How Google Ads charges you in the first place
In search campaigns you generally do not pay for showing the ad, you pay per click. Display and video campaigns are usually billed per thousand impressions or per video view instead.
What a click costs is decided in an auction. Four things matter: your bid, the quality of ad and landing page, the competition for the same search term and the context of the query. Good quality works twice in your favour: better position at a lower click price. That is why there is no official price per click, only experience. Google explains the mechanics in its help page on the ad auction.
Realistic click prices in Switzerland
Switzerland is an expensive place to advertise, but purchasing power is high. As a rough guide from our campaigns:
- Local services (trades, hairdressers, cosmetics, physio): often 1 to 4 francs per click.
- B2B and consulting-heavy offers (fiduciary, IT services, agencies): usually 4 to 10 francs.
- Highly competitive industries (lawyers, insurance, loans, moving companies): 10 to 20 francs and more are not unusual.
A real example: for Renoplan GmbH we generate renovation enquiries with locally targeted campaigns without bidding in the most expensive auctions. We describe how such a local campaign is structured in our post on Google Ads in Baden and Wettingen.
What starting budget makes sense
More important than the absolute amount is collecting enough data. At 2 francs per click, a 300 franc monthly budget buys 150 clicks spread over a month. Neither Google nor you learn much from that.
As a rule of thumb, we recommend a media budget from around 1,000 francs per month for at least three months. Pure remarketing often needs less, broad campaigns need more. After that you know what an enquiry costs and can decide properly whether and where to scale.
The costs people tend to forget
- Management: setting up campaigns, maintaining search terms, testing ads. Whether agency or your own time, this effort is real.
- Landing page: the click is only the beginning. A weak landing page burns even the best click budget.
- Tracking: without clean measurement you do not know which campaign brings enquiries. Why more budget never fixes a tracking problem is written up here.
When Google Ads is not the right tool
Honestly: if nobody searches for your offer, the best campaign will not help. New products that need explaining first need visibility through other channels. And if your website does not turn visitors into enquiries, the money is better invested there than in more clicks.
If you want to know what is realistic in your industry, we are happy to run the numbers. More on our SEA page or directly via the contact form.
Common questions about Google Ads costs
What does a click cost in Switzerland?
Depending on the industry, usually between 1 and 10 francs, in competitive fields like law or insurance also 20 francs and more. These are our own figures from Swiss accounts, not official statistics. Google's Keyword Planner gives you historical averages and forecasts for your search terms. You only learn the actual click price once the account is running, because it depends on bid, quality, competition, location and timing.
Is 300 francs a month enough?
For a serious test in most industries: probably not. The amount of data is too small to draw reliable conclusions. Better to test three months with a solid budget than a year with tiny amounts.
What does agency management cost?
Many agencies charge a percentage of the ad budget. We consider that the wrong incentive and work with a transparent fee that is not tied to your ad spend. Either way, what matters is that the agency shows clearly what its work achieves.