What results should you expect from paid ads?

First you must set up conversion tracking, which is technical and is the basis of the platform's learning, and then expect to pay roughly $150 for a high-quality lead, though it varies widely by industry.

Quick Answer

• Before anything works, set up conversion tracking and tag the website, because that is the basis of the entire platform's learning.
• If you have never done paid ads, you probably won't know how to set up tracking, so early results won't be good.
• For high-quality lead generation, expect to pay around $150 per lead on average, though it depends heavily on the industry.

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What to expect from your first paid ads spend

Brenton Thomas, who runs the SEO, GEO, and paid-ads agency Twibi, says the first thing standing between you and results isn't budget, it's the technical setup that teaches the platform what success looks like.

"If you've never done paid ads before, you have to set up your conversion tracking, which is technical in nature. You have to tag up the website. So if there's a desired action you want from paid ads, say you want purchases, you need to go to your checkout and set up the tracking to feed that information back to Google Ads. And that is the basis of the learning of the entire platform." — Brenton Thomas

Once tracking is in place and the platform can learn, he gives a realistic benchmark for what a quality lead costs.

"I would say for lead generation, for high quality leads, you might pay like $150. It really depends on the industry. I've seen it really low, but on average about $150 for a high quality lead is what I've seen." — Brenton Thomas

The practical takeaway: don't judge paid ads by your first week. Get conversion tracking right first, then measure cost per lead against the roughly $150 average for your industry.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What do you need to set up before running paid ads?

Brenton Thomas says you have to set up conversion tracking, which is technical in nature. You tag up the website so a desired action, like a purchase at checkout, feeds back to Google Ads. That tracking is the basis of the learning for the entire platform.

How much does a high-quality lead cost from paid ads?

On average, Brenton says you might pay about $150 for a high-quality lead. It really depends on the industry, and he has seen it go really low, but $150 is the average he has seen for high-quality lead generation.

Are AI Overviews making paid ads more expensive?

Brenton says that across his clients in a number of industries he hasn't seen ads become more expensive off the top of his head. He's sure there's more competition, and the more advertisers bidding for keywords, the more expensive it gets. He hasn't noticed a sharp increase yet, but it probably will become more expensive as time goes on.

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Full Clip Transcript

For someone who hasn't done much paid advertising, what should they expect as far as results, if they're spending $1,000 a month? If you've never done paid ads before, you have to set up your conversion tracking, which is technical in nature. You have to tag up the website. So if there's a desired action you want from paid ads, say you want purchases, you need to go to your checkout and set up the tracking to feed that information back to Google Ads. And if you've never done paid ads before, you probably won't know how to set that up. And that is the basis of the learning of the entire platform. So the results won't be good. But let's say a new person could figure that out. I would say for lead generation, for high quality leads, you might pay like $150. It really depends on the industry. I've seen it really low, but on average about $150 for a high quality lead is what I've seen. As the AI overviews make search traffic go down, does that make ads more expensive? I have clients across a number of industries. Off the top of my head, I haven't seen them become more expensive. I'm sure there's more competition. The more advertisers bidding for keywords, the more expensive it'll be. Maybe it's slowly increased over the past year, so I haven't noticed a sharp increase, but it probably will become more expensive as time goes on.