PPC management fees in the UK typically run from 10 to 20 per cent of monthly ad spend, or a flat retainer of roughly £300 to £1,500 a month for small and mid-sized accounts. These are typical ranges, not quotes. The model matters as much as the number, because each one rewards the agency for something different.
Two quotes of “£500 a month” can describe completely different jobs. Here is how to read them.
How do agencies charge for PPC management?
Four models cover almost everything you will see. Percentage of ad spend. A flat monthly retainer. A hybrid of the two. And one-off set-up fees sitting on top of any of them.
Some agencies also offer hourly or project pricing for audits and one-off clean-ups, usually £60 to £150 an hour, a rough guide only.
Ask which model they use before you ask the price. The answer tells you where they make money.
What is a typical percentage of ad spend fee?
The usual band is 10 to 20 per cent. Larger budgets pay lower percentages, since the work does not triple when spend triples. Spending £15,000 a month you may negotiate 8 to 12 per cent. Spending £2,000, you will usually meet a minimum fee instead.
Picture a Harrogate dental practice spending £1,500 a month on Google Ads at 15 per cent. That is £225, which is not enough to cover proper search term reviews, ad testing and reporting. So agencies set a minimum, often £300 to £600, and the percentage only applies above it.
The percentage model has one flaw. It pays the agency more when you spend more, whether or not results improve. A good agency will tell you when to cut a budget. Ask whether they ever have.
How much does a flat PPC retainer cost?
A flat retainer is a fixed monthly fee for a defined amount of work. For a single Google Ads account with a modest budget, £300 to £800 a month is common. Multi-channel or multi-location work, such as Google, Meta and Microsoft together, often reaches £1,000 to £2,500.
The strength is predictability. You know your fee, and the agency has no incentive to push spend. The weakness is that a low flat fee on a big budget can mean the account is barely looked at.
Check what the retainer buys in hours or tasks. “Ongoing optimisation” is not a deliverable. Weekly search term checks, a monthly report and a monthly call are.
Are there set-up fees and what do they cover?
Often, yes. A one-off set-up fee of roughly £250 to £1,500 covers research, account structure, ad writing, conversion tracking and landing page advice. It is fair when the account is new. It is not fair when the agency is simply taking over an existing one and doing a quick tidy.
Ask what you keep if you leave. The account should sit in your own Google Ads manager access under your business, never in a hidden account only the agency can see. This is the single most important contract question in the whole market.
What should the fee include and what is usually extra?
A sensible fee covers account structure, keyword and negative keyword management, ad copy and testing, bid and budget management, conversion tracking, and a monthly report with a call.
Extras that tend to be charged separately include landing page design, creative for Meta and TikTok, video, call tracking subscriptions, and extra platforms. None of those is unreasonable. Surprise invoices are.
The ad spend itself is separate and goes to Google, usually plus VAT, which a VAT-registered firm can generally reclaim. Check whether the agency bills it through their card and adds a margin, or whether your own card is on the account. Your own card is cleaner.
Our own tracking set-up is included by default, and the thinking behind it is in Google Ads conversion tracking.
How do you compare PPC agency quotes fairly?
Put the quotes in a simple table in your head. Monthly fee, set-up fee, minimum term, who owns the account, what reporting you get, and whether tracking is included. Then add the first year’s total.
A quote of £400 plus £800 set-up with a 12-month term is £5,600. A quote of £550 on a rolling month has a lower commitment and comes to £6,600 a year, but you can leave in 30 days if it stinks.
Ask each agency what they would do in the first 30 days, in specifics. The one who names your keywords, your competitors and your likely cost per click has done the thinking. Ask also for an example of a report with the client name removed. For how to weigh agencies on more than price, see our guide to choosing a PPC agency in Leeds.
If you are still deciding how much to spend on the ads, our guide to Google Ads budgets for small firms comes first, because fees only make sense against a spend.
What do PPC management fees look like at different spend levels?
Take three illustrative businesses. A Wetherby physio spends £800 a month on ads and pays a flat £350. A Leeds roofing firm spends £3,500 and pays £600 to £700. A multi-site Yorkshire retailer spends £20,000 across Google and Meta and pays about 10 per cent, so £2,000, with reporting and creative on top.
The pattern holds well enough. As spend grows, the fee as a share of spend shrinks, and the scope grows. Under £1,000 of ad spend, fees can look huge as a percentage, 30 to 40 per cent, because the minimum work is the same. That is normal, though it is worth asking whether the budget is big enough to justify an agency at all.
Do one extra sum. Add your fee to your ad spend and divide by the enquiries you get. That is your real cost per enquiry, and it is the number to hold against what an enquiry is worth.
Is a cheap PPC management fee a red flag?
Not automatically. £250 a month can be fair for a small account with 20 keywords and a £500 budget. What worries me is a low fee paired with a big budget, long contract and no account access. Cheap management of £10,000 a month spend is gambling with someone else’s money.
Paid social is priced in a similar way, and the ad costs differ, as we explain in our guide to Facebook ad costs in the UK. TikTok sits on the same fee structures too, and our view on whether TikTok advertising works for small business sets out where it is worth trying.
Our PPC service is priced as a flat monthly fee agreed in writing, on a rolling basis after the first three months, with the account in your name from day one.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest PPC management I should consider?
Around £250 to £300 a month for a small, simple account. Below that, work usually gets squeezed to a monthly glance.
Should I pay a percentage or a flat fee?
Flat, for most small and mid-sized accounts. It removes the temptation to nudge your budget up, and you can budget the year with confidence.
Do PPC agencies take a cut of my ad spend on top of the fee?
Some do, quietly, by billing your ad spend through their own account with a margin. Ask in writing. If they refuse to say, walk away.
Is a 12-month contract normal?
You will see them, particularly with set-up fees to recover. I would accept three to six months at most, and a rolling month after that, because PPC results show within weeks, not years.
Can I manage Google Ads myself to avoid fees?
Yes, on a small budget with time to learn. The break-even is roughly where wasted spend would exceed the fee. Waste of 20 to 30 per cent on £1,500 is £300 to £450, which is already around a fee. Hard to see from inside.
If you have a quote in front of you, send it over and we will tell you what it covers and what it leaves out, with no obligation.
