Guides to UK PPC costs, benchmarks and diagnostics that show their working
These guides answer the questions UK lead-generation businesses actually ask about Google Ads — what it costs, what a lead should cost, and why an account spends without converting.
The editorial rule, stated plainly: every figure carries a named source, and where no reliable UK benchmark exists the guide says so and explains why, rather than borrowing a US number.
Start with the cost and budget guides if you are not yet running ads; start with the diagnostic if you are running them and the numbers look wrong.
All guides
What Google Ads costs in the UK — and what decides it
Click prices, how the auction sets them, and the difference between media spend and management fees.
How to set a Google Ads budget for lead generation, with the maths shown
What a daily budget has to cover before it can reliably produce a lead — and how to check yours.
How Much Do PPC Agencies Charge in the UK? Fee Models Compared
Percentage of spend, flat fee or hybrid — how UK agencies price management, and what each model rewards.
How to Choose a PPC Agency: 12 Questions to Ask (and Red Flags)
The questions that expose how an agency actually works — including who ends up owning your Google Ads account.
What's a Good Cost Per Lead in the UK? Benchmarks by Industry
How to judge whether your cost per lead is reasonable — the formula, the caveats, and where benchmark tables mislead.
What's a Good Landing Page Conversion Rate? UK Benchmarks for Lead Gen
What a good conversion rate looks like for lead-generation landing pages, and how to calculate yours honestly.
Google Ads Getting Clicks but No Conversions? A 10-Point Diagnostic
A ten-point diagnostic for accounts that spend without converting — starting with conversion tracking, the most common culprit.
How Long Does Google Ads Take to Work? A Realistic Week-by-Week Timeline
A week-by-week account timeline — what the learning phase does, when impressions arrive, and when to judge results.
Google Ads vs Facebook Ads for Lead Generation: Which Wins in the UK?
Intent against interruption — which channel produces cheaper lead-generation enquiries, and when to run both.
Google Local Services Ads in the UK: What's Available, Costs and Who Qualifies
What Local Services Ads offer UK trades and service businesses, how pay-per-lead pricing works, and who qualifies.
How these guides are written
Each guide is written to answer its title question in the first paragraph, with the detail underneath — the same answer-first structure Google's own results reward.
Data tables cite their source inline; where the underlying click-cost data is denominated in a currency we have not verified as sterling, the guide gives qualitative ranges instead of false precision.
When a real benchmark does not exist for the UK, the guide says exactly that and explains what blocks the number — a smaller promise than competitors make, and one we can keep.
Reading order FAQs
Which guide should I start with?
It depends where you are. If you are not yet running ads, start with the cost guide and then the budget guide — together they tell you what Google Ads costs in the UK and whether your budget can work at all. If you are already running ads and the numbers look wrong, go straight to the diagnostic on clicks without conversions. If you are comparing agencies, the fees guide explains what you should expect to pay — and if the account is already burning money, skip the reading and request the free audit.
Where do the numbers in these guides come from?
Every table cites its source inline: UK keyword and search-results data gathered for this site, Google's own documentation, and — once client sign-off completes — measured results from accounts we run. Where a reliable UK benchmark does not exist, the guide says so and explains what blocks the number instead of borrowing a US figure. Some click-cost data in our research is denominated in a currency we have not verified as sterling, so guides give qualitative ranges rather than false pound-precision until it is.
Do these guides cover ecommerce PPC?
No. GrowthLine works only with lead-generation businesses — companies that sell appointments, quotes and consultations — and the guides hold the same line, because ecommerce PPC runs on different mechanics: shopping feeds, return-on-ad-spend targets and basket economics. If most of your revenue is basket checkout, an ecommerce-focused source will serve you better than anything here.
Reading up is the slow way to fix an account.
If yours is already spending, the free audit puts the findings in writing — what is broken, what it costs you, and what we would change — whether or not an engagement follows.