Google Ads benchmarks for B2B teams in 2026
Across 16,446 campaigns, LocaliQ measured an average Google Ads CPC of $5.26, CTR of 6.66%, conversion rate of 7.52% and cost per lead of $70.11 for April 2024 to March 2025, with business services among the highest cost per lead at $103.54. For B2B SaaS buyers specifically, Dreamdata saw non-branded search CPC rise 29% while CTR fell 26%, and its customers cut non-branded search to 33% of budgets.
Search still captures demand, but it costs more per qualified buyer each year.
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Key benchmarks
| Metric | Value | Context | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average CPC, all industries | $5.26 (up 12.88%) | April 2024 to March 2025 | [1] LocaliQ via Search Engine Land |
| Average CTR, all industries | 6.66% (up 3.74%) | Same period | [1] LocaliQ via Search Engine Land |
| Average conversion rate, all industries | 7.52% (up 6.84%) | Same period | [1] LocaliQ via Search Engine Land |
| Average cost per lead, all industries | $70.11 (up 5.13%) | Same period | [1] LocaliQ via Search Engine Land |
| Cost per lead, business services | $103.54 | Among the highest of 23 industries | [1] LocaliQ via Search Engine Land |
| Non-branded search CPC change | Up 29% | Dreamdata B2B customers | [2] Dreamdata |
| Non-branded search CTR change | Down 26% | Dreamdata B2B customers | [2] Dreamdata |
| Share of B2B ad budget on non-branded Google search | 33% in 2025, from 37% in 2024 | Dreamdata B2B customers | [2] Dreamdata |
| Google Search ROAS | 67% (top performers 138%) | Dreamdata B2B customers | [2] Dreamdata |
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What a B2B team should take from this
All-industry averages are dominated by local and small-business advertisers, so a B2B team should not use $70 as a target cost per lead. The more useful signal is the trend: clicks cost more every year and fewer searchers click, partly because AI answers now satisfy research queries before anyone reaches an ad.
Our recommendation is to shrink Google Ads to the searches only a buyer would type, protect them with heavy negatives, and judge them on cost per qualified opportunity from the CRM. Value-based bidding with offline conversion imports is what keeps a rising CPC from becoming a rising cost per deal.
Three moves for this quarter
Cut research and job traffic
Separate buying searches from how-to, learning, career and support queries, and exclude them.
Import pipeline values
Send qualified lead, opportunity and revenue events back to Google with values.
Benchmark against your own CRM
Track cost per opportunity and per closed deal, not industry cost per lead.
Related service Google Ads
Where these figures matter Google Ads for enterprise SaaS · Google Ads for industrial technology · Google Ads agency in San Francisco · Google Ads agency in Chicago
More benchmarks B2B buying journey benchmarks · LinkedIn Ads benchmarks for B2B · AI search benchmarks for B2B · Landing page conversion benchmarks for B2B
Google Ads benchmarks for B2B: answers
What is the average Google Ads cost per click in 2026 benchmarks?
LocaliQ measured an average CPC of $5.26 across 16,446 campaigns from April 2024 to March 2025, up 12.88%. The dataset covers all industries and mostly small and mid-sized advertisers, not B2B only.
What is the average Google Ads cost per lead for business services?
LocaliQ reports $103.54 for business services, among the highest of 23 industries, against $70.11 across all industries.
Is non-branded search getting more expensive for B2B?
Dreamdata's B2B customers saw non-branded search CPC rise 29% while CTR fell 26%, and they cut non-branded Google search to 33% of budgets in 2025 from 37% in 2024.
What cost per lead should a B2B team target on Google Ads?
Not an industry average. Our recommendation is to track cost per qualified opportunity and per closed deal from your CRM, because all-industry averages are dominated by local and small-business advertisers.
Caveats
- LocaliQ benchmarks cover all industries and mostly small and mid-sized advertisers. They are reported here from Search Engine Land's coverage; the full report is gated.
- Dreamdata figures reflect its B2B customers and are vendor research.
Sources
- LocaliQ via Search Engine Land: 2025 Google Ads benchmarks (April 2024 to March 2025) (trade press report of vendor research). 16,446 campaigns across 23 industries. Mostly small and mid-sized advertisers, not B2B-only.
- Dreamdata: The 2026 LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks Report (announcement) (vendor research). Aggregated Dreamdata customer data: 66M+ sessions and 3.5M+ customer journeys. Figures in euros.
Figures checked against the linked sources on 2026-11-07. PlanConversion did not produce this research.
