Driven Metrics research · November 4, 2026
The average cost per lead in Google Ads is the typical amount an advertiser spends on ad clicks to produce one conversion, such as a form fill or a phone call, from a search campaign. In the 2026 edition of WordStream by LocaliQ’s Google Ads benchmarks, the average cost per lead was $66.69 across 13,474 US search campaigns that ran on Google Ads and Microsoft Ads between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026. WordStream’s “averages” are medians, and a lead is any conversion the advertiser tracks, so the figure measures media cost per conversion, not the full cost of a sales-ready lead.
Driven Metrics built this report by combining eight published datasets from six organizations: three annual WordStream by LocaliQ benchmark reports (2024, 2025 and 2026), First Page Sage’s October 2026 study of paid and organic cost per lead across 30 industries, Alphabet’s Form 10-Q for the second quarter of 2026, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index, and click and conversion studies from Pew Research Center and Ahrefs. We did not run ad campaigns or a survey for this report. Our analysis adjusts the WordStream series for inflation, splits the 2026 change into click-price and conversion-rate effects, indexes 23 industries against the all-industry figure, and compares paid and organic lead costs side by side.
Our analysis found four things. First, the median Google Ads lead costs 19.1% less in 2026 than in 2016 after inflation, even though the nominal figure rose 12.7% to $66.69. Second, the 4.9% drop from 2025 came from conversion rates: a rise from 7.52% to 8.18% cut $5.75 from the cost per lead, more than offsetting the $2.05 added by a 3.0% rise in cost per click. Third, legal and home services remain two of the most expensive categories at $131.63 and $90.92 per lead, and neither figure moved from 2025. Fourth, in First Page Sage’s data the premium paid leads carry over organic leads narrowed from 40.5% to 29.1% in a year, because paid costs fell 1.3% while organic costs rose 7.4%.
Key statistics: average cost per lead in Google Ads, 2026
- The average cost per lead in Google Ads was $66.69 in 2026, down 4.9% from $70.11 in 2025, according to WordStream by LocaliQ’s benchmarks of 13,474 US search campaigns.
- The 2026 decline is the first year-over-year drop in average Google Ads cost per lead that WordStream has recorded in five years.
- According to a 2026 Driven Metrics analysis of WordStream and BLS data, the median Google Ads cost per lead is 19.1% lower than in 2016 after inflation, although it is 12.7% higher in nominal dollars.
- Driven Metrics calculated that higher conversion rates cut $5.75 from the median Google Ads cost per lead between 2025 and 2026, while higher click prices added $2.05.
- Attorneys and legal services had the highest Google Ads cost per lead in 2026 at $131.63, 4.9 times the lowest category, arts and entertainment at $26.84 (WordStream, 2026).
- Home and home improvement leads cost $90.92 in Google Ads in 2026, 36% above the all-industry figure, according to a Driven Metrics calculation from WordStream data.
- Paid leads cost more than organic leads in 28 of 30 industries in First Page Sage’s 2026 data, and Driven Metrics calculated that the average paid lead costs 29.1% more than the average organic lead.
- Driven Metrics calculated that the average gap between paid and organic cost per lead shrank 22.7%, from $132 to $102, between First Page Sage’s 2025 and 2026 reports.
What is the average cost per lead in Google Ads in 2026?
The average cost per lead in Google Ads is $66.69 in 2026, down from $70.11 in 2025. Driven Metrics calculated that this is 19.1% lower than the 2016 figure once both are expressed in 2026 dollars.
The table below combines WordStream’s overall benchmarks from four report years with the BLS Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The last column is our calculation. It restates each year’s cost per lead in March 2026 dollars, the final month of the 2026 data window.
| Report year | Data period | Avg. CPC | Avg. conversion rate | Avg. CPL | CPL change vs. prior report | CPL in 2026 dollars (DM calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Report published Feb 2016 | $2.32 | 2.70% | $59.18 | n/a | $82.42 |
| 2023 | Prior-year figures in 2024 report | $4.22 | 7.04% | $53.52 | n/a | $58.55 |
| 2024 | Apr 2023 to Mar 2024 | $4.66 | 6.96% | $66.69 | +24.6% | $70.51 |
| 2025 | Apr 2024 to Mar 2025 | $5.26 | 7.52% | $70.11 | +5.1% | $72.39 |
| 2026 | Apr 2025 to Mar 2026 | $5.42 | 8.18% | $66.69 | -4.9% | $66.69 |
Values are medians across US Google Ads and Microsoft Ads search campaigns. WordStream called cost per lead “cost per action” in 2016. Reports for 2017 to 2022 are not included because their data windows and samples are not consistent with the 2024 to 2026 series. Inflation adjustment: CPL x (CPI-U March 2026 / CPI-U for the final month of each data window). Sources: WordStream by LocaliQ 2024, 2025 and 2026 reports; BLS CPI-U; Driven Metrics analysis.
Click prices have more than doubled since WordStream’s first report, from $2.32 in 2016 to $5.42 in 2026, a 2.34x increase. Cost per lead rose far less, 12.7%, because conversion rates tripled from 2.70% to 8.18% over the same span. Consumer prices rose 39.3% between February 2016 and March 2026, so a lead that cost $59.18 in 2016 would cost $82.42 in 2026 dollars. The 2026 median sits $15.73 below that line.
The shorter view matters more for 2026 budgets. In 2026 dollars, the median lead cost $70.51 in the 2024 report, $72.39 in 2025 and $66.69 in 2026. That is a 5.4% real decline over two years, after a 24.6% nominal jump in the 2024 report.
Two caveats shape how to use these numbers. WordStream’s sample comes from campaigns run on LocaliQ’s own advertising platform, not a cross-market panel, and the sample shrank from 17,998 campaigns in the 2024 report to 13,474 in 2026. The 2024 report also states that 80% to 85% of spend went to Google Ads and the rest to Microsoft Ads, so these are search-ad benchmarks, not Google-only figures.
Why did Google Ads cost per lead fall in 2026?
Conversion rates rose faster than click prices. Driven Metrics split the $3.42 drop in cost per lead between the 2025 and 2026 reports and found that higher conversion rates removed $5.75, while higher cost per click added $2.05.
Cost per lead equals cost per click divided by conversion rate. For WordStream’s medians this identity holds closely: cost per click divided by conversion rate gives $66.26 for 2026, within 0.7% of the reported $66.69. That lets us attribute the year-over-year change to each input.
| Metric | 2025 report | 2026 report | Change | Effect on CPL (DM calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average cost per click | $5.26 | $5.42 | +3.0% | +$2.05 |
| Average conversion rate | 7.52% | 8.18% | +0.66 pts (+8.8%) | -$5.75 |
| Other (separate medians) | +$0.28 | |||
| Average cost per lead | $70.11 | $66.69 | -4.9% | -$3.42 |
| Implied CPL, CPC / conversion rate (DM calculation) | $69.95 | $66.26 | -5.3% |
Dollar effects use a log decomposition: each input’s share of the total log change in CPL, applied to the $3.42 dollar change. “Other” is the gap between medians reported separately for each metric. Source: Driven Metrics analysis of WordStream by LocaliQ 2025 and 2026 benchmarks.
Google’s own filings point the same direction on price. Alphabet’s Form 10-Q for the second quarter of 2026 reports that paid clicks on Google Search and other properties grew 13% year over year while cost per click rose 3%. Alphabet’s figure covers every advertiser worldwide, so it is not comparable to WordStream’s dollar medians, but both show click prices rising in the low single digits while volume and conversion carry the change.
The drop was broad but not universal. Of the 23 industries WordStream tracks, cost per lead fell in 13, rose in 8 and was unchanged in 2. WordStream reports that conversion rates rose in 87% of industries and links the categories that got more expensive, such as automotive sales (up 13.9%), to tariffs. For how ad placements inside Google’s AI answers are developing, see our Google AI Mode ads statistics.
Average cost per lead by industry in Google Ads, 2026
Attorneys and legal services has the highest average cost per lead in Google Ads at $131.63, and arts and entertainment the lowest at $26.84, a 4.9x spread. Driven Metrics indexed each industry against the all-industry figure of $66.69.
| Industry | 2024 CPL | 2025 CPL | 2026 CPL | Change, 2025 to 2026 | Index vs. all industries (DM) | Rank (DM) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorneys & Legal Services | $144.03 | $131.63 | $131.63 | 0.0% | 1.97 | 1 |
| Furniture | $119.10 | $121.51 | $106.70 | -12.2% | 1.60 | 2 |
| Real Estate | $87.36 | $100.48 | $102.51 | +2.0% | 1.54 | 3 |
| Apparel / Fashion & Jewelry | $83.10 | $101.49 | $97.51 | -3.9% | 1.46 | 4 |
| Business Services | $105.64 | $103.54 | $93.69 | -9.5% | 1.40 | 5 |
| Home & Home Improvement | $82.27 | $90.92 | $90.92 | 0.0% | 1.36 | 6 |
| Education & Instruction | $71.52 | $90.02 | $77.48 | -13.9% | 1.16 | 7 |
| Industrial & Commercial | $77.48 | $85.63 | $75.19 | -12.2% | 1.13 | 8 |
| Finance & Insurance | $75.94 | $83.93 | $74.44 | -11.3% | 1.12 | 9 |
| Dentists & Dental Services | $86.49 | $83.93 | $72.97 | -13.1% | 1.09 | 10 |
| Career & Employment | $117.92 | $62.80 | $67.36 | +7.3% | 1.01 | 11 |
| Health & Fitness | $61.56 | $62.80 | $67.36 | +7.3% | 1.01 | 12 |
| Personal Services | $52.98 | $53.52 | $54.60 | +2.0% | 0.82 | 13 |
| Shopping, Collectibles & Gifts | $42.10 | $47.94 | $49.40 | +3.0% | 0.74 | 14 |
| Travel | $66.02 | $73.70 | $44.70 | -39.3% | 0.67 | 15 |
| Automotive (For Sale) | $42.95 | $38.86 | $44.26 | +13.9% | 0.66 | 16 |
| Sports & Recreation | $49.90 | $47.47 | $44.26 | -6.8% | 0.66 | 17 |
| Physicians & Surgeons | $59.74 | $56.83 | $40.04 | -29.5% | 0.60 | 18 |
| Beauty & Personal Care | $48.42 | $60.34 | $39.25 | -35.0% | 0.59 | 19 |
| Animals & Pets | $34.81 | $31.82 | $31.50 | -1.0% | 0.47 | 20 |
| Restaurants & Food | $29.67 | $30.27 | $30.57 | +1.0% | 0.46 | 21 |
| Automotive (Repair, Service & Parts) | $27.94 | $28.50 | $29.96 | +5.1% | 0.45 | 22 |
| Arts & Entertainment | $44.70 | $30.27 | $26.84 | -11.3% | 0.40 | 23 |
Sorted by 2026 cost per lead. Index = industry CPL / $66.69 all-industry median. Change is the percentage change from the 2025 report. Source: WordStream by LocaliQ 2024, 2025 and 2026 reports; Driven Metrics analysis.
Twelve of the 23 industries sit above the all-industry figure. Legal is the clear outlier at an index of 1.97, almost double the median lead. Furniture ($106.70), real estate ($102.51) and apparel ($97.51) follow, then business services ($93.69) and home and home improvement ($90.92).
The biggest declines from 2025 came in travel (down 39.3%), beauty and personal care (down 35.0%) and physicians and surgeons (down 29.5%). Driven Metrics calculated that the unweighted average change across all 23 industries was a 6.8% decline, steeper than the 4.9% drop in the overall median. Legal is 8.6% cheaper than its $144.03 peak in the 2024 report, while home and home improvement is 10.5% more expensive than its 2024 figure of $82.27.
Why do legal and home services leads cost the most?
Legal and home services pay the most per click, and that, more than a weak conversion rate, drives their lead costs. At median rates, Driven Metrics calculated that a legal advertiser needs about 18 clicks to win one Google Ads lead in 2026 and pays $9.87 per click, while a home improvement advertiser needs about 12 clicks at $8.33.
| Industry | Avg. CPC | Avg. conversion rate | Clicks per lead (DM) | 2026 CPL (reported) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorneys & Legal Services | $9.87 | 5.55% | 18.0 | $131.63 |
| Home & Home Improvement | $8.33 | 8.05% | 12.4 | $90.92 |
| Dentists & Dental Services | $8.00 | 10.67% | 9.4 | $72.97 |
| Personal Services | $7.17 | 12.34% | 8.1 | $54.60 |
| Health & Fitness | $6.17 | 6.94% | 14.4 | $67.36 |
| Business Services | $5.87 | 4.85% | 20.6 | $93.69 |
| Industrial & Commercial | $5.87 | 8.20% | 12.2 | $75.19 |
| Career & Employment | $5.81 | 3.05% | 32.8 | $67.36 |
| Education & Instruction | $4.81 | 13.14% | 7.6 | $77.48 |
| Physicians & Surgeons | $4.76 | 12.43% | 8.0 | $40.04 |
| Beauty & Personal Care | $4.62 | 10.35% | 9.7 | $39.25 |
| Apparel / Fashion & Jewelry | $4.44 | 4.50% | 22.2 | $97.51 |
| Automotive (Repair, Service & Parts) | $4.35 | 15.51% | 6.4 | $29.96 |
| Shopping, Collectibles & Gifts | $4.14 | 4.01% | 24.9 | $49.40 |
| Animals & Pets | $4.06 | 16.22% | 6.2 | $31.50 |
| Furniture | $3.97 | 2.99% | 33.4 | $106.70 |
| Finance & Insurance | $3.39 | 2.64% | 37.9 | $74.44 |
| Real Estate | $3.22 | 3.70% | 27.0 | $102.51 |
| Sports & Recreation | $2.77 | 7.69% | 13.0 | $44.26 |
| Automotive (For Sale) | $2.27 | 6.01% | 16.6 | $44.26 |
| Travel | $2.14 | 5.83% | 17.2 | $44.70 |
| Restaurants & Food | $2.05 | 8.05% | 12.4 | $30.57 |
| Arts & Entertainment | $1.63 | 5.91% | 16.9 | $26.84 |
Sorted by cost per click. Clicks per lead = 100 / median conversion rate. WordStream calculates each metric as a separate median, so at the industry level median CPC multiplied by clicks per lead does not equal median CPL; read clicks per lead as a measure of conversion difficulty, not a cost calculation. Source: WordStream by LocaliQ 2026 report; Driven Metrics analysis.
The scatter shows two separate routes to an expensive lead. Legal ($9.87), home and home improvement ($8.33) and dentists ($8.00) have the three highest click prices. Furniture and real estate reach high lead costs the other way: clicks are cheap at $3.97 and $3.22, but conversion rates of 2.99% and 3.70% mean 33.4 and 27.0 clicks per lead.
The difference matters for budget planning. When cost per lead is driven by click price, as in legal and home services, it tracks auction competition, which advertisers cannot control. When it is driven by conversion rate, landing pages and offers can move it. Dentists show the effect: they pay $8.00 per click, close to home services, but convert 10.67% of clicks, so their leads cost $72.97 rather than $90.92.
Is SEO cheaper than Google Ads per lead? Paid vs. organic cost per lead by industry
In most industries, yes. Paid leads cost more than organic leads in 28 of 30 industries in First Page Sage’s 2026 cost per lead report. Driven Metrics calculated that the average paid lead costs 29.1% more than the average organic lead, and the median industry premium is 24.2%.
| Industry | Paid CPL | Organic CPL | Blended CPL | Paid premium (DM) | Paid minus organic (DM) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B2B SaaS | $318 | $186 | $249 | +71.0% | $132 |
| Engineering | $355 | $214 | $284 | +65.9% | $141 |
| Addiction Treatment | $384 | $232 | $304 | +65.5% | $152 |
| PCB Design & Manufacturing | $462 | $284 | $371 | +62.7% | $178 |
| HVAC | $118 | $73 | $96 | +61.6% | $45 |
| Environmental Services | $343 | $217 | $283 | +58.1% | $126 |
| Aerospace & Aviation | $453 | $290 | $375 | +56.2% | $163 |
| Higher Education | $1,176 | $766 | $970 | +53.5% | $410 |
| Construction | $282 | $185 | $235 | +52.4% | $97 |
| Manufacturing | $657 | $440 | $547 | +49.3% | $217 |
| Oil & Gas | $756 | $526 | $639 | +43.7% | $230 |
| IT & Managed Services | $600 | $418 | $505 | +43.5% | $182 |
| Legal Services | $783 | $580 | $682 | +35.0% | $203 |
| Industrial IOT | $573 | $427 | $501 | +34.2% | $146 |
| Transportation & Logistics | $671 | $538 | $604 | +24.7% | $133 |
| Financial Services | $731 | $591 | $662 | +23.7% | $140 |
| Software Development | $691 | $573 | $627 | +20.6% | $118 |
| Hotels & Resorts | $268 | $234 | $250 | +14.5% | $34 |
| Solar | $243 | $213 | $227 | +14.1% | $30 |
| eCommerce | $102 | $90 | $96 | +13.3% | $12 |
| Biotech | $281 | $249 | $265 | +12.9% | $32 |
| Automotive | $319 | $285 | $302 | +11.9% | $34 |
| Real Estate | $496 | $450 | $472 | +10.2% | $46 |
| Fintech | $494 | $451 | $473 | +9.5% | $43 |
| Business Insurance | $440 | $412 | $427 | +6.8% | $28 |
| Healthcare | $363 | $348 | $356 | +4.3% | $15 |
| Cybersecurity | $434 | $427 | $429 | +1.6% | $7 |
| Entertainment | $115 | $114 | $115 | +0.9% | $1 |
| Staffing & Recruiting | $511 | $543 | $526 | -5.9% | -$32 |
| Pharmaceutical | $126 | $148 | $140 | -14.9% | -$22 |
| Average, 30 industries | $452 | $350 | $400 | +29.1% | $102 |
Sorted by Driven Metrics paid premium. Premium = (paid CPL / organic CPL) – 1. Gap = paid CPL – organic CPL. First Page Sage data covers January 2022 to August 2026 and does not disclose a client count. Source: First Page Sage, October 2026; Driven Metrics analysis.
The home services and legal rows are the ones most of our readers will look for. An HVAC lead costs $118 through paid channels and $73 through organic, a 61.6% premium. A legal lead costs $783 paid and $580 organic, a 35.0% premium. B2B SaaS has the widest premium at 71.0%. Pharmaceutical (paid leads 14.9% cheaper than organic) and staffing and recruiting (paid 5.9% cheaper) are the two exceptions.
These numbers are not the same metric as WordStream’s. First Page Sage counts a lead only when it becomes a direct connection by email, phone or in person, and its cost per lead divides total channel marketing spend, not just ad clicks, by those leads. Driven Metrics matched six First Page Sage categories to their closest WordStream categories and found First Page Sage’s paid CPL ran 1.3x to 7.2x higher, with a median of 5.3x. Legal is $783 against $131.63 (5.9x); HVAC against home and home improvement is $118 against $90.92 (1.3x). Use WordStream to benchmark media cost per conversion and First Page Sage to benchmark cost per qualified conversation.
What does a cheaper Google Ads lead mean for SEO budgets?
It narrows the cost advantage of organic leads but does not close it. Driven Metrics calculated that the average paid premium over organic fell from 40.5% to 29.1% between First Page Sage’s 2025 and 2026 reports, and the dollar gap fell 22.7%, from $132 to $102 per lead.
| Measure | 2025 report | 2026 report | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average paid CPL | $458 | $452 | -1.3% |
| Average organic CPL | $326 | $350 | +7.4% |
| Paid minus organic (DM calculation) | $132 | $102 | -22.7% |
| Paid premium over organic (DM calculation) | 40.5% | 29.1% | -11.4 pts |
| Industries where paid CPL fell / organic CPL rose | n/a | 15 of 30 / 30 of 30 | n/a |
Averages are unweighted across 30 industries, as published by First Page Sage. Gap and premium are Driven Metrics calculations. Source: First Page Sage, October 2026; Driven Metrics analysis.
The squeeze is coming from both sides. Paid leads got slightly cheaper in First Page Sage’s data, consistent with WordStream’s conversion-rate gains. Organic leads got more expensive in all 30 industries, which First Page Sage attributes to AI-generated summaries that reduce clicks from search. Pew Research Center found that Google users clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, against 15% when one did not, based on the March 2025 browsing of 900 US adults. Organic cost per lead rose most in B2B SaaS (13.4%), legal services (12.4%) and software development (12.4%).
For a rough sense of pace only: if both averages kept moving at their 2025 to 2026 rates, paid and organic cost per lead would meet in about three years. That is arithmetic, not a forecast. Paid costs depend on auction competition and organic costs on how AI search features change click behavior, and neither has moved in a straight line.
The cost of a lead from AI search, as opposed to Google’s organic results, is not yet measured in published data. As of October 2026, no source we reviewed reports a cost per lead for AI assistant referrals. The closest evidence is on conversion, not cost: Ahrefs reported in June 2025 that AI search sent 0.5% of its site visits over 30 days but produced 12.1% of its signups. That is one company’s data. For wider context on AI search usage and traffic, see our AI search statistics report.
For legal and home services advertisers, the practical reading is that both cost lines are moving. Google Ads click prices for these categories are the highest in WordStream’s data and did not fall in 2026, while organic leads remain cheaper but are getting more expensive. Comparing your own cost per lead by channel, using the same lead definition for each, is the only way to know which side of these averages you sit on.
Frequently asked questions about Google Ads cost per lead
The average cost per lead in Google Ads is $66.69 in 2026, according to WordStream by LocaliQ’s analysis of 13,474 US search campaigns from April 2025 to March 2026. That is down 4.9% from $70.11 in 2025, the first decline WordStream has recorded in five years.
Attorneys and legal services, at $131.63 per lead in 2026, followed by furniture at $106.70 and real estate at $102.51 (WordStream, 2026). Arts and entertainment is the lowest at $26.84.
Home and home improvement businesses paid a median $90.92 per Google Ads lead in 2026, unchanged from 2025 and 36% above the all-industry figure (WordStream; Driven Metrics calculation). In First Page Sage’s 2026 data, which uses a stricter lead definition, an HVAC lead costs $118 through paid channels and $73 through organic.
Conversion rates rose from 7.52% to 8.18% while cost per click rose only 3.0%, from $5.26 to $5.42 (WordStream). Driven Metrics calculated that the conversion gain cut $5.75 from the median cost per lead and the click-price rise added $2.05.
In most industries, yes. First Page Sage’s 2026 data shows paid leads cost more than organic leads in 28 of 30 industries, and Driven Metrics calculated that the average paid lead costs 29.1% more than the average organic lead, down from 40.5% a year earlier as organic lead costs rose.
Methodology
Sources combined: WordStream by LocaliQ Google Ads benchmark reports for 2024 (data April 2023 to March 2024, 17,998 campaigns), 2025 (April 2024 to March 2025, 16,446 campaigns) and 2026 (April 2025 to March 2026, 13,474 campaigns), plus the 2016 and 2023 figures those reports cite; First Page Sage’s Average Cost Per Lead by Industry (October 2026; data January 2022 to August 2026, 30 industries); Alphabet’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026; BLS CPI-U monthly index; Pew Research Center (March 2025 browsing data); and Ahrefs (June 2025).
Formulas: inflation-adjusted CPL = CPL x (CPI-U March 2026 / CPI-U at the end of each data window). Year-over-year change = (later / earlier) – 1. CPL decomposition: each input’s dollar effect = total dollar change x (input’s log change / total log change), with CPC entering positively and conversion rate negatively; the residual is labeled other. Clicks per lead = 100 / conversion rate. Industry index = industry CPL / $66.69. Paid premium = (paid CPL / organic CPL) – 1. Cross-dataset ratio = First Page Sage paid CPL / WordStream CPL for the closest matching category. Years to parity = ln(paid / organic) / ln(organic growth factor / paid growth factor), using 2025 to 2026 averages.
Limitations: WordStream reports medians from campaigns run on LocaliQ’s advertising platform and blends Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. First Page Sage reports client data with a stricter lead definition and does not disclose its sample size. The two datasets measure different things and are compared only as ratios. Cross-year comparisons assume WordStream’s methods were consistent; the 2016 report’s method is not described on the 2026 page, and dividing its CPC by its conversion rate gives $85.93 against the reported $59.18, so the 2016 comparison is approximate. Several WordStream values repeat across categories and years and are reported as published.
Disclosure: First Page Sage is an agency partner of Driven Metrics. Its data is used here because it is one of the few published sources that separates paid and organic cost per lead by industry.
Have cost per lead data by channel you would like to contribute to the next edition? Contact Driven Metrics.
Sources
- Google Ads Benchmarks 2026: Competitive Data & Insights for Every Industry. WordStream by LocaliQ. Susie Marino (editor: Stephanie Heitman). Last updated September 16, 2026. https://www.wordstream.com/blog/2026-google-ads-benchmarks
- Google Ads Benchmarks 2025: Competitive Data & Insights for Every Industry. WordStream by LocaliQ. Susie Marino. Last updated May 18, 2026. https://www.wordstream.com/blog/2025-google-ads-benchmarks
- Google Ads Benchmarks 2024. WordStream by LocaliQ. WordStream staff. 2024 (data April 2023 to March 2024). https://www.wordstream.com/blog/2024-google-ads-benchmarks
- Average Cost Per Lead by Industry, 2026. First Page Sage. Evan Bailyn. October 8, 2026. https://firstpagesage.com/reports/average-cost-per-lead-by-industry/
- Alphabet Inc. Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2026. Alphabet Inc. / US Securities and Exchange Commission. July 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1652044/000165204426000071/goog-20260630.htm
- Consumer Price Index Historical Tables for U.S. City Average (CPI-U). US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accessed October 27, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/data/consumerpriceindexhistorical_us_table.htm
- Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results. Pew Research Center. Athena Chapekis and Anna Lieb. July 22, 2025. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/
- Does AI Search Traffic Convert Better Than Traditional Search? For Ahrefs, Yes: 0.5% of Visitors Drove 12.1% of Signups. Ahrefs. Patrick Stox. June 16, 2025. https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-search-traffic-conversions-ahrefs/
