Most confusion about Google Ads pricing comes from mixing up two very different costs: the ad spend that goes straight to Google, and the management fee that goes to whoever builds and runs the campaigns. Get these straight and budgeting gets simple.
Cost one: your ad spend
This is money Google charges per click, set by an auction. In Thailand, clicks range from a few baht for a low-competition local term to ฿40–80+ for high-intent commercial keywords like "ทนายความ กรุงเทพ" or "aircon repair Bangkok". You decide a daily cap; you never pay more than you set.
A realistic starting spend for a Thai SMB testing the channel is ฿15,000–฿30,000 per month. Below ฿10,000 there is rarely enough data to optimise.
Cost two: management
Running ads well is ongoing work — keyword research, negative keywords, ad copy in Thai and English, landing pages, bid adjustments, conversion tracking. Agencies charge for this either as a flat fee or a percentage of spend. We fold it into a transparent monthly retainer rather than a percentage, because a percentage quietly rewards us for spending more of your money.
Where the money leaks
No conversion tracking
if you cannot see which clicks became enquiries, you are flying blind
Sending clicks to a weak page
a fast, focused landing page often matters more than the ad itself
Ignoring negative keywords
without them you pay for "free", "jobs" and "DIY" searches that never buy
Brand-only campaigns
bidding on your own name looks cheap but rarely grows anything
Ads or SEO first?
Ads buy traffic the day you switch them on but stop the moment you stop paying. SEO builds traffic that compounds. Most Bangkok clients we work with run a small ads budget for immediate leads while SEO matures underneath. If you want a recommendation for your specific market, get a free audit and we will model both.