How much does Google Ads management cost?
Most agencies charge either a flat monthly fee or 10% to 20% of ad spend. At Luceds, management is a flat fee based on spend: $250 a month for up to $4,000 in ad spend, $550 for up to $12,000, and $950 above that. Your ad budget is paid to Google directly and is not included in the fee.
Luceds Google Ads pricing
One-off options: a campaign build from scratch is $497, an account rescue for accounts wasting money is $197, and a 60 minute strategy call is $99. A Google Ads audit costs $97 (AI audit) or $247 (reviewed by a human expert).
| Plan | Monthly ad spend | Management fee |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | Up to $4,000 | $250 per month |
| Growth | Up to $12,000 | $550 per month |
| Pro | $12,000 and above | $950 per month |
The three common pricing models
- Percentage of ad spend, usually 10% to 20%. Simple, but the agency earns more when you spend more, even if results do not improve.
- Flat monthly fee. Predictable, and the agency is paid to make the budget work harder rather than to make it bigger. This is the model Luceds uses.
- Performance-based fee per lead or sale. Rare, because it depends on tracking and sales follow-up the agency does not control.
What the fee should include
- Conversion tracking for calls, forms, bookings or purchases, checked before any optimisation starts.
- Weekly search term reviews and negative keywords, which is where most wasted spend is found.
- Bidding and budget changes based on cost per lead or return on ad spend, not clicks.
- Ad copy and asset testing, plus landing page recommendations.
- A plain-English report each month.
How much should you spend on ads?
Work backwards from the result you need. If a new customer is worth $1,000 to you and you can afford $150 to win one, and your site converts about 1 in 10 enquiries into a customer, you can pay up to $15 per lead. Twenty customers a month then needs about 200 leads, or a budget of roughly $3,000. Real cost per lead depends on your industry and city, so the first month is used to measure it.
Proof from our own clients
Related questions
- Is the ad budget included in the management fee?
- No. Your ad spend is billed to you directly by Google. The Luceds fee covers managing and improving the account.
- Is there a long contract?
- No. Management is month to month.
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Founder of Luceds, with 7+ years in paid search, SEO and web projects. Runs Google Ads, SEO and website projects for service businesses and online stores in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India.
More about Shivam Singh