How much do Google Ads cost?

Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords) is the most successful online advertising platform in the world and generates approximately 90% of Googles revenue. For the most part, Google Ads advertising runs on a cost per click model where you pay a cost per click for the keywords you select to advertise against in Google search results.

How Much Do the Clicks Cost?

The cost per click varies by keyword depending on the level of competition and the ranking position of your ad.

You place bids on each keyword to target your preferred ad ranking position. There are normally 10 ad positions with higher positions costing more per click.

The average cost per click in New Zealand is approx $1-35 and this has trended up in the past few years. Click costs vary widely from as low as $0.02 for your brand keywords and over $10 for highly competitive keywords.

Google Ads Promotional Credit for New Advertisers (2025 Update)

If you're new to Google Ads, you can take advantage of upgraded promotional credits designed to give your advertising budget an extra boost. Google now offers two more options than previously, allowing you to choose the offer that best aligns with your budget.

Here are the current promotional credit options for new advertisers in New Zealand:

Option A: Spend NZ$600 and receive NZ$600 in ad credit.

Option B: Spend NZ$1,800 and receive NZ$1,200 in ad credit.

Option C: Spend NZ$3,600 and receive NZ$1,800 in ad credit.

To qualify, you have 60 days from your first ad impression to meet the spending requirement.

Read about more on how to claim up to $1,800 Google credits.

These promotional credits provide a great way to maximize your initial ad spend and test different strategies without stretching your budget. Terms and conditions apply.

Optimizing Your Google Ads Strategy

To maximize the effectiveness of your Google Ads digital marketing (Adwords) campaigns, consider the following strategies:

1. Keyword Research: Conduct thorough keyword research to identify high-value keywords that align with your business goals and budget.
2. Bid Management: Regularly review and adjust your bids to maintain competitive ad positions without overspending.
3. Ad Quality: Focus on creating high-quality, relevant ads that improve your Quality Score, potentially reducing your CPC.
4. Performance Monitoring: Continuously monitor your campaign performance and make data-driven adjustments to optimize results.

Are Google Ads Worth it?

For most businesses, Google Ads targeted and managed optimally will deliver an attractive return on investment. For our NZ customers we find that this form of advertising generates leads at the lowest cost per lead than other alternative advertising options and at good volumes of enquiries.

It's worth pointing out that the website is also a factor that impacts your ROI with Google advertising. Websites need to be user friendly and convey your offering in a simple and clear manner.

Google Ads Cost is Managed Daily

Your AdWords advertising costs are managed by setting a daily budget level. This means that your ads stop showing when your daily budget has been reached and they wont start showing again until the next day.

You can set your daily budget as low as $1 per day. Ideally the minimum budget level would start at $15 per day. If your budget setting is too low, then the keywords may not fire as in some cases $10 might only get you 1 – 3 clicks per day.

To be cost efficient its best to target only the most relevant keywords which match closely to the products and services being provided and only to searchers in those regions that are geographically relevant. AdWords is not an ideal medium for cross and or substitute selling.

The Google Ads (AdWords) platform is feature rich and sophisticated and regularly being further enhanced. It is often most cost productive to get an expert to set up and manage your AdWords digital marketing campaign activity.

See info on our managed Google Ad services including prices.

Read our article Adwords management – outsourced service or self manage?

Google Advertising Cost Protection

Google provides a guarantee that your total monthly advertising cost wont exceed your daily budget times the number of days in the month. Should that happen then your account will automatically receive a credit for the amount your budget has been exceeded.

The platform also credits back any clicks that are deemed by the system to be fraudulent. This protects you against any of your competitors persistently clicking on your ads.

Read our article Does Google Ads Work?

Please note that GST applies to Google Ads in New Zealand.

If you are considering Google advertising for your business, then contact us for a free consultation.