How Much Are Google Ads Management Fees?
Google Ads management pricing and fees can vary quite a bit between management companies.
Before we go over them, it is important you understand the difference between ad spend and management fees. Ad spend is what you will pay directly to Google. When people click on your ads you get charged by Google. That is different than management fees, which is what you pay a company to manage your account.
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Here are some common pricing models Google Ads management companies will use.
Percentage Of Your Google Ad Spend
This is simple for agencies to use. They simply charge a percentage of what you spend in Google Ads. For example, let’s say you spend $5,000 a month. The management company you use charges 20%. You will pay them $1,000 in management fees.
This pricing structure usually has a sliding scale where the more you spend, the smaller the percentage you pay is. An example pricing structure might look like this:
Tier 1 – Spend between $500 and $1,999 and the percentage you pay is 20%
Tier 2 – Spend between $2,000 and $4,999 and the percentage you pay is 15%
Tier 3 – Spend between $5,000 and $9,999 and the percentage you pay is 10%
Jumpfly uses a pricing strategy like this. Read more about Jumpfly pricing
There is a downside to this. It does a poor job of factoring in the actual management. It’s purely price driven. Let’s go over an example.
Let’s say you start off the first couple of months spending $1,000 a month. You like the results so you decide to throw another $1,500 a month towards the budget. You are now spending $2,500 a month, which puts you in the next tier (reference tier examples above). Your management fee just went from $200 a month to $375.
Often times, the only thing the management company had to do was increase your daily ad spend. Just because you decided to spend more does not mean there is a ton of extra work the management company needs to do.
This is why this model does not always make sense for you; the client.
Hourly Pricing
This is far less common with Google Ads management agencies. You will find hourly rates are typical with freelancers.
Fixed Rate Google Ads Management Pricing
This is where companies give you a custom, fixed price based on your feedback and what you want to do with your Google Ads account. It is not simply based on your ad spend. Management companies will factor in your ad spend, but it is not the only factor.
Other considerations with this model can include your business type (lead gen vs eCommerce), the campaign types you want to run (Search, Display, Remarketing, Youtube, etc) and the number of campaigns.
This is the type of Google Ads management pricing we follow. Our average monthly management fees for clients tend to be in the $300 – $500 range. For white label ppc clients, this number is even lower.
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Google Ads Setup Costs
Some management agencies will have setup costs. If you don’t have a Google Ads account already, then you can expect to pay a one-time setup fee. This is common.
What if you already have a good Google Ads account running?
Some agencies will waive a setup fee if they think it is in good enough shape to work with. Many of the larger agencies will charge you a setup fee no matter what. Often times, this is there way of increasing the total management fee they charge you for the first two to three months. They require this setup fee for all new clients.
Our approach with existing accounts is simple. If we think what you have running is good enough to work with, then we waive any setup fees. If we think your campaigns are beyond repair, then we will quote you a setup fee.
Additional Google Ads Management Fees
I’ve seen a few companies advertise add-on fees. They present a basic monthly fee for Google search ads. Sometimes they limit the number of campaigns or keywords they will give you.
For example, they may give you a management pricing quote of $500 a month for up to 2 search campaigns and 100 keywords. If you want to add a remarketing campaign, then there is an extra fee. If you want to increase the number of keywords you want to target, then there is an extra fee.
If you want to add a display campaign, then there is an extra charge. If you want…. you get the idea!
Just make sure you understand whether or not the company you are in talks with has this type of Google Ads management pricing structure.
In my opinion, this is a very short-sided pricing structure. It starts off with the wrong mindset. It puts costs well above what is best for the client. Ideally, you want a Google ads partner who gives you a solid quote to manage the account and then does whatever it takes to improve it. If that means testing new campaign types and adding new keywords, then so be it.
This pricing structure puts more emphasis on trying to nickel and dime for additional work. The additional work should already be “baked” into the original quote.
Small business PPC management fees can range quite a bit. Hopefully that helps give you an idea of some of the different Google Ads management pricing models and fees.
Our Google Ads Management Approach
Effective Management Is Key
Effective Google Ads campaign management is the most important aspect of running any successful Google Ads account. Without properly and consistently managing a Google Ads account, performance will eventually decline, wasted ad spend will increase and sales will suffer.
There are simply too many “moving parts” (competitor landscape changes, changes in Google Ads features & functionality, industry changes, new account data to analyze, necessary testing, etc.) that need to be managed in order to maintain a successful campaign.
Begin With The End In Mind
Our goal is to exceed the goals and objectives you have for your Google Ads campaigns.
There are many KPIs to monitor and improve upon (clicks, CTR, quality scores, etc), but the main objective is to increase sales or targeted leads while maintaining your desired ROI or CPA goals, respectively.
We find that the best way to do this is to use a “begin with the end in mind” approach to managing your Google Ads campaign. This helps to ensure that optimization of your account is focused, measured and done with a clear understanding of what the main objective is. We will do all that is required in order to improve upon this main objective.
Why Choose Our Google Ads Management Service
The Value Of Google Ads Experience
With over a decade of Google Ads management experience, your account will be in excellent hands.
Having worked on well over 1,000 Google Ads accounts over the years, we’ve learned what works and what does not work. You get to leverage this experience and knowledge when you partner with us. My very first Google Ads campaign management gig came in 2011. It was for a paintball company. I was new to paintball and to learn more about the sport, I had to play.
I had bruises before and I thought I may have had a welt or two as a kid. I was wrong! It wasn’t until I had a fun day of paintballing that I figured out exactly what a welt was.
You are not simply acquiring a service. You’ll be getting a new member of your team.
Consistent Communication
You will have access to us throughout the day. We can communicate with your team via Slack, email, phone, Zoom, collaboration software, or whatever works best for you! We don’t have rigid times to meet or require you to stick to a pre-established communication protocol.
It is very common for our clients to reach out to us whenever they have questions and we typically respond that same day. If you need to hop on a quick call to discuss something, we can typically do so on that same day or within 24 hours.
Better Google Ads Management Value
Too many large Google Ads agencies charge fees that simply are not commensurate with the service they provide. We can offer better value and a much lower price. They have higher overhead costs than we do. They have a larger staff to pay. All in all, they simply have higher costs to cover. Thus, they have to charge a relatively higher management fee in order to cover those costs.
If you decide to go with a larger Google Ads agency, just know that a relatively higher percentage of that fee is going towards covering general business expenses and overhead. Less of your fee is going towards the actually management of your Google Ads account.
We use a custom Google Ads pricing and fee structure. This means we evaluate your current Google Ads account and offer you a flat-rate for monthly management. For new Google Ads accounts, we will quote you a flat-rate based on our initial discussions and research.
Just because you decide to spend more, doesn’t mean we charge more.
What We Do To Improve Performance
Our Google Ads management service is ever-evolving. It is not evergreen and we don’t take the same approach with every new partner. Every account is unique and we treat them as such. Having said that, there are several approaches that any sound management team should take with Google Ads. Below is a non-exhaustive list of what comes with our Google Ads service.
- Conversion Tracking: Having proper conversion tracking in place is paramount to the success of your Google Ads campaigns. Without it, management becomes difficult. If you are an eCommerce business, then we will ensure revenue is being tracked and we can show you accurate revenue and ROAS performance data. If the goal of your Google Ads campaigns are to generate leads, then we will make sure we are tracking all phone calls, form submissions and any other lead type you may have.
- Testing: Continually testing new ads, bidding types, landing pages, keywords and other areas we see may be beneficial to performance. We will have ideas and assumptions about what we believe will improve campaign performance. The best way to see if those assumptions will result in better results is to test them and let the data have the final say.
- Ad Copy Optimization: We love getting creative with ad copy and finding that “secret sauce” that compels people to click and buy!
- Data Analysis: Consistently analyzing data and performance and use this to make specific adjustments to the campaigns. Again, we do this while always keeping the end goal in mind.
- Monitor: Monitor campaign performance and make changes regularly.
- Keyword Research & Analysis: Not all keywords are created equal. In some cases the most popular terms will only get you so far. We will continuously do research and analysis on existing keyword performance and find new keywords that may help improve overall performance.
- Keyword Bidding: We will fully manage bidding. This can include analysis of several bid options and testing different bidding strategies to find what works best for different keywords. For some accounts and campaigns it makes sense to use Google’s Smart bididng options such as Target CPA or Target ROAS. For other campaigns, it may make sense to stick with enhanced manual bidding. We don’t employ a one-size-fits all approach to bidding for different accounts and campaigns. Each client account is unique and we approach our bidding strategy accordingly.
- Budget Optimization: We will consistently monitor your Google Ads advertising budget. If you have a budget target you want to maintain, then we will maintain it. If you are okay with flexible budgets at the campaign level, then will optimize these campaign budgets to make the absolute most of your overall ad spend.
- Remarketing: If you don’t have remarketing running yet, we might suggest testing this. Running remarketing ads with an offer is a good way to convince people to come back and complete a conversion (sale or lead).
- Ongoing Process: Once you start a PPC campaign, it should be ever evolving and adapting to changes in both 1) your specific niche and 2) the PPC industry. We will make sure to stay on top of search result patterns and performance.
- Ideas: Looking for new ideas and features within Google Ads that may help to improve overall performance. This can include competitive research, industry research, testing new Google Ads features, etc.
- Landing Page/Website Review: Reviewing the site and offering suggestions on how some changes or “tweaks” may improve overall Google Ads performance. In some cases, we may suggest you create new landing pages. We also build custom landing pages for Google Ads and provide this service if needed.
- Google Ads Reporting: Provide reporting – You can determine frequency and what is included in the reports. We typically send monthly reports to clients
- Communication: We maintain an open line of communication and provide ourselves on always being available for our clients. We can easily be reached via email, phone or any other forms of communication that work for you.
If you want to learn more about our approach and pick our brain, then just reach out. I would be happy to chat with you.
The Wrap Up
I hope you found this post informative. It is important to fully understand the pricing model of any Google Ads agency you are in talks with. We covered the main ones you will see with most ad management providers and they all have their reasons for why they use them. In some cases, the reason is more about what is best (or easiest) for the agency. In other cases, the pricing focus is more about what is best for the client with the aim of earning a long-term relationship.
