How much should a small business spend on Google Ads?

A common starting point is 5–10% of gross revenue for marketing overall, with a portion allocated to paid search, but for small businesses just starting out, it's more practical to work backward from your numbers. Figure out your average customer value and how much you can afford to pay to acquire one customer, then use that to set a daily budget that gets you enough clicks to gather meaningful data, typically at least 15–20 clicks per day per campaign. For many small businesses, that lands somewhere between $500 and $3,000 a month, though highly competitive industries need more. Start smaller if budget is tight, focus on your highest-intent keywords, and increase spend once you can see clearly which campaigns are converting profitably. Spending more before you have that clarity just scales the guesswork.