'How much should I spend on Google Ads?' is the question every business owner asks before starting. And most agencies give a vague answer because the honest one is uncomfortable. Here's a straight answer.
The Real Minimum to Get Meaningful Data
Google Ads is a data game. You cannot optimize what you cannot measure. For a business in Nepal or India, the practical minimum for a Search campaign is around NPR 25,000 / INR 15,000 per month. Below that, you'll get maybe 200-400 clicks — not enough to know if a keyword, ad, or landing page is working. If you're targeting international markets (UAE, US, UK), multiply that by 5-10x.
Budget by Business Type
Local service businesses (Nepal/India) — restaurants, salons, clinics: NPR 20,000-40,000 / INR 12,000-25,000 per month is usually enough for a single city. E-commerce: start with NPR 50,000+ / INR 30,000+ per month. You need volume to make Performance Max and Shopping campaigns work. B2B / high-ticket services: NPR 40,000+ / INR 25,000+, primarily on Search with tight keyword targeting. International (UAE/US/UK targeting): Minimum USD 800-1,500 per month.
Where Your Money Actually Goes
60-70% should go to your highest-intent Search campaigns. 15-25% to remarketing. 10-15% to testing new campaigns or audiences. Avoid the trap of dumping everything into Performance Max on day one. It's powerful but needs conversion data to work.
The Numbers That Matter More Than Budget
Spending more doesn't fix a broken funnel. Before increasing budget, check: conversion rate (is your landing page turning at least 3-5% of clicks into leads?), cost per acquisition (what can you afford to pay for a customer?), return on ad spend (for e-commerce, 3x is a healthy starting target). If your CPA is higher than your customer value, more budget just means bigger losses.
Common Budget Mistakes
Spreading too thin — running 10 campaigns on a small budget guarantees none of them get enough data. Pausing too early — the first 2-4 weeks are learning phase. Not accounting for Google's suggestions inflating spend. Ignoring negative keywords — without them, you'll waste 20-40% of budget on irrelevant searches.
A Realistic 90-Day Plan
Month 1: Set up tracking properly, launch one Search campaign, accept that this is a testing phase. Month 2: Analyze data. Kill what's not working. Double down on winning keywords. Add remarketing. Month 3: You should now have a profitable core. Scale budget by 20-30% on what works.
At Durbar Digital, we manage Google Ads for businesses across Nepal, India, and international markets — with transparent reporting and no vanity metrics.