Diagnostic

Why is my CPC so high?

By Oliver Wakefield-Smith, Digital Signet. Updated July 2026.

Five causes explain nearly every scary CPC, and they are checkable in an afternoon, in order of likelihood. Work down the list; stop at the first one that is dirty.

1. Read the search terms report first

Campaigns view, Insights and reports, Search terms. This lists the real searches your ads matched. Most horror-story CPCs trace to expensive, irrelevant searches leaking in. Anything irrelevant becomes a negative keyword today.

The negative-keyword lever

2. Check your match types

Broad match lets the platform stretch your keyword to related searches, including pricier ones. If broad-match terms dominate the search report with junk, tighten to phrase or exact and let broad earn its way back deliberately.

Match-type tightening

3. Check Quality Score

Keywords view, add the Quality Score columns. Low scores mean the auction demands more money from you for the same position: quality substitutes for bid in Ad Rank. Below-average components tell you which fix applies.

Quality Score and CPC

4. Check what you are bidding on

Head terms ("plumber london") price like head terms. The auction insights report shows who you are up against; if it is national brands and aggregators, the long tail ("emergency boiler repair se15") is where a small budget buys position.

How the auction prices

5. Only then blame the market

Compare against your industry's 2026 median. Home services averages $8.33 per click, legal $9.87, arts $1.63 (LocaliQ). If checks 1-4 are clean and you are near your median, your CPC is the market rate, and the question becomes break-even, not blame.

The benchmark board

Is it just 2026?

Partly, possibly. The cross-industry average CPC stands at $5.42 in the 2026 dataset, described by its publisher as a bit of an increase over the prior year LocaliQ, 2026 data. Market drift is real but slow; a CPC double your industry median is not inflation, it is one of checks 1 to 4. Context on the 2026 trends page, placement via find your CPC, and fixes on how to lower CPC.