How much does a click cost on Google Ads?
There is no fixed price, as the click price is set in an auction. Besides the bid, the quality of the ad and landing page counts, which Google Ads shows as the Quality Score. Good ads therefore often achieve better positions at lower click prices. Our analysis of 34 Google Ads accounts from our client work, covering November 2025 to October 2026 and around 8.9 million clicks in total, shows what clicks cost in practice:
| Sector | Accounts | Click price from | Median | Click price up to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online shops | 10 | €0.20 | €0.29 | €0.90 |
| Health and medicine | 5 | €0.48 | €0.82 | €2.08 |
| B2B, industry and services | 13 | €0.59 | €1.82 | €5.17 |
| All 34 accounts | 34 | €0.10 | €0.88 | €5.17 |
Six accounts from other sectors are included only in the “All 34 accounts” row. These are per-account averages across all campaign types, including Shopping, Display and brand campaigns. Pure search campaigns on competitive terms cost considerably more. For the German market, SISTRIX estimates the click price at €60.20 for “google ads agentur köln”, €53.50 for “google shopping agentur” and €8.90 for “seo kosten”.
How much budget do you need?
In the 34 accounts, the median advertising budget was recently around €4,200 a month. Half of the accounts were between around €1,100 and €6,900. These figures reflect our experience; we do not derive a minimum budget from them. You can calculate your own budget starting from your goal:
- Set a goal: for example 20 enquiries a month.
- Work out the clicks: with a conversion rate of 5%, that takes 400 clicks.
- Calculate the budget: at €1.50 per click, that comes to €600 a month.
- Check: do the cost per enquiry and the value of an enquiry match? Here it would be €30 per enquiry.
The figures in this example are freely chosen. Conversion rate and click price should come from your account or from keyword planning. The conversion rate affects the budget just as much as the click price.
How Google bills
On the Search Network, you generally pay per click. Which ad appears and in which position is decided by Ad Rank, which takes into account your bid, ad quality, the competition and the context of the search, among other things.
You set the budget as an average daily budget per campaign. On individual days, Google can spend up to twice that amount for most campaigns. Over a month, the limit is 30.4 times the daily budget. For €304 a month, you therefore set €10 a day.
What does agency management cost?
The Google Ads account itself is free, and management comes on top of the click costs. Blocks of hours, monthly retainers and fees as a percentage of ad spend are all common.
We bill for the time spent. A percentage fee would rise with spend, even if the work stays the same. Our hourly rate is €120 and the smallest package covers 6 hours of management a month, so €720, in each case excluding VAT. The notice period is usually three months to the end of a month. A shorter notice period can be agreed for a trial phase. How many hours make sense depends on the number and type of campaigns. Find out more on our Google Ads agency page.
How to reduce click costs
- Check search terms: Negative keywords prevent clicks from people looking for something else.
- Align ads and landing pages: This improves the Quality Score and therefore often the click price.
- Clarify the structure: Looking at brand, search, Shopping and Display separately shows where the budget goes.
- Measure conversions completely: Automated bid strategies need reliable data.
- Check times and regions: Not every location or time of day brings equally good enquiries.
