Guides · Google Ads data
Google Ads Benchmarks by Industry: The 2026 Numbers and How to Use Them
By Josh Croom · October 27, 2026 · 10 min read
One large 2026 study of search campaigns found that across industries, the average ad drew a click 6.64% of the time, cost $5.42 a click and cost $66.69 per lead. Those averages swing widely by industry, from $1.63 a click to $9.87, so compare your account to your own industry's row and to your own past, never to the overall number alone.
The article that almost cost a plumber his best campaign
Thursday, 4:15 PM. A plumbing company owner reads an article that says the average search ad gets more clicks than his ads do. He's halfway through an email telling his ad manager to shut the campaign off.
Then he opens his call log and sees that the same campaign brought in more booked water heater jobs this quarter than last, at a lower cost for each one. His click rate is under the average because his ads name a price and a service area, and that keeps away people who were never going to book. He deletes the email and leaves the campaign running.
The 2026 averages across all industries
A marketing company's 2026 study covered thousands of its customers' search campaigns on Google and Microsoft.
- 6.64%average click-through rateclicks divided by times the ad showed
- $5.42average cost per clickup a little from the year before
- 8.18%average conversion rateleads divided by clicks
- $66.69average cost per leada call, chat, form or email
Google Ads benchmarks by industry in 2026
Here's each benchmark for 15 of the study's industries, plus its average across all of them. Read across a row, because a high cost per click can still produce a fair cost per lead when the conversion rate is high.
A click for a law firm cost six times what a click cost an arts group, and a lead for a real estate office cost more than three times what a lead cost an auto repair shop. An all-industry average blends all of that, so a law firm's account will look expensive next to it even when it's running well.
| Industry | Click rate | Cost per click | Conversion rate | Cost per lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorneys and legal services | 5.87% | $9.87 | 5.55% | $131.63 |
| Home and home improvement | 6.47% | $8.33 | 8.05% | $90.92 |
| Dentists and dental services | 5.66% | $8.00 | 10.67% | $72.97 |
| Personal services | 7.16% | $7.17 | 12.34% | $54.60 |
| Health and fitness | 5.81% | $6.17 | 6.94% | $67.36 |
| Business services | 6.10% | $5.87 | 4.85% | $93.69 |
| Education and instruction | 7.56% | $4.81 | 13.14% | $77.48 |
| Physicians and surgeons | 6.61% | $4.76 | 12.43% | $40.04 |
| Automotive repair, service and parts | 5.56% | $4.35 | 15.51% | $29.96 |
| Shopping, collectibles and gifts | 8.28% | $4.14 | 4.01% | $49.40 |
| Animals and pets | 7.49% | $4.06 | 16.22% | $31.50 |
| Finance and insurance | 9.83% | $3.39 | 2.64% | $74.44 |
| Real estate | 7.61% | $3.22 | 3.70% | $102.51 |
| Restaurants and food | 6.83% | $2.05 | 8.05% | $30.57 |
| Arts and entertainment | 12.75% | $1.63 | 5.91% | $26.84 |
| All industries | 6.64% | $5.42 | 8.18% | $66.69 |
Average cost per click by industry
Why your numbers won't match the benchmark
Every account counts differently, so a gap from the benchmark isn't proof of a problem. The study counts any call, chat, form or email as a lead. If your account also counts page views or button taps, your conversion rate will look high and your cost per lead will look low, and neither number will mean much.
The mix of searches in your account matters just as much as the counting. A person who types your business's name is already looking for you, so an account with lots of those searches can post a high click rate that tells you little about the rest of its ads. A question-shaped search often wants an answer before a phone number, so an industry full of questions can post a lower click rate with nothing wrong at all.
Your market and your season move the numbers as well. The study itself names budget, location and keywords among the things that change results, and a roofer's spring doesn't look like his winter. The study also blends Google and Microsoft campaigns from businesses all over, so we read it as a rough range and don't set targets from it.
Comparisons that mislead, and comparisons that help
Comparisons that mislead
- Your account-wide click rate against a search-only average.
- Leads that include page views against a study that counts calls and forms.
- One slow month against a full-year average.
- Brand searches mixed in with searches from new customers.
Comparisons that help
- Search campaigns against a search benchmark, read on their own.
- Calls, forms, chats and emails only, counted the same way every month.
- Your last 90 days against the same 90 days last year.
- Brand and new-customer searches read in separate columns.
What our own accounts show
Our own studies cover far fewer accounts than the outside one, but they show how much one ad product or one trade can move the numbers.
Local Services Ads charge by the lead, so they're the clearest cost-per-lead benchmark we have. Our study of four home-service businesses from March 13 to June 10, 2026 found a billed Local Services lead cost $19.28 for home inspection, $20.83 for tree and outdoor work, $31.69 for fencing and $56.40 for plumbing. The outside study's cost per lead for home and home improvement search ads was $90.92. The two aren't the same measure, because Search charges by the click, but the gap is why we start most trades on Local Services first.
Our newer blended figure covers more trades and a later window. The blended cost per charged Local Services lead was $49.02 across the five accounts we run Local Services Ads for, in the 30 days to October 20, 2026, and a published Local Services benchmark runs $53 to $57. The one business in our spring study that ran both at once paid $134.59 per Search lead against $19.28 per Local Services lead. That's one account with 11 Search leads, so read it as one data point. Our Local Services Ads vs Google Ads comparison has the full table.
The kind of search people type also changes from one industry to the next. Our study of 1,313,810 search terms from 56 accounts over 12 weeks in 2026 found that near-me searches made up 14.3% of home-services impressions, 5.8% of church impressions and 4.4% of nonprofit impressions. A home-services ad answers a person who wants someone at the door, and that shapes the click rate and the cost per lead you should expect.
How to compare your account in 15 minutes
Before you start, open Google Ads and gather your call and form records for the last 90 days. Then work in this order, because each step makes the following comparison more accurate.
Step 1
Pick your row
Choose the industry that matches the services you sell, rather than the label on your business license. The study has no row for each trade, so a plumber or a roofer reads the home and home improvement row.
Step 2
Pull 90 days of search numbers
In Google Ads, filter the Campaigns page to Search campaigns and set the dates to the last 90 days. Write down the click rate, the cost per click and the total cost, because those three come straight from Google.
Step 3
Count your real leads
Count the calls, forms, chats and emails your ads brought in, and leave out page views and wrong numbers. Divide the total cost by that count, and you have a cost per lead that compares with the study's.
Step 4
Compare the right number first
Look at cost per lead first, then conversion rate, then click rate. A low click rate with a good cost per lead can mean your ads are screening out people who were never going to buy.
Step 5
Compare against last year
Run the same numbers for the same 90 days last year, so the comparison covers an identical season. Your own trend already reflects your market, your prices and your competition, so act on it before any industry average.
What to fix when you're above your industry's cost per lead
Work through the account in a set order, because a fix that skips ahead of a broken step doesn't hold.
We use that order because it follows how the money moves through an account. A better ad can't do much while the tracking misses half the calls or a third of the budget goes to the wrong searches. Our PPC audit checklist turns each step into checks you can run yourself.
- Fix tracking first, so every call and form reaches Google Ads and nothing else counts as a lead, since bad counting makes every other number in the account wrong.
- Check the budget next, making sure each daily budget matches what you can spend in a month and your best campaigns aren't running out of money before the phones get busy.
- Cut waste third by reading your search terms every week and adding negative keywords for searches that will never become work, like job seekers or people looking for parts.
- Turn to bidding fourth: once the account records real calls and forms, let Google bid toward them with a strategy like Maximize conversions, so it learns which searches bring leads.
- Work on ads and pages last, rewriting each ad so its headline repeats what people search and sending every search to a page that answers it, with your phone number on the first screen.
What a clean lead count looks like
A cost per lead only compares when you count every lead the same way. A log like this one shows each call and form with where it came from, so wrong numbers and page views never sneak into the count.
Calls and forms
Can you trust your own comparison?
Answer these five questions before you judge your account against any benchmark. Your answers stay on your device.
Do you count only calls, forms, chats and emails as leads?
Are you reading Search campaigns on their own, apart from other campaign types?
Are you comparing at least 90 days, not one week or one month?
Do you read searches for your business name apart from the rest?
Do you have the same 90 days from last year to compare against?
Your comparison is a fair one. If your cost per lead is well above your industry's row, work down the fix list above in order, starting with your budget and your search terms.
You're close. Fix the first question you answered No, because that one gap can skew every number you compare.
Fix your counting before you compare anything, because until you count leads the same way every month, no benchmark can tell you how the account is doing.
How we use benchmarks with clients
An industry row helps once, when a new account starts, to set a sensible range. After that, the account's own numbers take over, and every call and form shows in your portal with the time it came in and what it cost.
If you'd like a second opinion on how your account compares, book a call with Miguel. He'll look at what you're counting, which row fits your business and how big the gap really is.
Questions people ask
What is a good click-through rate for Google Ads?
Across industries, the 2026 average click-through rate was 6.64%, ranging from 5.56% for automotive repair to 12.75% for arts and entertainment. Compare yours to your own industry, and read your Search campaigns separately from other campaign types. Google asks nonprofits on the Ad Grant for at least 5% each month.
What is the average cost per click for Google Ads in 2026?
The 2026 average across industries was $5.42 a click, ranging from $1.63 for arts and entertainment to $9.87 for attorneys and legal services. Your location, your competition and the time of year move it further, so your own history is the better guide.
What is a good conversion rate for Google Ads?
The 2026 average across industries was 8.18%, ranging from 2.64% for finance and insurance to 16.22% for animals and pets. Your rate only compares if you count phone calls, chats, forms and emails as leads, the way the study did, and leave out page views.
What is the average cost per lead for Google Ads?
The 2026 average across industries was $66.69 per lead, ranging from $26.84 for arts and entertainment to $131.63 for attorneys. Our own spring 2026 study found a billed Local Services lead cost $19.28 to $56.40 across four home-service trades. Local Services charges by the lead rather than the click, so those numbers measure something different.
See how we run Google Ads for your business
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