Google Ads for e-commerce: what it costs and when it pays off

“How much does Google Ads cost?” has no single answer, because you do not pay a fixed price. You pay per click, in an auction, and the price depends on how many others want the same searches. The better question is: how much can I afford to pay for one customer, and can Google bring customers at that price?

How the cost is decided

• You pay per click, not per view. The price of a click comes from an auction between advertisers.
• Competition sets the level. Searches that many shops want are more expensive.
• Quality lowers the price. Relevant ads and landing pages usually pay less per click than weak ones for the same position.
• Your conversion rate decides the cost per customer. Two shops paying the same per click can have very different costs per sale.

Set the budget from the numbers, not from a gut feeling

1. Work out what a customer may cost you: see customer acquisition cost and unit economics.
2. Decide how many new customers you want per month.
3. Budget = customers × acceptable cost per customer.
4. Start smaller, measure the real cost per customer for a few weeks, then scale in small steps.

Which campaigns to start with

• Brand search: people searching for your shop by name. Usually cheap; protects you from competitors bidding on your name. Keep it in its own budget.
• Shopping / Performance Max with your product feed: product ads with image and price. For most e-shops this is where most sales come from. It needs a clean product feed.
• Non-brand search for your most important product categories.
• Remarketing: see remarketing vs retargeting.

When Google Ads pays off

• People actively search for what you sell.
• Your prices and delivery are competitive, because shoppers compare side by side.
• Your measurement records real purchases with the right value.
• Your margin leaves room for the cost of a customer.

When it usually does not

• Nobody searches for your product yet (new category). Social ads or content usually build demand first.
• The site does not convert: slow on mobile, unclear offer, complicated checkout.
• Measurement is broken, so automated bidding optimises for the wrong thing.

Mistakes we see often

• Changing budgets and targets every few days. Automated bidding needs stable conditions to learn.
• Accepting every recommendation. Some widen targeting or raise budgets in ways that do not fit your goal.
• Brand and non-brand in one budget. Cheap brand sales hide expensive generic ones.
• Only one product advertised while the rest of the catalogue sits unused.

If you want a second opinion on your account, that is part of our growth audit.