Google clicks cost these businesses twice as much.
By Conner Crowe · Summers 2023 to 2026 · Updated · Download the data
These are 12 local businesses whose Google Ads I manage, mostly healthcare practices and home-services companies. It shows what they paid, not what all of Google costs. Bids, keywords and budgets in these accounts changed along the way, and that moves the price too.
The short version
- I looked at 12 businesses that ran Google search ads every summer from 2023 to 2026, in accounts I manage.
- 11 of the 12 pay more for each click now than they did in 2023. For the typical one, a click costs about 2.3 times as much.
- Put another way: for every 100 clicks $1,000 bought in summer 2023, it bought about 44 in summer 2026.
- Fewer people click, too. The share of people who clicked after seeing an ad fell in 11 of the 12.
- Other accounts were different. Ten that hadn’t run ads every summer since 2023 paid about the same per click this year as last year.
- 11 of 12businesses pay more per click than in summer 2023
- 2.27xwhat a click costs the typical business now, compared with 2023
- 44clicks per $1,000 in 2026 for every 100 in 2023, typical business
- 11 of 12saw fewer people click after seeing an ad
All four figures: the same 12 businesses, Google search ads only, July to September of each year (N = 12).
The same money buys
about half the clicks.
Picture a business spending the same amount on Google every summer. For every 100 clicks that money bought in 2023, it bought 84 in 2024, 78 in 2025 and 44 in 2026. That’s the typical business of the 12. For the middle half of them, 2026 landed somewhere between 29 and 58.
Clicks the same budget bought, typical business (2023 = 100)
Same 12 businesses, Google search ads, July to September each year.
Each business is compared with itself, then I take the middle one. That’s why this chart uses an index and not a dollar figure: a dental practice and a roofer pay very different prices, but both can be compared with their own 2023.
It went up every year,
and this year jumped.
The typical business paid 19% more per click in summer 2024 than in 2023, then 11% more in 2025, then 76% more in 2026. The middle year was mixed: 7 of 12 paid more and 5 paid less. This year almost everyone paid more: 11 of 12.
Typical rise in cost per click vs the summer before
Each business compared with its own price a year earlier. Same 12 businesses.
| Summer to summer | Typical rise | Middle half of businesses | Paid more |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 to 2024 | 19% | 1% to 38% | 10 of 12 paid more |
| 2024 to 2025 | 11% | -19% to 45% | 7 of 12 paid more |
| 2025 to 2026 | 76% | 45% to 116% | 11 of 12 paid more |
| 2023 to 2026 | 2.27x | 1.72x to 3.57x | 11 of 12 paid more |
Over the three years, 6 of the 12 paid more every single year, 4 paid more in two of the three years, and 2 in one. None paid less every year.
Other accounts
didn’t see the jump.
22 accounts ran Google search ads in every quarter of the last year. The 12 long-running businesses above are all part of that 22. The other 10 hadn’t run ads every summer since 2023, and over the same year their typical cost per click barely moved: 0.98x, with 5 of the 10 paying more and 5 paying less (N = 10).
So the big rise sits in the businesses that have advertised the longest. With this few accounts I can’t tell why. It could be the auction in their markets, the kind of business, or how those accounts have been managed over time. All 22 together: 16 paid more, and the typical one paid 1.51x as much as a year earlier (N = 22).
Fewer people click, too.
Click-through rate is how many people click out of every 100 who see the ad. In summer 2023 the typical business got about 8 clicks per 100 people. In summer 2026 it got about 6. It was lower in 2026 than in 2023 for 11 of the 12, and for the typical business it fell 36% (N = 12).
The biggest drop came between 2024 and 2025, when it fell for 10 of the 12. That’s the same stretch Google spread AI Overviews, the AI answers at the top of search results, but this data can’t show that one caused the other. Ad copy, keywords and which searches an account shows up for all move click-through rate as well.
If you advertise on Google,
here’s what I’d do.
- Judge it by what a customer costs, not a click. A dearer click that turns into a customer more often can still be the better deal. How to tell which one moved.
- Check which searches you pay for. In my Q3 2026 benchmarks, Google showed the searches behind only about half of the spend, and about 30% of what it did show got clicks but no leads. The Q3 2026 Google Ads benchmarks.
- Plan next year’s budget for fewer clicks. If your account looks like these, the same budget may buy noticeably fewer clicks than it did a year ago. Decide in advance whether you’ll spend more or target tighter.
Why only 12, and how sure to be.
- From 161 down to 12. There are 161 accounts under my two manager accounts. 108 are closed, and Google’s API won’t return data for closed accounts. 5 more had no usable data. Of the 48 left, 12 ran Google search ads in every summer from 2023 to 2026 with at least $300 of spend and 30 clicks each summer.
- Who’s missing. Businesses that stopped advertising, closed their account or cut spend below that floor aren’t in the data. I can’t say which way that tilts the result.
- Small numbers. 11 of 12 is a clear signal, but it’s still 12 businesses. A different 12 could easily show 8 or 9 of 12. Read the direction, not the decimal.
- Search ads only. Only ads on Google search results count. Performance Max, Display, YouTube and Search Partners are left out, because their clicks are priced differently and switching one on or off would move the number by itself.
- Each business counts once. A small account counts as much as a big one. The typical figure is the middle business, not an average of dollars.
- Pulled read-only through the Google Ads API on 29 October 2026. Published under the benchmark rules: no client named, no spend, N next to every figure.
Words used here
- Cost per click
- What a business pays Google each time someone clicks its ad.
- Click-through rate
- Out of every 100 people who saw the ad, how many clicked it. 6.37% means about 6 in 100.
- Typical
- The middle business when you line all 12 up from lowest to highest. Statisticians call it the median.
- Middle half
- The range the middle six of the 12 businesses fell in. It shows how spread out they were.
- Summer
- July to September (Q3). Comparing the same season each year keeps holiday and weather swings out of it.
- N
- How many businesses a number is based on.
All the numbers.
The dollar figures below are the middle business’s price, which jumps around with only 12 businesses. A single business moving up or down the line can shift it a lot. For the trend, use the year-by-year rises above, which compare each business with itself.
| Period | N | Typical cost per click | Middle half | Typical click-through | Clicks per budget (2023 = 100) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2023 (Q3) | 12 | $2.32 | $1.14 to $8.15 | 8.23% | 100 |
| Summer 2024 (Q3) | 12 | $3.09 | $1.64 to $9.51 | 9.61% | 84 |
| Summer 2025 (Q3) | 12 | $4.88 | $1.25 to $10.44 | 5.63% | 78 |
| Summer 2026 (Q3) | 12 | $10.47 | $2.42 to $15.35 | 6.37% | 44 |
Quarter by quarter: the same 12 businesses, mid-2024 to mid-2026
Active in every quarter from July 2024 to September 2026 (N = 12; 11 are also in the four-summer group). Across these two years, 11 of 12 paid more, the typical one 1.94x as much, and click-through was lower in 10 of 12.
| Quarter | N | Typical cost per click | Middle half | Typical click-through |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 2024 | 12 | $3.41 | $1.96 to $9.51 | 7.64% |
| Q4 2024 | 12 | $3.45 | $2.07 to $11.18 | 6.68% |
| Q1 2025 | 12 | $4.39 | $1.91 to $9.20 | 8.09% |
| Q2 2025 | 12 | $4.21 | $1.87 to $8.62 | 8.11% |
| Q3 2025 | 12 | $5.11 | $2.36 to $10.44 | 5.63% |
| Q4 2025 | 12 | $6.91 | $1.83 to $14.11 | 6.99% |
| Q1 2026 | 12 | $6.69 | $2.19 to $13.17 | 5.99% |
| Q2 2026 | 12 | $7.29 | $4.30 to $13.83 | 6.20% |
| Q3 2026 | 12 | $11.86 | $6.43 to $15.78 | 6.37% |
Quarter by quarter: 22 businesses, the last year
Active in every quarter from July 2025 to September 2026 (N = 22, including all 12 long-running businesses). 16 of 22 paid more, the typical one 1.51x as much.
| Quarter | N | Typical cost per click | Middle half | Typical click-through |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 2025 | 22 | $4.88 | $1.30 to $9.21 | 6.08% |
| Q4 2025 | 22 | $5.46 | $1.13 to $8.94 | 6.44% |
| Q1 2026 | 22 | $5.16 | $1.35 to $11.17 | 6.22% |
| Q2 2026 | 22 | $5.55 | $1.33 to $10.83 | 5.94% |
| Q3 2026 | 22 | $7.81 | $1.99 to $14.48 | 5.96% |
These won’t match the Q3 2026 Google Ads benchmarks ($8.53 typical cost per click, N = 33). That report covers every ad type and every account active in one quarter. This one counts Google search ads only, in businesses that ran for the whole window.
Common questions.
Are Google Ads clicks getting more expensive?
How much does Google Ads cost per click go up each year?
Did every account see the same increase?
Why do clicks cost more?
What should I do if my Google Ads cost per click went up?
Figures you can quote.
Each line carries its scope, so it stays accurate when it’s copied on its own.
- In 12 local business Google Ads accounts managed by Conner Crowe and active every summer from 2023 to 2026, the typical account’s Google Search cost per click rose 2.27x, and 11 of the 12 paid more. Managed accounts, not a market measure (N = 12).
- In the same 12 accounts, the typical year-over-year rise in cost per click was 19% (2023 to 2024), 11% (2024 to 2025) and 76% (2025 to 2026) (N = 12).
- In the same 12 accounts, a fixed budget bought about 44 clicks in summer 2026 for every 100 it bought in summer 2023 (typical account, N = 12).
- Click-through rate on Google Search ads was lower in summer 2026 than in summer 2023 in 11 of the 12 accounts; the typical account’s rate fell 36% (N = 12). The data does not show why.
- Over the last year, 10 accounts in the same book that had not run Google Search ads every summer since 2023 saw a typical 0.98x change in cost per click, with 5 of 10 paying more (N = 10).
How to cite
Crowe, C. (2026). Are Google Ads Clicks Getting More Expensive? Four Summers of Data, 2023 to 2026. Window: Q3 2023 to Q3 2026, updated 30 October 2026. https://connercrowe.com/benchmarks/google-ads-cpc-trend/
The data file is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit the page and link it.