Who this page is for
CMOs, VPs of Growth, finance partners, and founders evaluating a Google Ads retainer at $50k+/month.
Who this is not for
Accounts under $50k/month. Buyers who want Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Amazon, or SEO in the same retainer. Anyone looking for a San Jose local-agency menu.
Common fee models at high spend
None of these models is “the right one” in the abstract. The wrong model is the one that rewards the agency for leaving waste in the account.
- Percent of spend: The fee scales with media. Simple for procurement. At six-figure monthly spend it can pay the agency for budget size instead of for wasted-spend cuts. Ask what happens to the fee if spend is reduced because waste was removed.
- Flat fee: The fee is a fixed monthly number for a defined scope. Clear for finance. Scope creep is the risk. Ask what is in-scope when Shopping, PMax, and Search all need work in the same month.
- Hybrid: A base fee plus a variable component. Used when scope is wide and spend moves. Ask which number the variable is tied to: spend, pipeline, or nothing.
What software pass-through means
Many agencies resell bid-management, reporting, or script platforms and add a line item. That is a second retainer. SalesX includes X-Vault (17+ scripts and BigQuery connectors) at a $0 software fee.
What a high-spend Google Ads retainer should include
If a proposal is a capabilities deck with no wasted-spend model, it is not a pricing conversation yet.
- Senior strategist ownership (not a junior farm)
- Search, Shopping, and Performance Max inside Google — not a multi-channel bundle
- Query and placement hygiene, not only bid-strategy toggles
- Conversion measurement that finance will accept, including offline import when the CRM allows it
- Reporting a CFO can read
- A written operating cadence
- Automation that does not show up as a separate license
In-house cost vs agency retainer
The comparison at this spend is senior practitioner hours plus automation and weekend coverage, not “agency fee vs one hire.”
How SalesX approaches pricing
- Google Ads only
- U.S. advertisers, $50k–$500k+/month
- Senior-led
- X-Vault included, no software line item
- Engagements start with a free X-Audit
- Management pricing is discussed after the findings deck, not before read-only access
- $1.4B lifetime ad spend managed
- Google Premier Partner
- Five-time U.S. Search Awards winner
- 16 years focused exclusively on Google Ads
Premier Partner is a filter, not a price tag
Partner status does not set the retainer. It is a qualification check.
Questions we get
- Do you publish a public rate card?
- No. A number without an account diagnosis is theater. The X-Audit is free for qualifying U.S. $50k+ accounts. Pricing for management follows the findings.
- Do you manage channels besides Google Ads?
- No. Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Display, YouTube, and Remarketing inside Google only.
- What spend band do you work with?
- $50,000 or more per month on Google Ads, U.S. advertisers. Under $50k we decline.
- Is percent-of-spend fair above $50k/month?
- It can be, if the fee does not punish the client for cutting waste. Ask that question before you sign.
- Are software or platform fees extra?
- Not for X-Vault. It is included.