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Google Ads CPC
By Oliver Wakefield-Smith, Digital Signet. Updated July 2026.
The anchor platform. Search CPC averages $5.42 across 24 industries in 2026 LocaliQ, 2026 data, with category medians from $1.63 (arts) to $9.87 (legal). Google publishes no rate card; every figure is a measured observation.
What Google itself publishes
No rate, no minimum spend, no deposit. Google's own help pages state the per-click price is set by auction and the daily budget is entirely advertiser-set Google Ads Help, budgets. You could run £5 a day; whether that buys anything useful depends on your industry's click price.
How the auction sets what you pay
Every search runs an auction ranked by Ad Rank; each winner pays the minimum needed to clear the thresholds and beat the ad below Google Ads Help, 2026 data. Bids are ceilings, quality substitutes for money, and the full four-bidder walkthrough is on the ad auction page.
Who pays most
2026 category extremes
All figures LocaliQ, 2026 data. Every category, with its CTR, CVR and CPL, is on the benchmark board.
Is it worth £500 a month?
For most local services, Google search is the first platform to fund, because the intent is the strongest available: someone typed the problem into a box. At the average $5.42, a $500 budget is 92 clicks; at a £2.40 UK long-tail CPC, £500 is 208. Price your own month in the calculator, then compare channels: vs Facebook, vs Microsoft, vs Amazon.