Indian SMEs typically split budgets across SEO, Google Ads and Meta. The key distinction: management fee (our work) versus media spend (Google/Meta's money). Anyone bundling them opaquely is hiding margin.
Bands
- SEO retainer — ₹8,000–₹40,000/month by site size (see SEO cost detail).
- Google Ads management — 15–20% of spend (min ₹10,000/month) plus landing-page CRO.
- Meta ads management — 15–20% of spend with creative iteration cycles.
- Social retainers — ₹12,000+/month for calendars, creatives and community handling.
What to demand
Ad-account ownership, weekly spend reports, landing-page testing and a pause-anytime clause. Traffic without conversion tracking is vanity — insist on it.
FAQs
What budget do ads need?
Test budgets from ₹30,000/month media; competitive categories need multiples. We advise before you spend.
SEO or ads first?
Ads for immediate pipeline, SEO for compounding; most SMEs run both with shifting ratios.
Who owns the accounts?
You do — always. Non-negotiable.