Mauricio Martinez
October 8, 2025
Our guide for Canadian small businesses covers tested models (weekly, bi-weekly) to find the perfect sending frequency without burning out your audience.
If you are asking how much a Canadian small business should spend on Google Ads, you are already thinking like a strategist. There is no single magic number that fits every business, as the ideal budget depends entirely on your industry, goals, and competitive landscape.
However, a common and effective starting point for many small businesses in Canada is between $500 and $2,500 per month. This range is generally enough to gather meaningful data, test campaigns, and begin generating a measurable return. The most important thing is to have a budget that allows you to compete effectively without overspending.
To move from a general estimate to a strategic budget, you need to consider a few critical variables. Each one directly impacts how far your ad dollars will go.Â
Some industries are more competitive than others. A lawyer in Vancouver will face a much higher Cost Per Click (CPC) than a local bakery in Saskatoon. Researching the average CPC for your main keywords gives you a realistic idea of what it costs to get a single visitor to your site. Highly competitive keywords require a larger budget to gain visibility.
What do you want to achieve? Are you aiming for brand awareness, or do you need to generate sales leads immediately? Campaigns designed for lead generation often require a more aggressive budget because they target keywords with high purchase intent. In contrast, awareness campaigns might focus on lower-cost keywords with higher search volumes.
Targeting a smaller, local area like a specific neighbourhood in Vancouver will be more cost effective than running a campaign across all of Canada. The broader your target area, the more budget you will need to reach a significant portion of that audience. Be specific about where your customers are to maximize your return on investment.
For businesses new to Google Ads, it is wise to start with a modest budget you are comfortable testing. Think of your first three months as a period of investment in data. During this time, you will learn which keywords, ads, and audiences deliver the best results.
Once you identify what works, you can confidently scale your spending. The goal is to establish a positive Return on Investment (ROI), where every dollar you spend on ads generates more than a dollar in profit.
While the factors above are qualitative, you can use a couple of models to arrive at a quantitative starting point.
A common method is the percentage of revenue model, where businesses allocate between 5% and 12% of their total revenue to marketing, with a portion of that dedicated to Google Ads.
Another, more precise method, is goal-oriented calculation. You can reverse engineer a budget based on your goals. For example, if you want 10 new clients per month and your website converts 5% of visitors into leads, you need 200 qualified clicks. If your average CPC is $3.00, your estimated monthly budget would be $600 (200 clicks x $3.00/click).
Feeling overwhelmed by the math? To simplify this planning, you can use our Google Ads Budget Calculator. It helps you estimate a starting budget based on these key variables, giving you a clear and actionable number.
Ultimately, the right Google Ads budget is not about spending more, it is about spending smarter. The focus should always be on your Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). A small, highly optimized campaign that generates profitable leads is far more successful than a large campaign that burns through cash with little to show for it.
Figuring out the right budget is the first step toward blowing up your sales. At Latin Launch, we specialize in creating strategic paid advertising campaigns that are tailored to your specific business goals and designed to maximize your ROI.
If you are ready to stop guessing and start growing, book a discovery call with our experts today. We will help you build a strategy that makes every dollar count.
Our guide for Canadian small businesses covers tested models (weekly, bi-weekly) to find the perfect sending frequency without burning out your audience.
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