Google Ads Statistics for 2026: CPC, CTR, Conversion Rates and Spend
Every number on this page comes from a named study, a company filing or a published benchmark, and each one links to its source. We pulled the data together so you can benchmark your own account in minutes: cost per click, click through rate, conversion rate, cost per lead, market size, wasted spend and the effect of AI Overviews on paid clicks.
Key Takeaways
- The typical US search campaign pays about $5.26 to $5.42 per click and about $66.69 to $70.11 per lead, depending on the benchmark (WordStream, LocaliQ).
- Costs are rising faster than clicks: WordStream measured cost per click up 12.88% year over year while click through rate rose 3.74%.
- Google Search and other revenue grew 17% to $63.07 billion in Q4 2025 (Alphabet).
- The median account wastes about a third of its spend, $1,127.54 of $3,127.38 a month (WordStream account study).
- AI Overviews are changing click behavior: paid click through rate fell 78.4% on queries where an AI Overview appeared and the brand was not cited (Seer Interactive).
What Are the Average Google Ads CTR, CPC, Conversion Rate and Cost Per Lead?
Short answer: WordStream's medians are a 6.66% click through rate, $5.26 cost per click, 7.52% conversion rate and $70.11 cost per lead; LocaliQ's 2026 averages are 6.64%, $5.42, 8.18% and $66.69.
Two benchmark reports are used most often. WordStream analyzed 16,446 US search campaigns between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025 and reports medians. LocaliQ published its 2026 search advertising benchmarks in June 2026. They use different samples, so we show both.
Cost per click rose in 87% of industries in the WordStream study, as reported by Search Engine Land. The year before, WordStream found cost per click up in 86% of industries, an average rise of 10%.
The reports measure different samples and periods, so a $0.16 gap in cost per click is not a contradiction. Compare your account to your own history and to your industry row, not only to the blended number.
How Much Revenue Does Google Ads Generate?
Short answer: Google advertising brought in $82.3 billion in Q4 2025, up 14%, including $63.1 billion from Search and other (Alphabet).
Alphabet reports advertising revenue by product. These figures are from its Q4 2025 earnings release, which compares the quarter with Q4 2024.
Alphabet advertising revenue, Q4 2025
| Line item | Q4 2025 | Q4 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search and other | $63.073B | $54.034B | up 17% |
| YouTube ads | $11.383B | $10.473B | up 9% |
| Google Network | $7.828B | $7.954B | down 2% |
| Google advertising total | $82.284B | $72.461B | up 14% |
| Alphabet total revenues | $113.828B | $96.469B | up 18% |
Spend, Clicks and Cost Per Click Trends
Tinuiti tracks spend across large advertiser accounts. Its Q4 2025 report, covered by Search Engine Land, shows search spend growing faster than it did in Q3, with click growth the strongest since early 2021.
Google year over year change, Q4 2025 (percent)
Tinuiti Q1 2025: Google search and Shopping
| Metric | Search | Shopping |
|---|---|---|
| Spend change | up 9% | up 8% |
| Click change | up 4% | up 9% |
| Cost per click change | up 5% | down 1% |
How Do Google Ads Benchmarks Vary by Industry?
Short answer: Widely: per LocaliQ 2026, cost per lead runs from about $30 for auto repair to $131.63 for legal services, and cost per click from $1.63 to $9.87.
Industry explains more of your cost than any setting. Service businesses that convert well, like auto repair and pet services, pay around $30 per lead. Legal and finance pay several times more. Figures below are from the LocaliQ 2026 benchmarks.
Conversion rate and cost per lead by industry, 2026
| Industry | Conversion rate | Cost per lead |
|---|---|---|
| Animals and Pets | 16.22% | $31.50 |
| Dentists and Dental Services | 10.67% | $72.97 |
| Automotive Repair | 15.51% | $29.96 |
| Finance and Insurance | 2.64% | $74.44 |
| Attorneys and Legal | 5.55% | $131.63 |
Average cost per click by industry, 2026 (US dollars)
Biggest year over year movers, WordStream 2025
| Metric | Largest increases | Largest decreases |
|---|---|---|
| Click through rate | Shopping 14.07%, Home Improvement 13.95%, Legal 12.64% | Beauty 15.41%, Travel 14.07%, Restaurants 12.67% |
| Cost per click | Beauty 60.11%, Education 41.91%, Shopping 33.72% | Arts 6.98%, Restaurants 5.96%, Legal 4.03% |
| Conversion rate | Education 43.87%, Sports 42.43%, Apparel 14.69% | Career 23.09%, Restaurants 18.69%, Home Improvement 14.97% |
| Cost per lead | Education 25.87%, Beauty 24.62%, Apparel 23.36% | Career 46.74%, Arts 32.28%, Pets 8.9% |
If your cost per lead is far above your industry row, the usual cause is wasted spend or weak tracking. See our guide to why Google Ads cost per lead runs so high.
Wasted Spend and Quality Score Statistics
WordStream analyzed 251,236 reports from 15,666 accounts between January 1 and November 17, 2025. These are medians, so half of accounts do worse.
Share of accounts by Quality Score band (percent)
The pattern is consistent: small, focused accounts convert better, and unfiltered volume costs more. Our case studies on Google Ads failure show how fixing search terms and tracking changes the result.
AI Overviews and Zero Click Search Statistics
Search results pages are changing. Seer Interactive tracked 3,119 queries across 42 organizations from June 2024 to September 2025, covering 25.1 million organic and 1.1 million paid impressions.
Click through rate in Q3 2025 by AI Overview status
| Query group | Paid CTR | Change | Organic CTR | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Overview, brand not cited | 4.14% | down 78.4% | 0.52% | down 65.2% |
| AI Overview, brand cited | 7.89% | down 53.9% | 0.70% | down 49.4% |
| No AI Overview | 13.88% | down 20.1% | 1.45% | down 46.2% |
Mobile matters here: SparkToro found almost half of mobile searches end the session, more than twice the desktop rate, and cites Sistrix data putting mobile at 63% of US Google searches. The two Seer datasets cover different periods and the September report has internal inconsistencies, so treat the direction as firm and the exact percentages as approximate.
Performance Max, Smart Bidding and Ad Quality Statistics
Optmyzr: Q3 2023 versus Q3 2024
| Metric | Campaign type | Change | Values |
|---|---|---|---|
| ROAS | Performance Max | up 1% | 609.77% to 616.36% |
| Cost per acquisition | Performance Max | up 8% | $13.92 to $15.15 |
| Cost per click | Performance Max | up 6% | $0.50 to $0.53 |
| Conversion rate | Performance Max | down 3% | 3.56% to 3.47% |
| Cost per click | Search | up 22% | |
| Conversion rate | Search | up 21% |
Ecommerce medians, August 2025 to July 2026
| Metric | Median | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per acquisition | $28.14 | up 9.96% |
| Cost per thousand impressions | $15.35 | up 13.34% |
| Conversion rate | 3.11% | down 7.02% |
| Click through rate | 1.65% | up 13.78% |
| Return on ad spend | 3.27 | down 3.54% |
| Average order value | $87.65 |
Performance Max figures come from different samples (accounts tracked by Optmyzr, Smarter Ecommerce and Fluency). Use them to see direction and range, not as targets.
Sources and Further Reading
Every statistic on this page links to its original source. Figures were checked on October 24, 2026. Where sources disagree, we show both and say so.
- WordStream, 2025 Google Ads benchmarks
- WordStream, 2024 Google Ads benchmarks
- WordStream, Google Ads account study
- LocaliQ, search advertising benchmarks
- Search Engine Land, Google Ads costs keep rising but conversion rates improved in 2025
- Alphabet, Q4 2025 earnings release
- Search Engine Land, Google search ad clicks hit five year high (Tinuiti Q4 2025)
- Search Engine Land, Google ad spend continues to outpace traffic (Tinuiti Q1 2025)
- Seer Interactive, AI Overview impact on Google CTR, September 2025
- Seer Interactive, how AI Overviews are impacting paid performance
- SparkToro, 2024 zero click search study
- Semrush, Google search statistics
- Smarter Ecommerce, state of Performance Max 2025
- Search Engine Land, Optmyzr data on Performance Max and Search CPCs
- Triple Whale, Google Ads benchmarks
- Fluency, 2026 trends and performance benchmarks
- TrafficGuard, click fraud statistics
- Statista, paid search advertising expenditure worldwide
- Search Engine Land, Google Smart Bidding Exploration
Keep Reading
- Why is your Google Ads cost per lead so high?
- Why most Google Ads campaigns fail
- Google Ads management services
- Google Ads case studies
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