---
title: "Google Ads Cost for B2B in 2026: CPL, CPC, CPM and Why It Is the Most Expensive Channel"
url: https://metadata.io/google-ads-cost-b2b
description: "What Google Ads costs B2B advertisers: $524 per lead weighted, $920 at the median, against $202 on LinkedIn. From $57.6M of measured 2025 spend."
source: metadata.io
---

Channel cost reference · 2025 data

# Google Ads cost for B2B: CPL, CPC, CPM and why it is the most expensive channel

Every number below comes from B2B advertisers running Google Ads in 2025, inside a dataset of $57.6M of measured spend across 153 advertisers, with closed-won revenue traced back to the ads. No email gate. The [method is published](https://metadata.io/benchmark/methodology) and the [dataset is available](https://metadata.io/benchmark/dataset).

## How much do Google Ads cost for B2B?

A B2B lead from Google Ads costs **$524** on a spend-weighted basis, at $9.76 per click and $617.91 per thousand impressions. Click-through rate is 6.33%, far above social, but only 1.9% of those clicks convert.

| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost per lead | $524 |
| Cost per click | $9.76 |
| Cost per thousand impressions | $617.91 |
| Click-through rate | 6.33% |
| Click to lead conversion | 1.9% |

## Why is Google Ads more expensive per B2B lead than LinkedIn?

Not because clicks cost more. Google clicks are $9.76 against $9.39 on LinkedIn, effectively the same. The gap is conversion: 1.9% of Google clicks become leads against 5.9% on LinkedIn. Three times fewer, at the same price.

| Metric | Google Ads | LinkedIn |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per click | $9.76 | $9.39 |
| Click-through rate | 6.33% | 0.67% |
| Click to lead | 1.9% | 5.9% |
| Cost per lead | $524 | $202 |

The high click-through rate is the trap. Search intent produces 6.33% CTR, roughly ten times LinkedIn, which makes Google look efficient in the ad platform. The lead only appears after the click, and that is where the channel loses.

## What is a good Google Ads cost per lead for B2B?

The median B2B advertiser pays $920 per lead, not the weighted $524. If you are under $524 you are doing better than most of this dataset. A weighted average is pulled down by a few very large, very efficient spenders and is not what a typical advertiser experiences.

## Is Google Ads worth it for B2B?

Worth it where intent is explicit and the buyer is already searching for the category. Poor value as a discovery channel: you pay search prices for audiences that are not searching. The honest comparison is cost per customer, not cost per lead, and that needs closed-won data most platforms cannot show you.

Across the full dataset, 65 of 105 advertisers running lead-generation spend had no closed-won revenue traceable to their ads at all, 62% of them. Before optimizing cost per lead on any channel, check whether you can see the other end of it.

## Where does Google Ads sit against the other channels?

Most expensive per lead of every channel in this dataset. The full cross-channel table, with CTR, CPC and CPM for LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Google, is on the [B2B advertising benchmarks](https://metadata.io/b2b-advertising-benchmarks) page. The [LinkedIn cut](https://metadata.io/linkedin-ads-cost-b2b) has the deepest breakdown, including the full cost-per-lead distribution.

## How were these numbers calculated?

Spend-weighted aggregates across B2B advertisers who ran Google Ads in 2025. Suppression thresholds mean no cut is published on a sample too small to be worth anything; cuts that failed were killed, not caveated. The [full method](https://metadata.io/benchmark/methodology) names the rules and the [dataset](https://metadata.io/benchmark/dataset) is CC BY 4.0.