How much should I spend on Google Ads per month?

Start from jobs, not from a round number

Decide how many new jobs you would like from ads each month, then work out what it takes to buy them. The arithmetic is simple: monthly budget equals jobs wanted, times inquiries per job, times clicks per inquiry, times cost per click. If the answer is more than those jobs would earn you, change the plan before spending anything. Aim at higher-value services, tighten the area, or improve the landing page so more clicks turn into calls.

Three of the four inputs come from your own records. The fourth comes from Google.

• Cost per click for your services and towns, from Keyword Planner or Google's cost estimator.
• The share of ad visitors who call or send a form. Until you have your own numbers, treat any figure as a guess to replace after the first month.
• How many inquiries it takes to book one job.
• The gross profit on a typical job.

Why a budget can be too small

Google has no minimum spend, but a budget that buys a handful of clicks a week produces too little information to manage. Over a few clicks you can't tell a bad keyword from bad luck. Smart Bidding, which sets bids automatically from conversion data, needs conversions to learn from, and Google says restrictive settings such as low daily budgets can slow how quickly a campaign settles. Google also recommends judging Target CPA performance over periods that include at least 30 conversions.

That is the reasoning behind our recommendation of at least $1,200 a month, roughly $39 a day on Google's 30.4-day month. Below that, there usually isn't enough data to optimize properly, and you end up paying for management on a campaign too small to improve. It is a floor for learning, not a promise of results.

Setting the budget inside Google Ads

Budgets are set per campaign, as an average daily amount. Divide the monthly figure by 30.4 and enter that. Expect day-to-day spend to vary: Google can spend up to twice the daily budget on a busy day and less on a quiet one, without billing more than 30.4 times the daily budget in a month.

If you run separate campaigns for different services, give the most money to the services with the best margins and the clearest searches. Google also offers shared budgets that span several campaigns, but separate budgets make it easier to see what each service costs and to move money on purpose.

Adjusting through Michigan's seasons

Demand for many Michigan trades follows the weather: roofing, paving and landscaping in the warm months, furnaces and snow removal in the cold ones. Plan the budget by season instead of holding one number all year. Google says budget changes take effect in the next auction and never trigger a new learning status, so shifting money between seasons doesn't reset a campaign.

Keyword Planner forecasts account for seasonality, so check them before each season rather than once a year.

When to spend more, and when to cut

Google Ads reports how often your ads missed searches because of budget, called Search lost impression share due to budget, and how often they missed because of Ad Rank. Those two numbers tell you whether money or quality is the constraint.

• Spend more when leads are profitable and the campaign is losing impression share to budget.
• Hold steady while you fix tracking, the landing page or search terms, since more money amplifies whatever is broken.
• Fix ads, landing pages or bids, not budget, when impressions are lost to Ad Rank.
• Cut back when you are booked out, can't answer calls, or a service stops paying for itself.
• Move money between services rather than cutting overall when one clearly outperforms another.

Keep reading

• How much does Google Ads cost for a small business?
• How long before Google Ads start working?
• How do seasonal Michigan businesses plan their marketing?
• Google Ads management from Modern Apex