Google Advertising Costs You Need to Understand
Just getting started with Google advertising and wondering about advertising costs? In this post, we explain how Google Ads charges you and what affects the cost.
1. Google pricing models (4 models)
Cost Per Click (CPC): You are charged when a customer clicks your ad to visit your website.
Cost Per 1,000 Impressions (CPM): Applies to Google video or display ads. You pay when your ad is shown to users.
Cost Per View (CPV): You pay when a customer watches your video.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): You pay when a customer visits your website and takes a specific action (such as making a purchase or requesting a consultation).
Google advertising costs vary widely. A click can cost from 3,000 VND to 30,000 VND, or even more than 200,000 VND, depending on competition, your industry and the advertising location.
Average CPC on GDN is usually < 3,000 VND for broadly targeted campaigns. Remarketing or adding too many audience targeting conditions leads to higher costs.
2. Factors affecting Google advertising costs (5 factors)
2.1 Industry - Audience size and competition
There are 2 ways to determine whether an industry is competitive:
Option 1: Check the "Competition" column in Keyword Planner. It has 3 levels: high, medium and low. This column shows how competitive keywords are in advertising.
Option 2: Search Google for a keyword related to that industry. If you see many businesses running ads in the results, you can consider it a competitive industry with a high CPC.
For example, searching for "Massage Chairs" shows many different businesses running ads.
2.2 Advertising location
Location targeting is another factor that affects advertising.
For example, in Vietnam, a low average click cost for search ads is around 3,000 VND. In the US market, the lowest average is already 15,000–25,000 VND. For the display network, it is usually < 3,000 VND in Vietnam, but several times higher in the US.
Costs per click also differ between provinces and cities in Vietnam.
Average CPC varies by province and city
2.3 Audience size
The broader your audience, the lower your cost per click compared with more narrowly targeted audiences. This is most apparent in display and YouTube advertising.
For example, targeting a remarketing audience costs more on Google Ads than targeting by interests, behavior or similar audiences.
Average CPC varies by audience
2.4 Shopping trends (seasonal or periodic...)
Seasons also affect Google bids. For example, purchasing power rises at the end of the year, and CPC rises as more advertisers compete. During the Covid pandemic, demand for essential goods rose sharply. Covid tests, which had previously attracted little interest, also sold extremely well during the pandemic.
Searches for keywords related to "Covid Testing" surged during the pandemic, then fell
Optimus is a Marketing Agency specializing in advertising services. We are always ready to help and answer your questions. Contact us for the best advice and support for your Google Ads campaigns.
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