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Pricing

What PPC consultants actually charge

Most pricing pages in this industry say 'contact us'. Here is a straight explanation of the three pricing models, what each one costs in practice, and where each one quietly works against you.

14+Years Experience
3Pricing Models
0Long-Term Lock-Ins
The Problem

The three models, and the catch in each

Nobody explains the incentive problem, so here it is.

Percentage of ad spend

Typically 10% to 20% of monthly spend. Simple to understand, and the incentive is backwards: your consultant earns more when you spend more, not when you spend better. Watch what happens when the honest advice is to cut budget.

Flat monthly retainer

A fixed fee regardless of spend. Incentives are cleaner and budgeting is predictable. The risk is scope: if 'landing pages' or 'tracking' sit outside the retainer, the recommendations you need most never get implemented.

Hourly

Rates vary enormously by seniority and market. Fine for audits and advisory. Bad for ongoing management, because you start hesitating before asking a question, which is exactly when accounts drift.

The number nobody quotes

Whatever the model, ask what happens to your account if you leave. If the campaigns, conversion actions and tag setup live in the vendor's accounts rather than yours, the real price is that you cannot go.

What You Get

How I price

Two options, both fixed scope, both without a twelve month contract.

Standalone audit, fixed price

A full read on the account, the tracking and the conversion path, delivered as a written document with prioritised fixes. Useful on its own. Many people take it and implement it themselves, which is fine.

Monthly retainer, month to month

Flat fee, not a percentage of spend, so I have no reason to push your budget up. Scope is agreed up front and includes tracking and campaign landing pages rather than treating them as extras.

Measurement and tracking setup

Before anything gets scaled, the data has to be right. GA4 and Google Tag Manager audited and rebuilt where needed, conversion actions deduplicated, Meta CAPI or server-side tagging where it applies, and offline conversion import so the platform optimises toward revenue instead of form fills.

Campaign landing pages

Paid traffic dies on a bad page. I build and iterate the landing pages the campaigns point to, so the conversion path is one system instead of two vendors blaming each other. Fixed scope, tied to the campaigns, not open-ended web design.

Everything stays in your accounts

Your Google Ads account, your GA4, your tag manager, your landing pages. If we stop working together you keep all of it. This should be standard and often is not.

I do not publish a fixed retainer number, because a $5K per month account and a $200K per month account are genuinely different jobs. I will quote on the first call, before you send anything.

Proof

What I have actually run

Some engagements have verified public numbers. Others are longer-running or confidential roles where I can speak to scope and approach but not exact percentages. I would rather show you the real mix than invent a case study.

Mission AC & Plumbing, Houston, TX

Freelance · May 2025 to Feb 2026
44%CPA Reduction
60%More Qualified Leads

Roughly $20K per month in Google Ads spend, in a market with $45 to $80 CPCs.

Large Healthcare Organization, Brazil

Ongoing · client name withheld under confidentiality
Google Ads Meta Ads LinkedIn Ads Multi-Million $ Annual Budget

Ongoing role as Senior Paid Media Manager, leading strategy and a growing paid media team in a heavily regulated industry.

How It Works

How pricing gets set

1

Call

Fifteen to thirty minutes. What you sell, what you spend, what is broken.

2

Scope

I tell you which of the two options fits and roughly what it costs. If neither fits, I say that.

3

Fixed quote

A written scope and price. No hourly creep, no surprise line items.

4

Month to month

Ongoing work continues only as long as it is worth it to you.

Go Deeper

Related guides

Long-form writing on this topic from the blog.

FAQ

Pricing questions

Why will you not just publish a price?

Because a single number would be either useless or dishonest. Auditing a $5K per month account and running a $200K per month multi-market account are not the same job. You get a fixed quote before you commit to anything, which is the part that actually matters.

Do you charge a percentage of ad spend?

No. Flat fee. A percentage model pays me more when you spend more, and I would rather be able to tell you to cut budget without it costing me money.

Is the audit refundable if we continue?

The audit is standalone and priced as its own deliverable. If we move to ongoing work afterwards, I credit it against the first month.

What is the contract length?

Month to month. If the work stops being worth the fee, you should be able to stop, and long lock-ins mostly exist to protect the vendor.

Get In Touch

Tell me what you are working with

A short form beats a long discovery call. Give me the basics and I will come back with a straight read on whether I can help, usually within one business day.

  • No sales sequence. You get a reply from me, not a nurture flow.
  • If I am not the right fit, I will say so and point you somewhere better.
  • Prefer to talk live? Book a slot instead, link below.

Rather book a time directly? Schedule a call.

I read every message myself. No newsletter, no list, no follow-up sequence.