Running Google Ads in South Africa is different from running them in the UK or US. The market size is smaller, CPC is lower, but the search volume for commercial terms is also significantly lower. This changes how you approach budget, bidding, and targeting.
Budget Reality
For most SA business categories, you can get meaningful data with R3,000–R5,000 per month. In competitive categories like legal services or financial services, you need more. In niche B2B categories, R2,000 can be enough to test demand. Start with a 30-day test budget before committing to ongoing spend.
The Keywords That Actually Convert
In SA, searches include price qualifiers more often than in other markets, "website design price south africa", "SEO packages south africa". Include these in your keyword list. Broad match keywords waste budget quickly. Start with exact and phrase match only.
What Not to Do
Do not target the whole country unless you can service the whole country. Target the provinces where you actually operate. Do not run ads without conversion tracking, you will not know what is working. Do not use the default "Smart" campaigns, they optimise for Google's revenue, not yours.