The most common question we get from businesses considering Google Ads for the first time is: how much do I need to spend? The honest answer is that it depends on your industry, your location, and your goals. But there are some practical frameworks that help set realistic expectations, and some common mistakes that lead businesses to either underspend (and get no useful data) or overspend (on a campaign that is not ready to scale).

The minimum viable budget for useful data

To run a Google Ads campaign that generates enough data to optimize, you need enough clicks to see conversion patterns. In most service industries in Japan, a click costs between ¥100 and ¥500 for competitive keywords. If your target is 30 clicks per day (a reasonable minimum for optimization), you need a daily budget of ¥3,000 to ¥15,000, or ¥90,000 to ¥450,000 per month. Below ¥100,000 per month, the data is thin and the learning phase takes longer. We tell clients this upfront.

Industry benchmarks for Japan

Cost per click varies significantly by industry. Legal and financial services keywords in Tokyo can cost ¥500 to ¥2,000 per click. Medical and dental keywords are typically ¥200 to ¥800. Home renovation and construction keywords range from ¥150 to ¥600. E-commerce product keywords are often lower, ¥50 to ¥300, but require higher volume to generate meaningful sales. These are rough ranges based on our experience managing accounts across these categories, not official Google data.

Starting small and scaling based on data

The right approach for most new advertisers is to start with a conservative budget, generate enough data to understand your cost per conversion, and then scale the budget once you have a profitable cost per conversion confirmed. Starting with ¥150,000 per month, optimizing for 60 days, and then increasing to ¥300,000 once the cost per lead is acceptable is a more reliable path than launching at ¥500,000 with an unproven account structure.

What the management fee covers and what it does not

Our management fees cover the work of setting up, managing, and reporting on your campaigns. The ad spend is separate and goes directly to Google. We do not mark up ad spend. This means that if you pay us ¥90,000 per month for the Growth package and spend ¥200,000 on ads, your total monthly cost is ¥290,000. We are transparent about this from the first conversation because we have seen clients surprised by agencies that bundle ad spend into a single fee and mark it up.

If you are trying to figure out the right starting budget for your business, the free audit we offer is a good place to start. We will look at your industry, your competition, and your goals and give you a realistic number before you commit to anything.