It’s a robbery! Understanding Pay Per Click (PPC) costs

Google is a business and not a charity, so no doubt PPC costs will only go up. While there are multiple factors influencing that increase, the big ones are inflation and Google’s strategy.

In the article below, you can see what our Google specialists found out and our honest advice for your future marketing budget investment.

Inflation and PPC costs

Yes, inflation not only raises everyday goods prices. Pay Per Click costs are affected by inflation too. The power of £ falls severely over time. Just look at the numbers below!

The power of £ – based on the Inflation Calculator of the Bank of England

Yes, you see it right. Today’s £100 has got 25% less buying power than 5 years ago, and 35% less than 10 years ago. This is how inflation makes the marketing budget crumble and so marketers  look at each £ twice before spending.

But that’s only part of the story…

Google’s strategy and PPC costs

In 2024 the Cost Per Click (CPC) has been  strongly influenced by growing competition. As Google Ads is a bidding game, the more competitors are bidding for the same keywords, especially in popular industries, the faster PPC cost will rise. It is a simple market rule of demand and supply.

And now we have Temu, Amazon, and similar giant international corporations, platforms where you can buy virtually anything you can think of pressing on our market. So, how can you win your portion of the market and get visible online?

There is a number of steps you can take to minimise the impact of raising PPC costs. You can improve your landing page or create a new one for better conversion rates, remove low-performing keywords and add negative keywords to filter out irrelevant traffic to name just a few.

The key is a strategy – Do not go blindly investing in Google Ads.

This game requires skills and experience. Instead of burning your marketing budget in DIY project get a professional Pay Per Click specialist who will use your historical data and statistics from the market to carefully tailor your campaigns.

The fight for each click will be only harder, so make sure you have the right team in place to optimise your budget.

So will Google Ads still be worth it in 2025? 

Absolutely. Google Ads are worth it because they provide a cost-effective way for businesses to reach a virtually unlimited, targeted audience. They’re extremely flexible and you can start, pause, adjust your bids or stop at any time.

Is it good for all kind of business?

No!

And we will say that loud – No! not all businesses will benefit from Google Ads. And that is why here at Relton Digital we offer free Keyword Forecasting. We take the guess-work out because we believe in creating and delivering success. And we will never take on board a client if we don’t believe we can deliver success.

What if your marketing budget for 2025 is too tight?

The year 2025 should be a year of increased retention, when we concentrate on client loyalty, engagement, automation, and remarketing. A happy client is the one who is coming back and doing so without additional PPC cost. So make sure you spend your budget wisely.

What we mean by this is we have clients who spend 1/5 of what their competitors spend on Google Ads, yet achieve higher Impression shares and great results. We know this because we use PPC tools that tell us what your competitors are up to.

What else do we know?

We know that Google Account Managers are not paid by Google, but are outsourced 3^rd parties. We also know that they earn commission when they get a Google Ads Account to spend more money with them.

Let us say that again, Google is a business like all others and wants to maximise its client’s spend and Life Time Value (LTV). Stay with them over a prolonged period of time, and it will reward you for doing so, but do it on your terms and in your businesses and budget’s best interest.

Not sure how to do it? Drop us a line and one of our marketing strategists will get in contact with you to help you in the process.