Google Ads Prices in the UK: Guide to Budgeting Your Campaigns

Have you heard about Google Ads? It is the most essential tool for businesses looking to connect with potential customers.

With the help of Google Ads, you can place your business in front of your targeted audience, whether you are a local cafe targeting nearby customers or a large e-commerce store looking for ways to expand your reach.

In fact, Google accounts for over 92% of the global search engine market share, making it the best platform for online advertising.

However, understanding how much to budget for a Google Ads campaign can be challenging because the cost varies by industry, keywords, and competition.

But the good news is you can maximise your return on investment (ROI) using the right strategy.

In this guide, we will break down everything you need to know about Google Ads prices in the UK.

Whether you're new to Google Ads or looking to improve your approach, this article includes a complete guide on how to budget effectively.

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads was formerly known as Google AdWords, which was the original name for Google's advertising platform.

Google Ads is an online advertising platform that allows businesses to create ads that appear on Google’s search engine results, websites, apps, and YouTube.

These ads are based on keywords, allowing businesses to target specific search queries related to their products or services.

The primary goal is to drive traffic to the website, increase brand awareness, and encourage users to take action (like purchasing a dress from an e-commerce website).

The platform works on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, which means advertisers only pay when someone clicks on their ad.

Google Ads provides a customisation option that allows businesses to choose who can see their ads based on factors such as location, language, device type, and even time of day, making it one of the most efficient advertising methods.

Why Should You Use Google Ads for Your Business?

Google Ads is one of the most effective digital marketing tools that offers various benefits to businesses, such as increased traffic, sales, and brand awareness. Here are some more reasons why you should consider using Google Ads for your business.

Targeted Reach

Google Ads allows you to reach and attract your potential customers who are actively searching for products or services you are offering, which means that your ads are visible to those users already interested in what you offer. This improves the chances of generating high-quality leads.

Control Over Your Budget

One of the best advantages of Google Ads is that it allows you to control your spending. You can set daily or monthly budgets, which ensures you are not exceeding your budget limits.

You only have to pay when the user clicks on your ad, making it a cost-effective option for every business, whether you are a new startup or an enterprise company.

Measurable Results

Google Ads provides detailed analytics that allows you to track your campaign performance.

You can monitor key metrics like click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and cost per acquisition (CPA), which makes it easy to check how your ad spend is being converted into visible results. You can use this data to optimise your campaign for even better performance.

Quick Results

With the help of Google Ads, you can see quick results because they can generate traffic and sales almost immediately. It is not the same as organic search engine optimisation (SEO), which can take time to show noticeable results and rank higher on Google.

Once your campaign is live, your ads will start appearing in search results, resulting in quick visibility.

Brand Visibility

Google Ads help increase your brand’s visibility even if people don’t click on your ad. It places your ad in front of your targeted and relevant audiences, which makes them more familiar with your business.

Customisable Campaigns

Another reason why using Google Ads for your business is a good idea is that it allows you to choose the ad format based on your goals. This is because it offers many ad formats, including search ads, display ads, video ads, and shopping ads.

How Much Does Google Ads Cost in the UK?

Google Ads prices in the UK can range from £0.20 to £10 per click. However, the cost of Google advertising in the UK varies depending on various factors, such as industry competition, keyword selection, and targeting settings.

The average estimated Google Ads cost that small business spend is between £800-£2,500 per month, while the mid-sized spend between £5,000-£2,500 per month.

Businesses should plan their budgets carefully and monitor performance regularly to ensure they get the most out of their AdWords costs. As it works on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, the pay-per-click rates are also includes in these costs.

Here are the Google advertising prices that include a breakdown of the average cost per click (CPC) for various industries in the UK.

Types of Google Ads Campaigns and Their Costs

Google Ads offers a wide range of campaign types to meet every advertising goal and business needs. So, let’s learn about the different types of Google Ads Campaigns and their costs in the UK, which will help you set your budget effectively and achieve your marketing objectives.

1. Search Campaigns (Text Ads)

Search campaigns, text-based ads, are the most traditional form of Google Ads. They appear at the top or bottom of Google search results when users type in relevant search queries.

You can bid on keywords that are related to your business, and your ad is then shown to your targeted audience looking for the products or services you are offering, making keyword research important.

Average CPC: £0.20 to £5 per click

2. Display Campaigns (Banner Ads)

Another type of Google Ads campaign is display campaigns, which involve using images, video, or rich media ads that appear on websites within the Google Display Network.

These ads are often targeted based on interests, demographics, and browsing behaviour. They are ideal for brand awareness and remarketing.

However, these ads tend to have lower CTR, so even though they cost less per click, they may need a higher volume of impressions to drive results.

Average CPC: £0.20 to £2

3. Video Campaigns (YouTube Ads)

Video ads are more visually appealing, and users find them more attractive. They appear before, during, or after YouTube videos or on other Google partner sites.

These ads can be skippable or non-skippable, or there will be no ads if you have a YouTube Premium membership that allows you to watch videos ad-free.

If you want to create engaging content, increase brand awareness, and drive action using engaging CTA (call-to-action), video campaigns are an excellent choice.

Average Cost-Per-View (CPV): £0.05 to £0.30

4. Shopping Campaigns (Product Ads)

Shopping campaigns allow you to advertise physical products through ads that display product images, prices, and store information in Google search results.

These ads are ideal for e-commerce businesses, whether it is fashion or innovative new business idea, because they help showcase products directly to the buyers when they are actively searching for similar terms.

You might have also noticed that you find a particular product on Google, and then you can see ads displayed on the side or in-between whenever you are reading something.

Average CPC: £0.50 to £2 per click

5. App Promotion Campaigns

App promotion campaigns are beneficial as they encourage users to download or engage with a mobile app.

Ads for app promotion can appear in Google search results, on YouTube, or on other platforms within the Google network.

App ads can also be shown on the Google Play Store to grow install rates. This campaign uses a Cost Per Install (CPI) model, which means you only pay when someone installs your app.

Average CPI: £0.50 to £2 per install

6. Smart Campaigns

This type of Google Ads is best for small businesses or advertisers with limited experience by making the process of managing Google Ads campaigns simple. It allows for an easy and convenient setup and management process.

Average CPC: £0.20 to £2 per click

Factors Influencing Google Ads Prices in the UK

The advertising Google costs in the UK vary based on several factors. Here are the primary factors that influence Google Ads prices.

Keyword Competition

The main factor that impacts Google's advertising prices is the competitiveness of keywords. The more competitive a keyword is, the higher the CPC will be.

Highly competitive industries like insurance, legal services, finance or healthcare businesses often see higher CPCs than less competitive industries because many advertisers are bidding for the same keywords.

Quality Score

Google uses a metric called Quality Score, which helps it determine the ads, keywords, and landing pages’ relevancy.

If the Quality Score is high, the cost of your CPC will be less because Google is more likely to display useful and relevant ads that provide a better user experience.

Ads that are well-designed and involve a user-friendly landing page usually result in lower costs.

Ad Rank

Another factor that influences the cost of Google advertising is Ad Rank. It combines bid, Quality Score, and expected impact of your ad extensions and other factors.

If your ads have a higher Ad Rank, there is a chance for them to appear in better positions. Also, those with a higher Ad Rank pay less for clicks, especially if they have high relevance and are more engaging to users.

Target Audience

The demographics, interests, and behaviours of your target audience influence Google Ads prices.

If you target high-value users or those located in large cities (e.g., London), your cost-per-click rates can increase due to more demand. However, the CPCs will be less if you are targeting niche or specific audiences.

Geographic Targeting

The geographical area you are targeting also affects Google Ads costs. If you are targeting major cities like London, Birmingham, etc, the cost will be more due to higher competition.

On the other hand, less populated regions or areas where the competition is less may lead to lower CPCs because fewer advertisers are competing for the same ad placements.

Device Targeting

Google Ads for your business are the best option because they allow you to target users based on the devices they use. Mobile ads are considered to cost less than desktop ads.

However, Google advertising prices can vary based on user behaviour and the type of product or service being advertised. You can consider optimising your campaigns for both mobile and desktop users to ensure cost efficiency.

Ad Extensions and Additional Features

Lastly, the factors that affect the Google Ads prices are the ad extensions and additional features. Ad extensions, such as site link extensions, call extensions, and location extensions, help enhance visibility and ad’s functionality.

However, these extensions may also lead to higher costs if they improve your ad’s performance, but the ROI is often worth the additional cost, as they improve the chances of higher conversion rates. You can also use other effective strategies for higher conversion rates.

How to Set Your Google Ads Budget?

It is necessary to set your Google Ads budget effectively, and it will require careful planning and analysis of your business goals. You can effectively set your budget with the help of the steps mentioned below.

Set Clear Advertising Goals: You can begin by determining whether your goal is to generate sales, leads, website traffic, or brand awareness. It will help you plan your budget for your Google Ads campaign accordingly. For instance, lead generation campaigns might require a higher budget than a simple brand awareness campaign.

Choose Your Budget Type: After setting your advertising goals, you need to choose whether you want to set a daily or monthly budget.

Daily Budget: This is the amount you are willing to spend per day. Google will spread this amount evenly across the day, but your budget may exceed slightly on high-traffic days.

Monthly Budget: You can also set a monthly budget, which will include the amount you will have to pay each month, but Google Ads will optimise spending within your chosen limits.

Estimate CPC and Clicks: You can research your industry’s average CPC, and once you have an estimate, you can calculate how many clicks you can expect to get within your set budget.

Monitor and Adjust Your Budget Regularly: After your campaigns are live, be sure to monitor performance metrics like CTR (Click-Through Rate), conversion rate, and cost per acquisition (CPA). You can adjust your budget based on these metrics.

How to Calculate Google Ads Costs for Your Campaign?

You can calculate your Google Ads prices for your campaign by following these simple steps. Here is how you can calculate the costs of Google advertising.

Estimate Your Cost Per Click (CPC): First, determine the average CPC for your chosen keywords. You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner to get a clear idea of the expected CPC for your industry or business.

Estimate Your Clicks: Multiply your estimated CPC by the number of clicks you expect to get or you have generated. For example, if your CPC is £1 and you expect 100 clicks, your total cost will be £100.

Account for Bidding Strategy: Your bidding strategy will affect your Google Ads costs. For example, if you are using Target CPA, Google will optimise your bids to help you meet your target CPA, which will impact your cost calculation.

Add in Other Costs: You also have to consider additional costs like ad extensions, location targeting, and device targeting when calculating the costs.

Review Performance: Track your ad performance and adjust bids, keywords, or budget spending as necessary to ensure your campaign stays cost-effective and meets your goals.

How to Optimize Your Google Ads Budget?

Are you also looking for ways how to optimise your budget for Google Ads? Optimising the budget helps ensure you get the maximum return on investment (ROI) while reducing over or unnecessary expenses.

Here are detailed steps to help you optimise your Google Ads budget.

1. Choose the Right Keywords

Keywords play an essential role in bringing your website or business to the top of the search results. You can use Google Keyword Planner to find relevant keywords that have high search volume and low competition.

Also, focus on long-tail keywords, as they have lower competition, leading to lower CPCs and attracting more qualified leads.

2. Use Ad Extensions Strategically

Another optimising strategy is enabling ad extensions like site links, callouts, etc, to make your ads more engaging and informative, which will help attract more customers and drive traffic.

These extensions can help increase click-through rates, which will, in turn, improve the Quality Score and reduce CPC.

3. Set Bidding Strategies

You can choose the bidding strategies that align with your goals. These strategies directly affect how much you pay for clicks and how efficiently your budget is used.

Selecting the right strategy is important to avoid overspending and achieve the best results.

You can choose manual CPC bidding, which allows you to fully control your maximum cost-per-click, or use other ways, such as targeting CPA, maximising conversions, and adjusting the bids based on the performance of your chosen keywords, audiences, or demographics.

4. Leverage Geo-Targeting

One of the best ways to optimise your Google Ads budget is to focus your ads on specific locations where your target audience is generally found. For example, if your business serves customers in London, you can target ads in that city.

5. Optimise Ad Copy and Creative

Engaging ad copy and visuals helps improve your click-through rate and Quality Score, reducing your CPC and total costs.

If you want to achieve excellent results, you can write attractive ad copy that highlights your unique selling points (UPSs) to attract high-intent clicks.

Use visually appealing and high-quality images or videos for display and video campaigns.

6. Monitor Device and Demographic Performance

You can analyse performance across different devices, like mobile, desktop, and tablet, and adjust your bids based on the performance.

Use effective targeting strategies based on demographic insights like age, gender, or income level.

How to Monitor and Adjust Your Google Ads Campaigns?

If you want to get most of the Google Ads prices, you should regularly monitor and adjust your Google Ads campaigns.

Google Ads provides amazing reporting tools that allow you to track your campaign’s performance. You can use key metrics to review, including CTR (Click-Through Rate), CPC (Cost Per Click), and Conversion Rate.

Regularly reviewing these metrics will help identify opportunities for optimisation, which will enhance your business opportunities. Google Analytics with Google Ads helps you analyse the post-click behaviour.

You can also adjust bids based on the keyword performance, meaning you can increase bids for high-performing keywords, while lower or pause bids for underperforming keywords.

Some of the other ways to monitor and adjust Google Ads campaigns are as follows:-

Regularly perform A/B testing on different ad creatives, headlines, and CTAs.

Using audience insights to identify the highest-performing demographics or interests.

Setting automated rules to adjust bids, pause ads, or increase budgets, depending on the condition.

Enabling alerts for major changes in campaign performance to act quickly.

Common Google Ads Budgeting Mistakes to Avoid

There are many budgeting mistakes businesses make when using Google Ads for their campaign. That is why avoiding them can save you money and improve your campaign’s efficiency. Here is what to watch out for.

Targeting Too Broadly: The first mistake many often make is targeting their audience too broadly, which leads to wasted ad spend because it shows ads to users who are not looking for the products or services you are offering. Use demographic, geographic, and interest-based filters to target your relevant audience.

Overlooking Negative Keywords: If you are not using negative keywords, your ad may appear for irrelevant searches. It leads to irrelevant clicks and a waste of your money.

Ignoring Mobile Optimisation: You have to ensure your campaign and landing pages are optimised for mobile users to prevent poor performance on mobile devices.

Lack of Tracking and Measurement: Not tracking your running campaign regularly will make it difficult to measure ROI and enhance performance.

Overspending on Low-Performing Keywords: Spending too much on keywords with high CPC but low conversion rates can lead to you running out of budget. Use funds on high-performing areas while also analysing performance regularly.

Google Ads Budgeting Tips for Small Businesses in the UK

Small businesses often operate with limited budgets, making it essential to maximise ROI. Here are some tips that will help small businesses in the UK to manage their Google Ads campaign effectively.

Start with a small daily budget, such as £10–£20, to test if it is working. You can slowly scale your spending as you identify what works best for your business and effective PPC marketing.

Use geo-targeting to focus your ads on local customers in your service area. For example, a bakery in Manchester can target ads that reach and attract nearby residents.

Use smart campaigns to automate targeting and bidding, making them ideal for small businesses with not much experience in digital advertising.

Concentrate on Keywords with high purchase intent, such as “plumber near me” or “buy organic skincare UK.”

Use remarketing to target users who have already made a purchase or visited your website. This approach is cost-effective and has higher conversion rates.

Ensure your landing pages are fast, mobile-friendly, and aligned with the ad’s message to improve conversions.

Monitor your CPA and ensure it aligns with your profit margins. For instance, if it costs £10 to acquire a customer and your average sale is £50, it will indicate your campaign is profitable.

Google Ads Pricing Trends in the UK

The new marketing trends, digital marketing strategies, and technologies keep emerging. However, there are also several trends in Google Ads pricing that UK businesses should know about.

Industries like finance, insurance, and healthcare are seeing that more businesses are competing for the best ad spots, which leads to high CPC rates in these sectors.

With more people searching for businesses near them, the demand for local ads is also increasing because it allows businesses to reach local customers using cost-effective ways.

Another trend is the more focus on automation, as machine learning and AI-powered bidding strategies help save money and improve efficiency.

These trends show that while costs are increased in some areas, they also present opportunities for both new and future businesses to ensure their campaign become successful under their preferred budget.

Wrapping Up

Hopefully, you have received all the information you need to know about Google Ads prices and how to budget your campaigns.

Google Ads offers businesses in the UK an opportunity to increase targeted traffic, generate leads, and increase sales.

However, you should also have a clear understanding of the cost of Google advertising and budgeting strategies to maximise your return on investment (ROI).

You can ensure your Google Ads campaigns provide the best results by setting a clear budget and regularly monitoring and optimising your ads performance.

If you also want to enhance your digital marketing efforts, start planning your Google Ads campaign that meets your budget. Need any assistance through the process? Contact us to get customised support and guidance for budgeting your Google Ads campaign.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1 How much should a small business spend on Google Ads in the UK?

Ans Many small businesses spend £500 to £1,000 per month on Google Ads in the UK. However, it depends on various factors, including industry competition, campaign goals, and target audience.

Q2 Is Google Ads worth it for local businesses?

Ans Google Ads are beneficial for local businesses. Features like geo-targeting allow you to focus on audiences within a specific radius of your location. Businesses can generate highly qualified leads and improve foot traffic using relevant keywords and extensions like call or location buttons.

Q3 What is the best bidding strategy for beginners?

Ans The best bidding strategy for beginners is manual bidding, as it allows them to maintain control over the costs and set maximum bids for keywords individually.

Q4 Can I set a maximum budget for my Google Ads campaign?

Ans Yes, you can set a daily and monthly budget for your Google Ads campaign to ensure you don’t overspend. You can also cap bids for individual keywords or ad groups.

Q5 How do I know if my Google Ads campaign is successful?

Ans You will know your Google Ads campaign is successful by monitoring some essential metrics, such as

👉 Click-Through Rate (CTR)

👉 Conversion Rate

👉 Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

👉 Cost Per Conversion (CPA)

If your campaign delivers GREAT results in these areas while staying within budget, you can consider it as a good sign of success.