Google Ads has no set price and no monthly subscription: you choose a daily amount, and each click is priced in an auction. In our November 2026 data, a business can pay up to £0.56 for a click on “restaurants near me” in Belfast and up to £63.60 for “emergency plumber” in London. The right amount for you depends on what a new customer is worth, and you can work that out before you pay Google anything.
How does a Google Ads auction work?
Each time someone searches, Google runs an auction for every ad position on the page.
The highest bid doesn’t automatically win. Google gives each ad a score called Ad Rank. It combines your bid (the most you’re willing to pay for a click) with how useful your ad and website page are to that person, how strong the competition is, and details of the search such as location, device and time of day.
You also tend to pay less than your bid. Google charges roughly what’s needed to clear its minimum score and beat the ad directly below yours, so a clear, relevant ad can cost less than a poor one.
So nobody can sell you a set number of clicks at a set price. Competition, seasons and your targeting all move the figure.
Search ads charge you when someone clicks, while some other Google formats charge per 1,000 times an ad is shown. Facebook and Instagram ads run through Meta’s own auction, where a more relevant ad can also beat a higher bid.
What does a click cost in the UK?
We took Google’s estimates for 30 common local searches in 13 UK cities. These examples show what a business can pay up to for a click on an ad at the top of the page.
| What people search for | City | Can pay up to | Monthly searches in that city |
|---|---|---|---|
| emergency plumber | London | £63.60 | 1,000 to 10,000 |
| roofer near me | Bristol | £19.70 | 100 to 1,000 |
| plumber near me | Leeds | £11.40 | 100 to 1,000 |
| physiotherapist near me | Manchester | £3.83 | 100 to 1,000 |
| hairdresser near me | Manchester | £1.34 | 1,000 to 10,000 |
| restaurants near me | Belfast | £0.56 | 10,000 to 100,000 |
Treat these as estimates, not invoices. They come from Google Keyword Planner on 3 November 2026, and each one is the top of Google’s typical range, so most advertisers paid less and a minority paid more.
Prices follow what a customer is worth and how many businesses want that customer. An emergency call-out is worth more than a haircut, and London has more firms chasing each job. Try your own trade and city in our click price lookup, or see the full table by city.
What’s the difference between ad spend and an agency’s fee?
Ad spend pays for the ads. A fee pays for someone to run them.
| Ad spend | Agency fee | |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets it | Google, Meta or another ad platform | The agency |
| What it buys | Clicks and views | People’s time and skill |
| What sets it | The daily amount you choose | Your agreement with the agency |
Agencies usually charge a monthly fee, an hourly rate, a percentage of your ad spend, or a mix. With a percentage, the fee climbs as your ad spend climbs, even when the work doesn’t. Ask to see the two numbers separately, and ask whose card pays Google and whose name the ad account is in.
We charge for time: from £85 an hour using credits (one credit is one hour), or Always-on plans from £485 a month with set-up included. You pay the ad platforms directly, and we never take a percentage of your ad spend.
How much should I spend on Google Ads?
Work back from the customer instead of picking a round number. This example uses an imaginary physiotherapist in Manchester. The click price is from our data, and every other figure is made up to show the sums.
- Work out what a new customer is worth. Use profit before ad spend, and only count repeat visits you’re confident about. Example: £200.
- Decide the most you’d pay to win one. Example: £100.
- Look up your click price. Use the lookup and take the higher figure, to be cautious. Example: up to £3.83.
- Estimate the clicks it takes to win a customer. Use your website figures if you have them. If not, make a cautious guess and expect to correct it. Example: 20 clicks, because one click in 10 enquires and one enquiry in two books.
- Multiply. £3.83 × 20 clicks = £76.60 a customer. That’s under £100, so it’s worth testing. If your answer is over your limit, change something first: the offer, the website page or the area you cover.
- Size a first test. We’d aim for enough clicks to win about five customers in a month, because one or two could be luck. That’s our rule of thumb, not Google’s. Five customers × 20 clicks = 100 clicks, or about £383 a month.
That’s about £12.60 a day on Google. A busy day can cost up to double, but for most campaigns Google won’t charge more than 30.4 times the daily amount across a month, which here is £383.04.
Then add the cost of help, if you’d like someone to run it. Our Always-on plans start at £485 a month with set-up included. Set that against what new customers bring in over time, including repeat visits, and against the hours you’d otherwise spend learning the platform yourself.
The answer changes with the trade. At up to £11.40 a click, a plumber in Leeds needing the same 20 clicks would pay up to £228 a customer. A plumbing job may well be worth it, which is why no single figure suits everyone.
Only test with money you can afford to lose, because nobody can promise what the first months will bring. After a month, put your real numbers into our cost per customer calculator, remembering that it leaves out agency fees.
What’s a sensible marketing budget for a small business?
You’ll see rules of thumb based on a percentage of turnover. We looked for a current official UK figure on ONS and GOV.UK and didn’t find one, so treat those percentages as opinion. They also can’t tell you whether your money buys 100 clicks or 10.
It’s more useful to list what advertising really costs you:
- Ad spend, using the steps above.
- Management, whether that’s an agency’s fee or your own evenings.
- Photos, video and design.
- Conversion tracking, which records when a click becomes a call, form or sale. Without it, you’re guessing.
Before you pay for anything, set up your Google Business Profile. It’s free and puts your business on Search and Maps.
Facebook and Instagram need a separate sum. Meta says its system usually settles after about 50 results in a week. If each result cost £20 (an example), that’s £1,000 a week, and many small businesses won’t get there. Meta says the “Learning limited” status this leads to isn’t a penalty, and one fix it suggests is aiming at a more frequent action.
Questions people ask
Is there a minimum amount for Google Ads?
Google has no flat fee or subscription, and it says the amount is up to you. Your real floor is your click price: £5 a day won’t go far if clicks can cost up to £11.40.
Can Google charge more than my daily amount?
Yes, up to double on a given day for most campaigns, but no more than 30.4 times your daily amount across the month.
Do I pay if nobody clicks?
Not with search ads, where you pay for clicks. Other ad types charge for being shown or watched.
What to do next
Look up your click price in our lookup, then run the sums above. If you’re already advertising and can’t tell whether it’s paying for itself, our Ads health check is a look at one ad account for £425, with fixes in plain English and a 30-minute walkthrough. If you’d like someone to run your ads, our plans and credit prices are on the site and Help me choose will suggest a starting point.
Related guides
- Is your sales target too ambitious or too conservative?
- What should you expect from ads in your first 90 days?
- Google Ads vs Facebook ads: how to choose your first channel
This guide is general information based on publicly available sources, correct when written in November 2026. It isn’t legal, financial or tax advice, and ad platforms change their rules and menus often, so check the latest guidance before you act.