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Set your budget

Once you've picked a keyword cluster, Hero Marketer shows a suggested monthly budget. You can accept it or change it. The number you set feeds Google Ads as the daily spend cap, so it directly controls how fast the campaign spends.

How the suggested budget is calculated​

Hero Marketer multiplies expected click volume by the average cost per click for the keywords in your cluster, then scales for typical B2B SaaS conversion patterns. The result is a monthly budget that should produce enough click volume for Google's algorithm to learn within two to four weeks.

The suggestion lands in a sensible default range. It isn't a recommendation tuned to your specific goals. Override it if you have a target in mind. For the full breakdown, see How budget suggestions are calculated.

When to take the suggested budget​

The suggested budget is a reasonable starting point when:

  • This is a test campaign, not a scale campaign.
  • You don't have a specific CPA or CAC target yet.
  • You want to see what volume the cluster can produce.

For a first campaign, taking the suggestion and learning from the data is usually fine.

When to override the budget​

Set your own budget when you have a goal the suggestion doesn't reflect:

  • You have a target CPA. If your max acceptable CPA is $200 and the cluster's average CPC is $5, you need at least 40 clicks to expect one conversion (assuming a 2.5% conversion rate). Multiply that by however many conversions you want per month.
  • You're capacity constrained. If sales can only handle ten new leads a week, a budget likely to deliver thirty isn't useful.
  • You're in a learning phase. Run a smaller budget for two weeks, then scale once you see what's converting.
  • You're scaling a winner. When existing data shows a campaign is profitable, increase budget gradually rather than all at once, Google's algorithm needs a few days to recalibrate after a significant spend change.

What the budget actually controls​

The number you set is the monthly budget. Google enforces it as a daily spend cap (the monthly budget divided by the average number of days in a month, with some flex). On any given day Google may spend up to twice that daily cap when the auction is favorable, but it won't exceed the monthly figure across the month.

Spend is for clicks only. Impressions, the times your ad shows on a results page, are free. You're charged when someone clicks, and you pay Google directly through your Google Ads payment method; Hero Marketer never bills your ad spend.

Changing the budget after launch​

You can edit the budget on a live campaign, either on the all-campaigns page through Hero AI, or directly in chat. A few things to know:

  • Small changes (under 20%) take effect within a day. Google adjusts pacing without restarting learning.
  • Large changes (over 20% up or down) reset the learning phase. Performance often dips for a few days while the algorithm recalibrates. Avoid this in the first month.
  • The dashboard reflects the new budget immediately, but Google's reporting can lag by a few hours.

To change a live campaign's budget, ask Hero AI. It shows the new number for confirmation before applying it. See Pause or edit a live campaign.

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