Start from the customer, not the platform
Google Ads has no minimum spend, and the right budget depends on your industry, city and competition. Instead of guessing a monthly number, work backwards from what a new customer is worth to you and how many you want.
The three numbers you need
Every Google Ads budget comes down to three numbers:
- Cost per click (CPC): what you pay, on average, when someone clicks your ad. It's set by an auction and varies by keyword, location and competition.
- Conversion rate: the share of clicks that become an enquiry (a call, form or WhatsApp message). This depends heavily on your landing page.
- Close rate: the share of enquiries that become paying customers. This depends on your sales team and how fast they reply.
A worked example
These numbers are only an illustration; your own will differ. Say a clinic's average click costs ₹40, 8 out of every 100 visitors send an enquiry, and 1 in 4 enquiries books an appointment.
Cost per lead = ₹40 ÷ 0.08 = ₹500. Cost per patient = ₹500 × 4 = ₹2,000. If the clinic wants 20 new patients a month, it needs about 80 leads, or roughly ₹40,000 in ad spend.
If a new patient is worth ₹10,000 over the year, that's a healthy return. If they're worth ₹1,500, the maths doesn't work yet, and the fix is improving the conversion or close rate, not spending more.
Use Google's own tools to estimate CPC
Google Keyword Planner (free inside a Google Ads account) shows estimated bid ranges for keywords in your city. Use the top-of-page bid range as a rough guide for what clicks may cost, then refine with real data after the first two to four weeks.
How to start without wasting money
A starter budget should be big enough to collect real data within a few weeks. A sensible approach:
- Begin with high-intent search keywords ("physiotherapist in Indirapuram") before broad ones ("back pain")
- Target a tight radius around where your customers are
- Add negative keywords from day one: "free", "jobs", "course", "salary" and anything irrelevant
- Set up conversion tracking before launch so Google can optimise for leads, not clicks
- Send traffic to a focused landing page with one clear action, not your homepage
- Review the search terms report every week and block wasted searches
The mistakes that waste the most spend
In audits, the same few issues come up again and again:
- Running ads with no conversion tracking
- Using broad match keywords without negative keywords
- Leaving the default "Search Partners" and "Display Network" options switched on in a search campaign
- Sending clicks to a slow website that's hard to use on a phone
- Letting leads wait hours for a reply
When to increase the budget
Raise the budget when your cost per lead is stable and acceptable, your team can handle more enquiries, and Google shows that you're losing impressions due to budget. Increase in steps of 15 to 20 percent so the campaign's learning doesn't reset.
Want to see what your budget could bring back? Try our free ROI calculator, or book a free consultation and we'll review your account.
