every 20 people who click on your ad, one person places an order.

If you set your max CPC bid at $0.75, after 20 clicks, you'd spend $15 on ads—the exact amount you earn from selling a batch of cookies. 

So to make money, you need to bid less than $0.75 per click. 

Setting your max CPC bid lower, at $0.50 or $0.60, gives you room to profit from those cookie sales rather than just breaking even.

You can set your bid while setting up your Google Ads campaign.

After selecting your campaign objectives, type, and ways you’d like to reach your goal, you’ll see the “Bidding” page.

This page allows you to choose the metric you’d like to focus on for your campaign and see bidding options to help you optimize for it.

Check the box beside “Set a maximum cost per click bid limit” and type your max CPC bid into the text box. Click the “Next” button to finish creating your campaign.

You can check the “Bid for new customers only” box to ensure that only new customers see your ads.

You can also apply the Maximize conversions bid strategy to set bids that help you get the most conversions for your campaign with Google AI. 

Other bid strategies will be available for you to choose after you create your campaign.

To change your max CPC bid limit after creating your campaign, go to your campaign settings and click “Bidding.” Then, edit your current max CPC bid in the input box and click “Save.”

You can click “Change bid strategy” to choose an alternative bid strategy for your campaign.

How to Manage & Optimize Your Google Ads Budget

Create a Daily Budget

A daily budget helps you control your Google Ads cost and avoid overspending.

If you have a monthly minimum budget, determine your daily budget by dividing it by 30.4—the average number of days in a month.

Next, go to “Campaigns” on the left-hand sidebar of your Google Ads account page.

Navigate to a campaign to set its budget. Then, click the pencil icon under the “Budget” column.

Enter your preferred average daily budget and click “Save.”

Increase Your Quality Score

Quality Score (QS) is a metric that Google uses to gauge the quality of your ads. Think of QS as a hint from Google about how relevant and useful your ad is to its viewers.

Your ad Quality Score doesn’t directly affect your Google Ads budget, but it can affect your CPC. You can gain insights from it to understand how to spend more efficiently and manage your Google Ads cost.

Google rates your ad quality on a scale from 1 to 10, with a higher score indicating that your ad is more relevant to users than competitors’ ads. The ratings have three categories based on their grades:

• Below average
• Average
• Above average

Knowing how Google Ads calculates QS will help you identify how to increase it:

1. Expected CTR: Measures if people are likely to click on your ad when they see it
2. Ad relevance: Checks whether your ad answers the question a user asks via their search
3. Landing page experience: Assesses if the page you send users to after they click your ad is helpful and meets their expectations

QS isn’t a key performance indicator, meaning it’s not the main thing to focus on to measure your ad’s success. Simply use it as a guide to make your ads better.

So why does QS matter?

• It can influence ad performance: QS reflects the ad components that affect visibility and performance
• It affects your ad rank: A better QS can lead to a higher Ad Rank, which means better positioning in search results
• It can lower your CPC: With a higher QS, Google may reward you with a lower CPC since your ad is deemed more relevant and helpful to users

Consider QS as feedback that reveals how well your ads align with your target audience’s search intent.

Use the QS to improve your ad performance and optimize your Google Ads budget.

You can increase your quality score by optimizing your landing page.

A landing page is the webpage your ad directs users to, which motivates them to take a desired action.

The desired action can be buying a product or service, registering for a course, or subscribing to your newsletter. It depends on the ad’s purpose.

For example, say you put up an ad promoting an upcoming webinar. The landing page should contain a registration form for the webinar.

Key factors to focus on when optimizing your landing page include the following:

• Relevance: Ensure your landing page matches your ad and keyword. When users click on your ad and see what they expect, they are less likely to leave without taking the desired action.
• Page load speed: Users appreciate and have a better experience with webpages that load quickly. Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to analyze your page load speed on mobile and desktop devices.
• Mobile-friendliness: Users are more likely to visit your landing page via mobile than desktop. Ensuring your webpage is easy to use and navigate makes it simple for users to perform the action you want them to take.

Further reading: Check out Google’s official guide on optimizing your landing pages to drive conversions.

You can use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to find relevant keywords for your ads and landing page, which may increase your QS.

Launch the tool and enter a broad search term related to your business into the search box. Select your target location and hit the “Search” button.

You’ll see a report showing a list of keywords related to your broad search term. The “CPC” and “Competitive Density” (the level of competition between advertisers bidding for the keyword) columns show how competitive each keyword is.

It’s better to start with low-competition keywords. This approach can be more cost-effective and give your ads a better chance of appearing in relevant search results.

Further reading: Check out our guide on how to find cheap keywords for your Google Ads campaigns.

You can also filter the keywords based on how well they match your search term.

The keyword match types look like this:

• All Keywords: Every possible keyword result
• Broad Match: Any variation of your broad search term in any order
• Phrase Match: The exact search term in various orders
• Exact Match: The same search term in the exact order
• Related: A list of keywords similar to your broad search term

Select the “Exact Match” or “Phrase Match” filters to find keywords that will make Google more likely to display your ads for the most relevant search queries and increase your QS.

Use Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are words or phrases you tell Google Ads not to use when matching your ads. Using negative keywords enables you to optimize your Google Ads budget by ensuring your ads don’t appear in searches irrelevant to your business.

So if someone searches using your negative keywords, your ad won’t appear. 

This approach prevents you from displaying your ads to users disinterested in your products or services, saving you money on irrelevant clicks.

For example, let’s say you sell custom-built computer parts, but you don't service the pre-owned or low-budget market. 

Adding “budget” or “refurbished” as negative keywords can prevent your ads from appearing in searches of users looking for pre-owned or low-cost alternatives, ensuring you target the right audience.

You can identify underperforming keywords from your Google Ads account.

From the left-hand navigation bar, click on “Search keywords” under “Campaigns” > “Audiences, keywords, and content.”

Click on the “Columns” icon on the top right of the Keywords table. Then, select “Modify columns.”

Scroll down and click on “Quality Score.” Tick the boxes for the components you want to add to the table. Then, click the” Apply” button.

From the report, identify the keywords that have high impressions but low CTRs or QSs.

Add these terms as negative keywords in your Google Ads account.

Click on the “Negative search keywords” tab. Then, click the “+” sign or “+ Negative keywords.”

You can add these negative keywords to an ad group or campaign or use an existing negative keyword list.

After entering your negative keywords, tick the box next to “Save to new or existing list.” Then, click “Save.”

Follow these best practices to get the most out of using negative keywords:

• Avoid broad keywords and get more specific by using singular and plural search terms (e.g., use “shoe” and “shoes” instead of just “footwear”)
• Use different match types to have more control over which search queries trigger your ads
• Continuously monitor and update your negative keywords list to ensure they are still relevant and align with your campaign goals

Our PPC research guide provides steps to help you figure out which keywords to keep and create a high-performing keyword strategy, including how to use our Advertising Research tool to analyze competitor keywords.

Use Ad Extensions

Ad extensions, now known as ad assets, are pieces of information you can add to your ads to enhance them and make them appealing to potential customers. Use as many as possible. The more real estate your ad has, the higher the CTR. And in turn, the lower the CPC.

Ad extensions boost your standard search ads by offering extra information such as additional links to your website, callouts for special offers, or even your business location.

Consider them as enhancements that help your ads stand out in the SERPs.

Examples of popular ad extensions include:

• Sitelink assets: Directs users to specific pages of your website like product categories or contact forms
• Callout assets: Spotlights offers like “new arrivals” or “free shipping”
• Promotion assets: Showcases ongoing promotions or discounts to attract deal seekers

Here’s what a sitelink asset looks like:

To add an ad extension from your Google Ads account:

Click on “Assets” under “Campaigns” > “Assets” from the left-hand navigation bar. Then, click the “+” sign above the Assets table.

Select the ad asset you want to add. Here, you’ll add a sitelink asset.

Fill in the information you want to showcase on your sitelink asset, scroll down, and hit the “Save” button.

You can make a new ad asset or use an existing one. You can also add it to an account, a campaign, or an ad group.

Important: Google determines when and which extensions are shown with your ads. Regularly check which extensions perform well and adjust accordingly by pausing less effective ones.

Test Different Days and Times to Run Ads

Determining which days and times yield the best ad performance helps you allocate your budget more effectively by focusing on when your ads will most likely convert.

This approach is crucial in managing Google Ads cost, as it aligns spending with the most impactful periods.

Your ideal audience might be online during specific days and times, which are your peak hours for running ads.

Avoiding non-peak hours prevents you from wasting money on showing ads when your customers are less likely to see them. Scheduling your ads during peak hours positions your ads for higher engagement with your target audience.

You can identify the best time to post ads by reviewing your ad performance and campaign history across different days and times.

After discovering the times that perform the best, target them by creating an ad schedule.

Click on “Ad schedule” under “Campaigns” > “Audiences, keywords, and content.”

Click the “Pencil” icon at the top left of the schedule table to create your ad schedule.

Edit the schedule according to your preferences. Click “Add” to add more times and days. Then, click “Save” to save your changes.

You can create up to six ad schedules per day for each campaign in your account.

If you run campaigns across multiple time zones, adjust your ad schedule to cover those locations.

Monitor your results and change your ad schedules accordingly to get the best results.

Use Geotargeting

Focusing on your potential customers’ geographic locations enhances ad relevance. It optimizes your Google Ads budget because you're not wasting money showing ads to people in areas where your business doesn’t operate.

Geotargeting in Google Ads involves selecting specific locations where you want Google to show (or not show) your ads. You can target areas by country, city, region, or even radius around a location to significantly optimize Google Ads cost.

For example, suppose you run a chain of coffee shops in California. 

Geotargeting ensures your ads appear to users searching for coffee shops within the state. This tactic increases the likelihood that the ad leads to a store visit and prevents you from spending on ads shown to users in locations where your service is unavailable.

This location-targeting approach improves the efficiency of your ad spend. It can enhance campaign performance by attracting more local customers actively seeking your product.

Click on “Locations” under “Campaigns” > “Audiences, keywords, and content” from the left-hand navigation bar.

Click the “Pencil” icon to specify your target regions.

Enter your preferred location or radius and hit the “Save” button.

You can switch to the “Location exclusions” to add locations where you don't want your ad to appear.

Tips for better geotargeting:

• Use tools like Google Trends. To see current trends and understand the popularity of specific search terms in different locations, which can further inform your geotargeting strategy​
• Avoid excluding too many locations. Instead, focus on excluding specific areas that may not be relevant or could pose issues for your ad campaign, like delivery restrictions or extreme shipping costs

Double Down on What Works

Shifting your budget to focus on your best-performing keywords helps you spend more on what works, boosting your profit potential.

This strategy involves analyzing your campaign’s performance data to see which keywords drive the most conversions or achieve your specific advertising goals.

A good example is keywords with high impressions and QSs in your Google Ads account.

Once you spot these high-performing keywords, increase your investment by boosting your bids or reallocating your budget from less effective keywords.

Link your Google Ads account with Google Analytics to gain insights into your campaign performance and optimize your ads in real time. You can:

• Track conversions: Track the specific steps users take before completing a goal, like a purchase
• Measure page engagement: Determine the average time spent and bounce rate on your ad's landing pages
• Identify high-performing content: Identify which ads and keywords drive the most traffic to your site
• Analyze audience details: Assess age, interests, and location data to tailor your ads to the right audience
• Optimize for ROI: Use data on conversion rates and cost per acquisition to adjust bids and budgets for maximum return on investment
• A/B testing insights: Compare the performance of different ads and landing pages to find the most effective combinations

If you want an advanced AI ad generator and Semrush data to back you up, try the Ads Launch Assistant app. The app lets you manage Google and Meta ad campaigns from start to finish—including high-quality AI-generated ad copy, headlines, and UTM tags.

What’s more, you’ll be able to monitor, optimize, and report on your campaigns from a single dashboard.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Are Google Ads? Is Advertising on Google Expensive?

For the Google Search Network, the average Google Ads CPC typically ranges between $1-2. In comparison, the Google Display Network sees an average CPC of under $1.

Costs for advertising on Google vary depending on numerous factors such as your industry, targeted keywords, and competition. Your marketing goals and strategy also have an impact.

The good news is you can set your own daily Google Ads budget, so anyone can do CPC marketing—regardless of your desired spend.

Are Google Ads Profitable?

Google Ads have an ROI of $8 for every $1 you spend.

However, this figure can vary based on your business and campaign.

Experiment with different strategies and ad types. Monitor and stick to the ones that perform the best.

Is Advertising on Google Worth the Cost?

Look at your campaign's ROI to decide if advertising on Google is worth the cost.

Google Ads enables you to reach a vast audience, so your campaigns need to be well-targeted, relevant, and optimized to perform well.

How Much Should You Spend on Google Ads?

The amount you should spend on Google Ads varies based on your industry, business goals, strategy, and, most importantly, budget.

Let’s say you’re in the apparel industry, and the average CPC is $1.50.

If your goal is to get 50 new customers and you have a conversion rate of 3%, you’d need to spend about $50 to acquire one new customer. 

So, achieving your goal of gaining 50 new customers would cost $2,500.

Start small to test the waters and gradually increase your spending as you learn how to manage and optimize your campaigns for the best ROI. This approach helps you to effectively manage your Google Ads cost while maximizing campaign performance.

Is SEO Better Than Google Ads?

We can’t say one is better than the other because they serve different purposes. It would depend on which one is more aligned with your marketing goals.

While SEO optimizes your website’s content to rank organically in the SERPs, Google Ads is a paid strategy that can quickly position your website at the top of search results.

SEO is a long-term strategy. It requires more time to see results but has sustained benefits and is more cost-effective over time.

On the other hand, Google Ads can generate immediate traffic but necessitates an ongoing investment as a pay-per-click (PPC) strategy.

You can read more about the pros and cons of each channel and how to integrate both for search success in our SEO vs. PPC article.