Key facts (UK, 2026)
• A click for home services costs about £3.20 on average, usually between £1.50 and £5.50 (Whito, 2026). Home improvement searches run higher, around £5.50–£7.85 (Whitehat).
• London clicks cost about 15–30% more than the rest of the UK.
• About 4 in 100 clicks become an enquiry for home improvement, so an enquiry costs roughly £75–£170 in ad spend alone.
• Paying someone to manage it usually costs £300–£2,500 a month, or 10–20% of spend, on top.
• Local Services Ads charge per enquiry instead of per click: roughly £10–£60 a lead in published UK figures.
How much does Google Ads cost per click in the UK?
You set your own budget, and you pay each time someone clicks your ad. What a click costs depends on how many other businesses want the same search. Published UK figures for 2026:
| Type of business | Typical cost per click | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Most UK small businesses | £1.50–£2.50 | Whito |
| Home services (plumbers, electricians, roofers, builders) | £3.20 average, £1.50–£5.50 range | Whito |
| Home improvement | £5.50–£7.85 | Whitehat |
| Same searches in London | About 15–30% higher | Whito |
Urgent jobs (“emergency plumber”, “locksmith near me”) and big-ticket jobs (extensions, roofs) tend to sit at the top of the range, because one customer is worth more.
How much should a small business spend on Google Ads a month?
Here’s what different monthly budgets buy for a trade, using clicks at £3.20–£7.15 and the 4.2% home improvement conversion rate from Whitehat. These are ad spend only, before any management fee:
| Monthly ad spend | Clicks | Enquiries (about 4 in 100) | Ad cost per enquiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| £250 | 35–78 | 1–3 | £76–£170 |
| £500 | 70–156 | 3–7 | £76–£170 |
| £1,000 | 140–313 | 6–13 | £76–£170 |
| £2,000 | 280–625 | 12–26 | £76–£170 |
An enquiry isn’t a job. If you win one in three, multiply the cost per enquiry by three to get your cost per job. Whitehat’s average across all UK industries was £70.11 per lead in 2025.
Whitehat says most UK small businesses spend £750–£2,500 a month while testing. At £250 a month you get so few clicks that it’s hard to tell whether it’s working at all.
Worked example: £500 a month in ads, plus a £300 management fee, is £800. At 3–7 enquiries, each one costs about £115–£265. At small budgets, the fee can cost more than the clicks.
How much does Google Ads management cost?
You don’t have to pay anyone: you can run Google Ads yourself. If you do pay someone, JW Digital lists typical UK fees in 2026 as:
- Monthly retainer: £300–£2,500+.
- Percentage of spend: 10–20%, often with a £300–£500 minimum.
- Set-up: from a few hundred pounds to about £1,500.
Your ad spend should be paid straight to Google, from an account in your name. If someone runs the account in their name, you can lose all the history when you leave.
What are Google Local Services Ads, and are they cheaper?
Local Services Ads are the boxes with a “verified” badge that can appear at the very top for some home services. You pay for a call or message from a customer, not a click. Google decides which kinds of business can use them, mostly home services.
Published UK figures put them at roughly £10–£60 per lead (Whitehat). One agency reports an average of £28.70 per lead across its own UK electrician accounts (Unavoidable Marketing). Check whether your trade is eligible, and read what counts as a chargeable lead.
They’re also changing: Google is moving Local Services Ads into the main Google Ads platform, with UK accounts expected to move in 2027 (Rare Bear Digital).
What affects the cost of Google Ads?
Your trade and the job
The more a customer is worth, the more businesses bid. Emergency call-outs and large projects cost more per click than small, routine jobs.
Where you advertise
London and busy towns cost more than rural areas. A tight area around where you actually work keeps costs down and stops enquiries from places you won’t go.
How well the account is set up
Showing for the wrong searches (“plumber jobs”, “how to fix a tap”) wastes money fast. Excluding those words, known as negative keywords, is one of the simplest savings.
The page people land on
If the page is slow, vague or hard to call from on a phone, fewer clicks become enquiries, and every enquiry costs more.
Is Google Ads worth it for a small business?
It can be. Ads are quick to start, and useful to fill a quiet month or test a new service. The downside is that every enquiry costs money, and it stops the day you stop paying.
The work that gets you found without ads, like clear service pages, a complete Google Business Profile, reviews and helpful guides, costs more time up front but keeps working. Many trades do both: ads for now, the website for the long run. We compare the two in how to get more customers from Google without paying for ads, and cover overall budgets in how much should a small business spend on marketing?
Why your website decides what ads cost you
Ads only bring people to your website. Whether they then call you depends on the page. If your page answers the question, shows real work and makes calling easy, more clicks become enquiries, and each enquiry costs less.
So before you spend on ads, check the page they’ll land on: does it say what you do and where, in the first two lines? Can someone call you with one tap? Does the contact form reach you? See why isn’t my website getting enquiries?
Can I run Google Ads myself?
Yes. Keep the area tight, start with a small number of specific searches, add negative keywords every week, and set up conversion tracking so you can see which clicks become calls and forms. Without tracking, you can’t tell what you’re paying for: see how to set up conversion tracking.
Website Clarity doesn’t run ads. If you want to know whether your website is ready for them, or could bring in enquiries without them, start with the free website check.
Common questions
- How much does Google Ads cost per month for a small business?
- You choose. Whitehat says most UK small businesses spend £750–£2,500 a month while testing. For a trade, £500 a month typically buys 70–156 clicks and 3–7 enquiries, before any management fee.
- How much does Google Ads cost per click in the UK?
- Most UK small businesses pay £1.50–£2.50 a click. Home services average about £3.20, and home improvement searches about £5.50–£7.85. London is about 15–30% higher.
- Is £500 a month enough for Google Ads?
- It's enough to test, in a tight local area. At trade click prices it buys roughly 70–156 clicks and 3–7 enquiries. If you also pay a management fee, the fee can be a large share of the total.
- How much do agencies charge to manage Google Ads?
- Typically £300–£2,500 a month, or 10–20% of ad spend with a minimum, plus set-up from a few hundred pounds to about £1,500. Ad spend should be paid directly to Google from an account in your name.
- Are Google Local Services Ads cheaper than normal Google Ads?
- Often per enquiry, because you pay per lead rather than per click. Published UK figures are roughly £10–£60 a lead. They're only available for certain types of business, mostly home services.
- Is Google Ads worth it for tradesmen?
- It can be, especially to fill quiet periods or test a service. But every enquiry costs money and it stops when you stop paying, so it works best alongside a website that gets found on its own.