Part of our guide to What is digital marketing? The channels, and which one to start with.
PPC (pay-per-click) is online advertising where you pay each time someone clicks your ad. Google Ads and Meta Ads are the main platforms in India. For most small businesses, ₹30,000 to ₹1,50,000 a month in ad spend is the range where results can be measured and improved; below about ₹20,000 a month there is usually too little data.
This guide explains how the ad auction works, which platform suits which job, and the budget rules we use when a business asks whether PPC is worth it. PPC is one channel among several, and our guide to what digital marketing is and where to start compares it with the others.
How the ad auction works
Every time someone searches on Google or scrolls Instagram, an auction decides which ads they see. The highest bid does not automatically win.
On Google, your position is set by Ad Rank. Google lists the inputs as your bid, the quality of your ad and landing page, minimum thresholds, how competitive the auction is, the context of the search (location, device, time and the words used) and the expected impact of ad assets such as call buttons and sitelinks. Google also says “higher quality ads can often lead to lower CPCs” (About Ad Rank, checked October 2026).
You will also see a Quality Score from 1 to 10 in your account. It is built from expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Google is explicit that “Quality Score is not an input in the ad auction”; it is a diagnostic tool (About Quality Score). Treat it as a hint about where an ad or page is weak, not a number to chase.
Meta works on the same principle. Its auction does not award delivery on bid alone; estimated action rates and ad quality also decide which ad a person sees (About ad auctions).
The practical lesson is the same on both platforms: a relevant ad pointing to a page that delivers what the ad promised costs less than a vague ad pointing to your homepage.
The main PPC platforms
Each platform suits a different buying situation. Pick by how your buyer behaves, not by which platform is fashionable.
| Platform | Best for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search | Capturing demand that already exists | People are typing what they want, such as “CA firm Andheri” or “barcode printer price” |
| Google Performance Max | Ecommerce and simple lead generation with good conversion data | One campaign runs across Google’s inventory: Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps (About Performance Max) |
| Meta (Facebook, Instagram) | Creating demand for something people do not search for yet | Targeting by interests and lookalike audiences; strong visual formats |
| B2B offers aimed at specific job titles or industries | Targeting by role, company and seniority; clicks usually cost more | |
| YouTube | Explaining a product or building familiarity | Video holds attention better than a static ad for complex offers |
| Amazon Ads | Sellers already listed on Amazon | Ads appear where buyers are about to purchase |
How we decide what to spend
This is the budget policy we publish and apply when someone asks us to run their ads. It is a decision framework, not a promise of results.
First, how the money flows. Ad spend is billed to you directly by Google or Meta, on your own payment method. We never mark it up and never charge a percentage of spend. Our management fee is separate: from ₹20,000 a month for a single platform, and ₹25,000 to ₹75,000 a month for multi-platform accounts with creative and landing pages. A fee based on a percentage of spend rewards the agency for spending more; a flat fee keeps the focus on your cost per lead.
Then, how much to spend:
| Monthly ad spend | What we recommend |
|---|---|
| Under ₹20,000 | Usually too little data to optimise. A local business is often better served by Google Business Profile, reviews and local SEO first. |
| ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 | Workable only for one platform, one tightly focused campaign and one landing page. Expect slower learning. |
| ₹30,000 to ₹1,50,000 | The useful range for most Indian small and mid-sized businesses. Enough clicks to see which searches, ads and pages produce enquiries. |
| Above ₹1,50,000 | Room to test a second platform or audience, once the first is producing enquiries at a cost you can sustain. |
An illustrative month. Suppose a business spends ₹50,000 on Google Search ads and pays ₹20,000 for management: ₹70,000 in total. If that month produces 35 genuine enquiries, the cost per lead is ₹70,000 ÷ 35 = ₹2,000. If one in seven enquiries becomes a customer, that is 5 customers and a cost per customer of ₹14,000. Whether that is good depends entirely on what a customer is worth to you. These numbers are an example, not a benchmark.
PPC or SEO?
Neither is better. They do different jobs, and most businesses that can afford both end up using both.
- PPC is fast and switchable. Ads can show as soon as they are approved, and visibility stops the day you stop paying.
- SEO is slow and durable. It takes months to build, then keeps bringing visitors without a cost per click. Our guide to what SEO is explains why it starts with technical checks.
A sensible pattern: run search ads for immediate enquiries while SEO builds, and use the ad data to see which searches actually produce customers. Those are the searches worth the slower SEO work.
What to set up before you spend
Most wasted ad budgets fail before the first click, because nothing is set up to tell good spend from bad.
- Conversion tracking. Record form submissions, calls and WhatsApp clicks as conversions. Google describes conversion measurement as analysing “specific actions that users take on your website after interacting with your Google Ads” (Set up your web conversions). Without it, the platform optimises for clicks, not customers.
- A landing page built around the ad. One offer, one action, and the same words the ad used. Not your homepage.
- An ad account in your name. If you part ways with an agency, the account and its history should stay with you.
- A record of what happened to each lead. The ad platform knows who enquired; only your sales records know who paid. If enquiries end up scattered across a shared inbox, WhatsApp and a spreadsheet, you cannot calculate cost per customer. That is the problem a CRM solves, and our guide to custom CRM development cost explains when a simple tool is enough and when custom software pays off.
If you do not yet have a clear offer, a page that explains it and someone to answer enquiries within a few hours, fix those first. Ads will only bring more people to the gap.
How to launch your first campaign
Start small and narrow, then widen what works.
- Define one goal. Enquiries, calls, bookings or sales. Pick one.
- Choose one platform. Usually Google Search for services people already look for, Meta for products people discover.
- Write tightly themed ad groups. One service per ad group, with ads that repeat the words people search.
- Add negative keywords so you do not pay for “free”, “jobs”, “course” or competitor names you do not want.
- Set a daily cap and check the account daily in the first week for wasted searches and broken tracking.
- Give it data before big changes. Two to four weeks of steady spend usually shows which searches and ads produce enquiries.
- Review weekly. Pause what produces clicks without enquiries; move budget to what produces customers.
Before you hire anyone to run your ads
Ask these questions of any agency, including us. The answers tell you whose interest the setup serves.
- Who pays the platform? You should, directly. Be wary of an invoice that bundles ad spend and fees into one number.
- How is the fee calculated? A flat fee or a fixed retainer, not a percentage of spend.
- Whose name is the account in? Yours.
- What is reported? Leads and cost per lead, not only clicks and impressions.
- What is the minimum spend they will accept? An agency that takes on ₹10,000 a month and promises results is promising something the data cannot support.
If those answers suit you, our PPC management service runs Google and Meta campaigns on exactly these terms, and our digital marketing services page shows how ads fit with SEO and social. Current fees are on our pricing page.