Google Advertising Costs By CPM
Always fresh Google ad cost data from hundreds of millions of spend.
How Much Do Google Ads Cost?
Great question. The answer depends on what keywords or audiences you go after, what you’re willing to pay, and what your competitors do.
Super niche, low-competition keywords can start as low as $0.50 cents. But some keywords are more expensive, no matter what.
Google Ads keyword costs might be hundreds of dollars per click for terms like “credit repair” or “motorcycle injury lawyer.” These keywords exist in competitive YMYL (your money or your life—insurance, finance, legal, healthcare) industries where impressions, clicks, and conversions can turn into high lifetime value (LTV) customers.
Like LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads (Meta), and Instagram Ads (Meta), a Google Ads campaign runs in an auction environment. Cost per impression (CPM) is a method of looking at cost data where you bid against other advertisers to get your ad in front of 1,000 eyeballs—mille means 1,000.
Paying the most money (putting down a high max bid amount) doesn’t automatically get you the best ad placement every time your ad shows.
Here’s what will modify the price you pay for 1,000 impressions (CPM):
- The supply and demand of your target keyword
- The industry that will see the ad
- How good the ad looks (design) and sounds (copywriting)
- The format (Google search ads, Google display ads, video ads)
- Engagement (Do your ads stand out? Are they relevant to your audience?)
- Targeting criteria: same or non-same across ad campaigns and ad groups.
- Advertising budget (daily, monthly, total, accelerated)
- Schedule and seasonality (competitive swings)
- Your objective: are you waving your brand flag around or searching for buyers?
- Past performance
Google rewards advertisers who manage these levers best with the lowest price per 1,000 impressions. The end cost will only match your desired cost if your ads perform well. This is the CPM cost formula:
(Total Ad Spend ÷ Total Impressions) x 1,000.
An advertising strategy that bids on cost per impression can maximize brand visibility in the early stage of the buying journey. You pay to get your ad out there in the world (not for clicks or conversions). Your goal is to lay the groundwork for future engagement when purchase intent is higher. A Google Ads campaign based on CPM is great if you’re trying to:
- Increase brand visibility (instead of chasing leads)
- Create positive associations and familiarity (which leads to conversions later)
- Test ad creatives
- Remarket to keep your brand top-of-mind
You control some things about your Google Ad campaign — like max daily ad spend — but Google controls the end cost of the 1,000 impressions you get, judging performance based on three things:
- Competitor bids
- Your click-through-rate (CTR) & Quality Score
- Bid modifications
Competitor Bids
CTR & Quality Score
Bid Modifications
The straightforward part: What is the maximum dollar amount your competition will pay for each click? This is known as the competitor bid ceiling.
Step up to the table with ad spend; pay to play, and play to win. Google cares about what you’re willing to pay to show your ad 1,000 times, but Google cares more about how well your ads will perform after all those impressions. High performers cost less.
CTR measures how many clicks your ad gets after showing it so many times. If your ad poops the bed, your CTR will tank. But if people like your ad, the click rate tells Google to show it more—and at a discount.
CTR formula: if your ad appears 1,000 times and gets 20 clicks, that’s a 2% CTR (20 clicks/1000 impressions).
Google taps into years of historical ad metrics to predict the CTR of your ad based on ad spend and ad relevance (how closely your ad matches search intent). After you press play, a high click-through rate confirms to Google that people like your ad more than competing ads.
When this happens, your quality score goes up, and you get a better deal on your average CPM.
Bid modification [*it gets real*] is a handy conditional logic tool that Google gives you to fine-tune your ad campaign. Get to work pulling back your bid or bidding harder based on IFTT (if this then that) scenarios:
If [this condition] then [bid more/less]
For example:
If [this location] then [↑ increase bid by 50%]
If [this day] then [↓ decrease bid 30%]
If [this target audience] then [↑ increase bid by 10%]
If [this device] then [double down, boss!]
Stack your modifications and let Google calculate the value your bid, CTR, and modifications might offer the world.
Google wants to show off the best ads in the Googleverse. That’s why highly relevant, engaging ads cost less, and poor performers cost more to compete for ad space.
The Google Ads Cost Equation
The best ads have a high total value, calculated by looking at advertiser skill and consumer experience.
Advertiser value = your bid multiplied by Google’s performance prediction (estimated action rate).
That’s two-thirds of the battle.
The other third is how people receive your ad (consumer experience).
Your bid, Google’s assumption, and people’s reaction form the overall value. If that works out to be high, you’re set to get the most ROAS from your Google Ads budget.
Google is rooting for you, so if you stumble at the starting line of your first ad campaign, brush yourself off and get to work improving your quality score by
- testing ad copy
- refining your keywords
- tightening your landing page to align better with search intent.
Do this and watch ad relevance and user experience go up as Google Ads Cost goes down.
Use our Google Ads cost charts above to find the average cost by your campaign objective.
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We Spent Hours Compiling The Best Questions & Our Favorite Answers, Enjoy
Don’t see an answer to your question? Ask it during your free marketing plan.
1
Why is my Google CPM so high?
Reach out for your free marketing plan, and we’ll tell you.
But here are common reasons for a high CPM in your Google Advertising campaigns:
- Audience Targeting: If you’re targeting highly specific or niche audiences, competition for those impressions can drive up CPM. Similarly, targeting premium demographics or competitive regions (like major metropolitan areas) can also increase costs.
- Ad Placement: Premium ad placements, such as those on high-traffic websites, YouTube, or sites within the Google Display Network, often come at a higher CPM due to their reach and visibility.
- Industry Competition: In highly competitive industries, many advertisers may bid for the same audience, increasing the average CPM. Industries like finance, legal, and technology often experience higher CPMs due to intense competition.
- Ad Quality and Relevance: Ads with lower quality scores may see higher CPMs. Improving your ad’s relevance, quality, and targeting can help reduce costs over time.
- Campaign Objective: The type of campaign objective selected in Google Ads can influence CPM. For instance, brand awareness campaigns that prioritize visibility may drive up CPM if they’re designed to reach as many people as possible within specific criteria.
To potentially lower your CPM, consider broadening your audience slightly, improving ad quality, testing different ad placements, or adjusting bid strategies to optimize for cost efficiency. To truly lower CPM, we recommend a personalized Google Ads review that adjusts keywords, ad copy, audience targeting, and fine-tunes your maximum CPC bid.
2
What is a good CPM for Google Ads?
A “good” CPM for your Google ad will change based on industry, audience, and campaign goals, but here are some general benchmarks:
- Typical Range: Most advertisers see CPMs between $3 and $10 on the Google Display Network.
- Premium Audiences and Placements: Targeting premium audiences or placements, such as YouTube or certain display sites, results in CPMs of $10 to $30 or more.
- Industry-Specific Averages: For example, B2C industries, such as retail and consumer goods, often experience CPMs in the $5–$15 range, whereas B2B sectors or high-competition niches (like finance or insurance) can see CPMs between $10 and $40.
Ultimately, a “good” CPM aligns with your online advertising ad revenue. If a higher CPM delivers strong engagement, brand awareness, or conversions, it may be well worth the investment. Testing various strategies, such as targeting adjustments or ad format changes, can also help you find the optimal CPM for your needs.
3
Why would a Google advertiser choose to advertise based on CPM?
Here are some key reasons why an advertiser might choose a CPM bidding strategy:
1. Brand Awareness
- Goal: increase visibility and recognition. If the product or service is new to the market or if the brand wants to reinforce its presence, CPM is ideal. CPM shows the ad to a large audience to get people familiar with the brand.
- Benefit: CPM bidding puts the brand in front of as many people as possible within a specific budget, making it effective for mass reach.
2. Product Launches or Rebranding Campaigns
- Goal: When launching a new product or rebranding, CPM maximizes exposure quickly. Lots of people notice your brand in a short timeframe, especially if there’s high competition in the market.
- Benefit: Frequent ad appearances establish the new product or rebrand in the audience’s mind, paving the way for future conversions as they become familiar with your offer.
3. Reaching a Broad Target Audience Efficiently
- Goal: CPM campaigns have big arms, so if you want general visibility, CPM bidding is cost-effective.
- Benefit: It’s an efficient way to reach a larger pool of potential customers without focusing on immediate conversions. This suits top-of-the-funnel (awareness stage) marketing.
4. Building a Long-Term Marketing Funnel
- Goal: For advertisers who want to build brand recall and foster a long-term relationship with the audience, CPM works by exposure and primes audiences for future conversions.
- Benefit: CPM is about frequency. It sets up later stages of the marketing funnel, preparing the audience for engagement or action when they reach the consideration or decision stages.
5. Improving Retargeting Effectiveness
- Goal: If used with retargeting, CPM ads reinforce the brand with users who have already shown interest (e.g., visited the website or engaged with previous ads).
- Benefit: High exposure to the brand through CPM ads can create more familiarity and trust, which might increase the effectiveness of retargeting ads and ultimately help convert previous visitors.
6. Reaching Certain Placement Types or Networks
- Goal: CPM bidding is often used for display networks, where visual ads on websites, apps, and videos reach specific demographics. If an advertiser wants to place visual or video content in front of audiences without breaking the bank, cost per impression is an ideal strategy.
- Benefit: Show ads across a wide network on relevant platforms where target customers might spend time.
4
CPC vs. CPM in Google Ads
Cost per Click (CPC)
- Advertisers pay when someone clicks your ad
- Common range: $1–$2 (varies by industry)
- Best for: Direct action campaigns (e.g., lead generation, conversions)
Cost per Impression (CPM)
- Pay for every 1,000 impressions
- Common range: $3–$10 (varies by audience and placement)
- Best for: Brand awareness and visibility