Answers
Is Google Ads worth it for a small store?
If people search for what you sell and your margin can carry a click, yes — starting with Search only.
The short answer
If people search for what you sell and your margin can carry a click, yes — starting with Search only.
Small budgets do badly with automated bidding, which needs conversion volume to learn. That is an argument for manual control and a narrow keyword set, not an argument against Google.
Where it genuinely does not work: no search demand for the category, or margin too thin to pay for a click. Both are worth establishing before you spend, not after.
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