WordStream by LocaliQ’s 2026 Google Ads benchmarks put the average CPC by industry for Business Services and Industrial & Commercial at $5.87 a click, a median across US search campaigns. By our calculation from its 2025 and 2026 tables, those two rows rose 5.2% and 3.0%, and $5.87 is a sound starting price for a 2027 paid search budget.
To size next year’s increase, we tracked 1,349 non-brand keywords across 14 B2B advertisers in Google Ads Search from April 2025 through September 2026 for Same Click, Higher Price. After controlling for budget, position and Quality Score, the same B2B search click cost about 21% more year over year. In the worked example below, that rise cuts a flat $120,000 budget from about 20,440 clicks at $5.87 to about 16,900.
Published B2B average CPC by industry, by source and year
WordStream’s 2026 report is based on a sample of 13,474 US-based search advertising campaigns running between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026, and its “averages” are technically medians. The 2025 report drew on 16,446 US campaigns from April 2024 through March 2025. Both reports span all industries, and their industry rows include consumer and local categories such as Real Estate, Home & Home Improvement, Attorneys & Legal Services and Education & Instruction. The table keeps the two rows closest to B2B, Business Services and Industrial & Commercial, plus the all-industry figure, which went from $5.26 to $5.42.
| Industry | 2025 report CPC | 2026 report CPC | Change (our calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Services | $5.58 | $5.87 | +5.2% |
| Industrial & Commercial | $5.70 | $5.87 | +3.0% |
| All industries | $5.26 | $5.42 | +3.0% |
Source: WordStream by LocaliQ, 2025 and 2026 Google Ads Benchmarks, US search campaigns, median CPC. The change column is our arithmetic from the two tables.
WordStream’s 2025 edition reported bigger moves. It said “the overall average cost per click in Google Ads across all industries increased by 12.88%” and that CPC rose in 87% of industries, while the 2026 edition calls this year’s differences “much more mellow”.
A few things limit how much weight these rows can carry in a budget. The sample shrank from 16,446 campaigns to 13,474 between editions, and a median moves whenever the mix of advertisers and keywords moves. LocaliQ describes the data as coming from customer campaigns across Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. A median also mixes together everything that moves an advertiser’s costs, which our research page lists as new competitors, larger budgets, different keywords, and shifts in match type and bid strategy.
What our research found on same-keyword prices
The study followed the same keywords in the same accounts over six quarters and removed the effects of budget changes, ad position and Quality Score. Three of its headline findings, as the page states them:
- “The same B2B search click cost about 21% more year over year, after controlling for budget, position, and Quality Score.”
- “Every 10% budget increase added about 1.4% to an advertiser’s own CPCs, on top of the market. Doubling a budget adds roughly 11%.”
- “The typical advertiser’s non-brand CPC rose 36% once their own choices are included.”
The sample is 14 B2B advertisers from Grey Matter’s client base and 1,349 non-brand keywords, in Google Ads Search campaigns only, with Performance Max, Shopping and Display excluded. Year-over-year figures compare April through September 2026 with the same months of 2025. Broad match keywords and Maximize Clicks campaigns are left out of the main estimate, and each advertiser carries equal weight.
In the study’s quarterly index, if those keywords cost $1.00 a click in spring 2025, they cost about $1.10 that summer, dipped to $1.06 in early 2026, and reached about $1.32 by summer 2026. WordStream’s 2026 edition stops at March 2026, before most of that climb.
Because the sample is 14 advertisers, the main estimate of +21% has a likely range of +1% to +44%, and every other method and check the study ran landed between +17% and +32%. Google Ads doesn’t report historical budget settings or bid targets, so the study used spend and impression share lost to budget in their place, and it measures correlation rather than proven cause. The page doesn’t break the advertisers out by industry, so set the 21% beside whichever table row fits your company.
How to adjust a 2027 budget for rising average CPC
The research page tells planners to “build roughly 20% annual CPC inflation into forecasts before setting growth targets”. This is what that does to a $120,000 annual non-brand search budget, starting at WordStream’s 2026 Business Services median of $5.87. The $120,000 figure is illustrative, chosen to show the arithmetic.
| Scenario | CPC | Budget | Clicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| This year | $5.87 | $120,000 | about 20,440 |
| Flat budget, same click up 21% | $7.10 | $120,000 | about 16,900 |
| Budget up 5.2%, as the Business Services row moved | $7.10 | $126,240 | about 17,770 |
| Budget sized to hold this year’s clicks | $7.10 | $145,200 | about 20,440 |
| Budget for 10% more clicks | $7.10 | $159,720 | about 22,490 |
A flat budget loses about 3,550 clicks. A plan built on the published Business Services change still falls $18,960 short of holding volume, and standing still costs $25,200 more than this year before any growth target goes in.
At the low and high ends of the study’s checks, +17% and +32%, holding 20,440 clicks takes $140,400 and $158,400, against $145,200 at 21%.
Ruler Analytics’ 2026 conversion rate study, which covers 13 industries, more than 110 million sessions and more than 5 million conversions and includes consumer categories, puts paid search conversion at 5.4% averaged across all industries. By our arithmetic from Ruler’s and WordStream’s figures, a conversion at that rate costs about $108.70 at $5.87 a click and about $131.50 at $7.10.
The research page recommends that you “scale budgets in stages, and judge each step by the cost of the additional clicks it buys, not by the account’s average CPC,” because every 10% budget increase added about 1.4% to an advertiser’s own CPCs, on top of the market. A 21% budget increase is two 10% steps compounded (1.10 × 1.10 = 1.21), so by our arithmetic from that rate it adds about 2.8% (1.014 × 1.014) to your own CPCs, and $145,200 buys about 19,880 clicks instead of 20,440.
How to check your own account
The six steps below measure how much the price of the same keywords moved in your own account, using the controls the study used.
- Open the Keywords view for your Search campaigns and set the date range to April through September 2026, compared with the same months of 2025, the window the study used.
- Filter out brand and competitor keywords, broad match keywords and any Maximize Clicks campaigns, as the study did.
- Keep only keywords with clicks in both periods. The study’s keyword index required at least 5 clicks in both quarters of each link.
- Compare average CPC for that matched set across the two periods to get your same-click change.
- Add the columns for cost, Search lost IS (budget), Search top IS and Quality Score (hist.). Keywords that moved up the page, lost Quality Score or sat in campaigns whose spend jumped carry part of the increase you created yourself.
- Compare the matched-set change with the change in your total non-brand average CPC. The difference comes from keyword, match type and bid strategy changes.
In the study, one advertiser that kept its budget flat saw the same keywords rise 20%, then paid 40% more overall after moving spend into pricier phrase match keywords.
Account changes can push CPC down as well. For an anonymized 3D-printing materials manufacturer, we first made the GA4 web-purchase action the account’s single primary conversion and demoted or removed roughly ten competing signals, then held bid strategy steady so value-based bidding could mature. We also consolidated the Performance Max structure, segmented non-brand search by material type, gave more room to specialty material lines that each cleared 375% ROAS, and paused underperformers. Average CPC fell 48%, and paid revenue rose 92% on 14% less spend than in the prior quarter.
The full method, the quarterly index and every check behind the 21% are in Same Click, Higher Price. To set paid search against the rest of next year’s plan, use our B2B marketing budget benchmarks and the B2B marketing budget calculator. If you’d like the same-keyword comparison run on your account, talk to our paid search team.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average CPC by industry for B2B?
WordStream by LocaliQ’s 2026 Google Ads benchmarks span all industries, consumer and local categories included. Its two rows closest to B2B, Business Services and Industrial & Commercial, sit at $5.87 a click, against $5.42 across all industries. Those figures are medians from 13,474 US search campaigns that ran between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026.
What is a good average CPC?
Ruler Analytics’ 2026 study of 13 industries, built on more than 110 million sessions and more than 5 million conversions, puts paid search conversion at 5.4% averaged across all industries, a sample that includes consumer categories. By our arithmetic from Ruler’s and WordStream’s figures, a $5.87 Business Services click converting at 5.4% costs about $108.70 per conversion, and the same click at $7.10, after a 21% rise, costs about $131.50.
How much did Google Ads CPCs go up in 2026?
WordStream’s all-industry median rose from $5.26 in its 2025 report to $5.42 in its 2026 report, about 3.0% by our calculation. In our study of 14 B2B advertisers, the same non-brand keywords cost about 21% more from April through September 2026 than in the same months of 2025, after controlling for budget, position and Quality Score. The likely range around that estimate is +1% to +44%.
Why did my CPC go up when my budget stayed the same?
In our study the same click cost about 21% more year over year, so part of the rise comes from the market. The rest can come from your own account, through match type and keyword changes, ad position and Quality Score. One advertiser in the study kept its budget flat, saw the same keywords rise 20%, and paid 40% more overall after moving spend into pricier phrase match keywords.
How much should I raise my paid search budget for 2027?
Our research advises building roughly 20% annual CPC inflation into forecasts before setting growth targets. At a 21% increase, a $120,000 budget has to grow to $145,200 to buy the same number of clicks, and by our arithmetic from the study’s budget effect, that larger budget adds about 2.8% to your own CPCs.
