Google Ads: Costs Are Up, Clicks Are Up, and Marketers Are Having a Breakdown

Welcome to digital advertising in the hear and now. It’s more expensive. It’s more competitive. And if you’re not paying attention, it’s more likely to set fire to your budget faster than a toddler in a fireworks factory.

A Google Ads Benchmark Report has landed, and the results are a cocktail of encouraging click-through rates and eye-watering lead costs. In other words, people are clicking — but it’s costing you a fortune.

Here’s what matters, minus the fluff.

1. CPC Is Rising Like a Bad Curry

Let’s start with the cost per click (CPC), because that’s where your wallet starts crying.

🧨 Average CPC across industries: $4.66

📈 Up 10% YoY

👎 86% of industries saw a CPC increase

If you’re in legal or home improvement, good luck — CPCs are brushing $9 in some sectors. Even dentists aren’t safe, sitting at $6.82 per click. Inflation, competition, and too many agencies playing bidding wars with automated tools — it’s all pushing prices through the roof.

👉 Takeaway: If your CPC is up, don’t panic — but make sure every click is doing the heavy lifting. Tighten targeting, improve Quality Score, and stop paying £5 for tyre-kickers.

2. Click-Through Rates Are Weirdly Good

📊 Average CTR: 6.42%

👍 70% of industries saw CTR improvements

🏆 Top CTR performer: Arts & Entertainment at 13.04%

Why? Because Google’s blurred the line between ads and organic so much, your nan probably clicks them thinking she’s reading the news.

👉 Takeaway: Higher CTR doesn’t always mean better performance. Watch for vanity metrics. If people are clicking and bouncing, your landing page (or offer) might be the real issue.

3. Conversion Rates: Holding the Line… Barely

🎯 Average CVR: 6.96%

📉 Down ever so slightly from 7.04% in 2023

⚠️ But some industries saw brutal drops — Finance & Insurance down 32%!

Clicks are up, but conversions? Not so much. Why? Probably because people are being more cautious. Or because you’re not qualifying your traffic properly.

👉 Takeaway: You can’t fix a dodgy CVR by throwing more ad spend at it. Fix your landing page. Tighten your audience. Add a compelling offer. And stop counting “form opens” as conversions — you’re only lying to yourself.

4. Cost Per Lead: The Punch in the Face

💸 Average CPL: $66.69

🚀 Up 25% YoY

☠️ Worst-hit industries: Physicians (+58%), Sports (+56%), Pets (+47%)

You read that right. For some advertisers, it now costs more to get a lead than it does to buy a round of drinks in central London. And half of them don’t even pick up the phone.

👉 Takeaway: Cost per lead is the real test. If you’re not tracking it properly — or if your “leads” are just newsletter signups from bots — you’re toast.

5. What You Actually Need to Do

Because if you’ve read this far, you’re either very bored or very worried. Either way — here’s your survival guide:

✅ Get your tracking in order – Enhanced conversions, first-party data, server-side tagging. No excuses.

🎯 Use automation wisely – Tools like Performance Max can be powerful — if you feed them clean data.

💡 Don’t just chase CTR – Optimise for real outcomes, not just clicks.

💬 Write ads like a human – Not like ChatGPT on sleeping pills.

📉 Watch your CPL like a hawk – Because that’s the number that matters when the invoice hits.

Final Thoughts: The Stakes Are Higher. So Should Your Standards Be.

It's not the year to coast on last year’s Google Ads setup. The bar’s been raised, costs are up, and competition’s vicious. But if you know what you’re doing — or work with someone who does (hint: that’s us) — the opportunities are still massive.

Just don’t wait until your ad spend starts setting off fraud alerts on your credit card.

Want to know how your CPL compares to your industry? Or need help rebuilding a PPC strategy that isn’t bleeding money? Get in touch. We’ll sort it. No fluff. No faff. Just results.