If you have to pick one number: start with 5-12% of your target revenue going into paid ads, split across Google and Meta. A $100k/month brand should test with $5-12k/month. A $1M/month brand often allocates $60-120k/month. Below this, you can't generate enough data to optimize. Related: cro.
Costs typically range from $1,500 to $15,000+ per month, depending on scope, channel mix, and team seniority. Senior-led work with no junior hand-offs typically commands the higher end. We break down the real cost drivers below.
The minimum viable budget
Google Adsneeds 15-30 conversions per month per campaign to optimize properly. If your CPA is $50, that means $750-1,500/month minimum per campaign. For a brand running 3-5 campaigns, that's $4-8k/month floor. Below that, Google's smart biddinglacks data to work.
Budget by growth stage
- →Pre-$500k ARR: $2-5k/month, focus on brand + best-converting keywords only.
- →$500k-$2M ARR: $5-15k/month, expand to category keywords and Performance Max.
- →$2M-$10M ARR: $15-50k/month, full-funnel including YouTube and Demand Gen.
- →$10M-$50M ARR: $50-200k/month, saturate branded + aggressive non-brand.
- →$50M+ ARR: $200k+/month, often with brand lift testing and MMM.
The margin test
If your gross margin is under 40%, Google Adscan work but you need laser focus on high-intent keywords and tight CPA targets. If your margin is over 60%, you can afford broader targeting and testing. Brands with under 25% margin should probably avoid Google Adsentirely until margins improve.
When to scale
Scale budget 15-25% per month when you're hitting target CPA consistently for 3+ weeks. Jumping 50-100% causes algorithm resets and inflated CPAs. Slow compounding beats aggressive doubling in Google Ads.
Apply this: free paid ads tools.
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