Google Ads: what clicks actually cost in 2026

The first number anyone sees in a Google Ads account is average cost per click. It is seductively simple and it leads to bad decisions, because it says nothing about what a customer costs.

How the price is formed

Every search triggers an auction. Entrants are not ranked by bid alone but by a product of bid and ad rank. Ad rank takes in expected click-through rate, the relevance of the ad to the query, and the experience on the landing page.

From that follows a rule that surprises many advertisers: you do not pay your bid, only enough to beat the next advertiser. A better ad lowers the price you actually pay without you touching the bid.

What clicks cost across industries

The spread is large. The figures below are working ranges for generic, purchase-intent queries in Western European markets. Brand terms sit far below, often at 10 to 30 cents.

Only the fourth column matters. A £25 click in legal services can be cheaper than a 40p click in retail when there is a four-figure fee behind it.

The sum you have to do

Reverse the order. Start from gross margin, not from the click price.

1. What is left from an average job after all variable costs?
2. How many enquiries do you need for one job?
3. How many clicks do you need for one enquiry?
4. Only now do you know what a click may cost.

An example: a plumbing firm makes an average £2,400 contribution on a bathroom refit. One in four qualified enquiries becomes a job; one in twelve clickers enquires. So a job costs 48 clicks. If you allow 15 per cent of the contribution for advertising, that is £360 a job, or £7.50 a click. At a market price of £5 the channel is clearly profitable.

Where budget usually leaks

In most accounts seen for the first time, the same four holes appear.

• Queries with no purchase intent. Bidding on "bathroom renovation cost" brings readers, not customers. Not wrong in itself, but it needs its own objective.
• No negative list. Words like free, job, apprenticeship, second-hand and DIY burn money reliably.
• Location settings left on default. The default includes people merely interested in the area. For a local firm that is an expensive widening.
• No schedule. An emergency service needs ads at night; a tax practice does not.

When to end the channel honestly

After three months with clean measurement, a maintained negative list and at least 300 clicks per ad group, you have enough data. If cost per job then sits permanently above your contribution margin, search ads are the wrong channel for this offer. That is not a failure, it is a result.