PPC Management
How Much Does PPC Management Cost? Fee Models Explained
PPC management is priced as a percentage of spend, a flat fee, a spend-band tier or on performance. What each model rewards, what the fee should cover and how ours works.
PPC management cost is the fee an agency charges to run your campaigns, and it is separate from the ad spend you pay Google. Agencies usually charge in one of four ways: a percentage of ad spend, a flat monthly fee, a fee tiered by spend band, or a performance-based fee, sometimes with a one-off setup fee on top. What matters more than the model is what the fee actually covers, and whether your ad spend goes to Google untouched.
Most confusion about PPC pricing comes from two numbers being quoted as one. Before comparing agencies, separate them, then look at what each fee model rewards the agency for doing.
Ad Spend and Management Fee Are Two Different Costs
Every paid search budget has two parts:
- Ad spend. The money that pays for clicks. It goes to Google or Microsoft, and it should be charged to a payment method on an account in your name.
- Management fee. What you pay the agency for the work: research, setup, tracking, ad copy, optimisation and reporting. This is the PPC management cost proper.
Keep them apart on paper. If an agency invoices you one combined figure for "ads and management", you cannot tell how much reached Google and how much stayed with the agency. Ask to see the spend in the platform itself, not only on an invoice.
If ad spend is billed through the agency rather than paid directly to Google, ask in writing whether any of it is marked up. A markup on spend is a second management fee that does not appear on the price list.
The Five Common Fee Models
None of these is wrong in itself. Each one creates a different incentive, and it is worth knowing which incentive you are paying for.
| Model | How it works | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage of ad spend | The fee is a share of what you spend on clicks each month. | The fee rises whenever the budget rises, even if the work does not. There is a built-in reason to recommend higher budgets. |
| Flat monthly fee | A fixed amount each month, whatever the spend. | Predictable, but check the scope. A low flat fee can mean very little time on the account. |
| Tiered by spend band | A flat fee within a band of ad spend; the fee steps up when spend crosses into the next band. | Check where the bands sit and what is added at each step, so a small budget increase does not trigger a surprise. |
| Performance-based | Payment per lead, per sale or as a share of revenue. | Needs an agreed definition of a lead and tracking both sides trust. Disputes over lead quality are common. |
| Setup fee | A one-off charge for the audit, rebuild and tracking work at the start. | Ask exactly what is delivered for it, and whether it is refundable if the account is never launched. |
Performance-based pricing sounds the safest, but it depends entirely on measurement. Google's own guidance on Smart Bidding recommends judging performance over periods with at least 30 conversions, which tells you how much data it takes before results mean anything. On a small account, that can take weeks, and a per-lead fee agreed before tracking is verified tends to end in an argument.
What the Fee Should Cover
Two quotes at the same price can buy very different amounts of work. A reasonable management fee should include:
- An account audit. Existing campaigns, tracking, search terms and landing pages reviewed before anything changes.
- Conversion tracking. Google describes conversion measurement as tracking the actions you choose as valuable, such as purchases, sign-ups or phone calls. Without it, nobody can say what the money is producing.
- Keyword and negative keyword management. Choosing what to bid on and, just as important, what to exclude.
- Ad copy. Ads written and rewritten, not left on the first draft for a year.
- Bid and budget management. Moving money towards the campaigns that produce leads at an acceptable cost.
- Reporting. A regular report showing cost per lead, what changed and why.
Then ask what is excluded. Landing pages, display creative, extra channels such as Microsoft Ads, call tracking and e-commerce feed work are the usual extras, and they are often where the real cost difference between two quotes sits.
What Pushes the Price Up
Within any model, a few things reliably increase the fee, because they increase the work:
- Higher ad spend. More budget means more search terms to review and more at stake in each decision.
- More channels. Search, Shopping, display, video and Microsoft Ads each need their own setup and attention.
- Multiple locations or regions. Each location may need its own targeting, budgets and ads.
- E-commerce catalogues. Shopping and Performance Max depend on the product feed, which needs its own management.
- Landing pages. Writing and designing pages per ad group is real production work.
- Reporting frequency. A weekly call costs more time than a monthly email.
How Our PPC Management Fees Work
We use the tiered model, with fees published by ad-spend band. Ad spend is paid directly to Google or Microsoft from your own account. We never bill it through us, never mark it up and do not take a percentage of it.
| Plan | Fee | Ad spend band | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | $349/month | Up to $5,000/month | Google Ads search campaigns, account structure and setup, conversion tracking configured, negative keyword management, monthly performance report, email support. |
| Growth | $549/month | Up to $7,000/month | Everything in Essential, plus Google and Microsoft Ads, landing pages built and tested, remarketing, Shopping or Performance Max, A/B testing, a named account manager and a bi-weekly reporting call. |
| Scale | $749/month | Up to $10,000/month | Everything in Growth, plus all channels including display and video, multi-location campaigns, offline conversion import, a custom reporting dashboard, e-commerce feed management, a dedicated strategist and a weekly reporting call. |
Above $10,000 a month in spend, the fee is scoped against the account rather than a band, and we audit what is there before quoting. Engagements have a three-month minimum, because the first month is largely diagnostic and month two is where changes take effect; after that it is month to month. The campaigns are run by our in-house team, with ads written by our own copywriters and landing pages built by our own designers, never subcontracted.
How to Compare Two Quotes
Worked example, using illustrative numbers: on $5,000 a month of ad spend, a 15% fee is $750 and a 20% fee is $1,000. If spend later rises to $8,000, the same percentages become $1,200 and $1,600, although the account may need little extra work. Run every quote at your current spend and at the spend you hope to reach.
Then line the quotes up on scope, not price:
- Is ad spend paid directly to Google from your own account?
- Is conversion tracking set up and verified, or assumed?
- Are landing pages included, or quoted separately?
- How often will you see a report, and does it show cost per lead?
- What is the minimum term, and what happens to the account if you leave?
A cheap fee that leaves out tracking and landing pages is rarely cheap. Paying less for management while clicks land on a generic homepage usually costs more in wasted spend than the fee saved.
If you want to see how these tiers map to your current account, our PPC management services page sets out what each plan includes and how the free account audit works.
The simplest way to price your own account is to start with that audit. You get the findings on tracking, search terms and landing pages whether or not you hire us, and the PPC management fee is then based on your real spend band rather than a guess.
Questions
Questions about this article
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It depends on the fee model and the ad spend. Agencies charge a percentage of spend, a flat monthly fee, a fee tiered by spend band or a performance fee. Our management fees are $349, $549 or $749 a month for ad spend up to $5,000, $7,000 and $10,000 respectively, with larger accounts quoted after an audit.
It should not be. Ad spend pays for clicks and goes to Google or Microsoft; the management fee pays for the agency's work. We keep them separate: ad spend is paid directly to the platforms from your own account, and we do not mark it up or take a percentage of it.
It can be, but it means the fee rises whenever the budget rises, even if the work does not. Run any percentage quote at your current spend and at the spend you hope to reach, then compare it with a flat or tiered fee for the same scope.
Only if you have agreed exactly what counts as a lead and the tracking is verified first. Performance pricing depends on measurement, and disputes over lead quality are common when it is agreed before conversion tracking can be trusted.
Many agencies have one. Ours is a three-month minimum, because the first month is largely diagnostic and month two is where changes take effect. After that it is month to month.