adtribute Data · Ad platform benchmarks
Google Ads cost and benchmarks for e-commerce
In September 2026 the median European DTC brand paid €0.56 per Google Ads click across Search, Shopping and Performance Max, 2% less than a year earlier. Ads drew a click on 1.79% of impressions, and non-brand campaigns returned €2.66 in revenue per euro on last touch and €4.15 on first touch.
Headline medians
As of Sep 2026 · change vs a year earlier
What Google Ads costs in 2026
Google Ads bills per click in an auction, so the price depends on who else bids for the same searches and products. In September 2026 the median DTC brand paid €0.56 per click across all campaign types, with the middle half of brands between €0.43 and €0.76. The figure blends Search, Shopping and Performance Max, whose click prices differ, so an account's own campaign mix moves its CPC.
Over the last twelve months the median CPC was highest in November 2025 at €0.68 and lowest in February 2026 at €0.49. Black Friday and Christmas bring more advertisers into the auction, so plan Q4 budgets with that premium.
What €1,000 buys at the medians
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about 1,790
clicks at the median CPC of €0.56
What stands out
- Compared with a year earlier, a click costs 2% less and the click-through rate rose from 1.71% to 1.79%.
- Home & living pays the most per click (€0.76), fashion & accessories the least (€0.54).
- Compared with a year earlier, non-brand ROAS fell 14% on last touch and 11% on first touch.
- Google Ads reports a median non-brand ROAS of 2.27 for the same brands, below the 2.66 adtribute attributes on last touch, and about 21 for their brand campaigns: inside Google's reporting, brand search takes much of the credit.
- On last touch, non-brand Google returns the most in fashion & accessories (2.91) and the least in health & nutrition (1.68).
Google Ads benchmarks by industry
Latest month. Industry cells show the gap to the all-industries median, colored by whether it is good or bad news for the operator, and open the metric's page on that industry. Each industry in the header opens its own benchmark page.
Google's own ROAS against attributed ROAS
For the same brands in September 2026, Google Ads reports a median non-brand ROAS of 2.27 and about 21 for their brand campaigns. adtribute attributes 2.66 on last touch and 4.15 on first touch to the non-brand campaigns. Inside Google's reporting much of the credit lands on brand search, often the last Google click before a purchase, even when a generic search or Shopping ad introduced the customer. Brand search is left out of these benchmarks because it collects demand that already exists.
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Google Ads, brand campaigns
≈ 21
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Google Ads, non-brand
2.27
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adtribute, first touch
4.15
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adtribute, last touch
2.66
Google Ads vs Meta Ads
A Google Ads click cost a median €0.56 in September 2026, a Meta link click €1.06. On last touch non-brand Google returned €2.66 per euro and Meta €1.01, on first touch €4.15 and €1.60. Google's CPC counts every click across Search, Shopping and Performance Max, Meta's link clicks only.
| Median | Google Ads | Meta Ads |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per click | €0.56 per click, all campaigns | €1.06 per link click |
| Click-through rate | 1.79% clicks per impression | 1.19% link clicks per impression |
| ROAS, last touch | 2.66 non-brand, adtribute attribution | 1.01 adtribute attribution |
| ROAS, first touch | 4.15 non-brand, adtribute attribution | 1.60 adtribute attribution |
| ROAS the platform reports | 2.27 Google Ads, non-brand | 2.00 Ads Manager |
How these benchmarks are built
Every figure comes from the Google Ads benchmark pages: CPC and click-through rate per brand and month from the connected Google Ads accounts, across all campaign types, and ROAS from adtribute's non-direct last-touch and first-touch attribution, matched to real Shopify orders, with brand search campaigns removed from spend and revenue. Each metric uses a balanced panel of brands with at least €500 of Google Ads spend in every month, and the medians and quartiles are estimated as a weighted blend of all brands in the cut, so no figure is any single brand's number. Industry figures are medians only, and the number of brands and panel membership are never disclosed.
More benchmarks
Frequently asked questions
How much does Google Ads cost?
There is no fixed price: Google Ads charges per click in an auction. In September 2026 the median DTC brand in our panel paid €0.56 per click across Search, Shopping and Performance Max, with the middle half of brands between €0.43 and €0.76. At that median €1,000 buys about 1,790 clicks.
How much does a Google Ads click cost in e-commerce?
€0.56 is the median in September 2026, 2% less than a year earlier. By industry it ranges from €0.54 in fashion & accessories to €0.76 in home & living. Often-quoted averages of several euros per click describe Search campaigns across all industries, while e-commerce accounts spend much of their budget on Shopping and Performance Max.
How much should I spend on Google Ads per month?
Work back from the orders you want. At the median CPC of €0.56 and the median shop conversion rate of 2.14%, an order from Google clicks costs about €26 in media. Across all channels the median DTC brand pays €48.38 per new customer, so 100 new customers a month cost about €4,840.
What is a good CTR for Google Ads?
The median click-through rate across whole e-commerce accounts is 1.79% in September 2026, with the middle half of brands between 1.38% and 2.68%. It blends Search, Shopping, Performance Max and video, so Search campaigns on their own run well above it and Shopping and video below it.
What is a good ROAS for Google Ads?
Excluding brand search, the median DTC brand earned €2.66 in revenue per euro of Google Ads spend on last touch and €4.15 on first touch in September 2026, with the middle half between 1.81 and 3.66 on last touch. Google Ads reports 2.27 for the same non-brand campaigns. A good ROAS clears your break-even ROAS, 1 divided by gross margin, on the attribution model you trust.
What are typical Google Ads (PPC) benchmarks for e-commerce?
For European DTC brands in September 2026: €0.56 per click, a click-through rate of 1.79%, and a non-brand ROAS of 2.66 on last touch and 4.15 on first touch, against 2.27 in Google Ads. By industry, CPC ranges from €0.54 in fashion & accessories to €0.76 in home & living and last-touch ROAS from 1.68 in health & nutrition to 2.91 in fashion & accessories.
Why is brand search left out of ROAS?
Brand search captures people who already know the brand and type its name into Google. It earns a very high ROAS without creating much new demand: Google Ads credits the brand campaigns of these brands with a median ROAS of about 21. Left in, it would make Google look like the best channel for any well-known brand, so the non-brand figure is the return on Google spend that has to find demand rather than collect it.
Is Google Ads cheaper than Facebook ads?
Per click, yes: a Google Ads click cost a median €0.56 in September 2026, a Meta link click €1.06. On adtribute attribution, non-brand Google returned €2.66 per euro on last touch and €4.15 on first touch, Meta €1.01 and €1.60. Google's CPC counts every click, Meta's link clicks only, so compare the two on the same attribution model and on new customers, not on clicks alone.
Where do these benchmarks come from?
From the connected Google Ads accounts, first-party tracking and Shopify orders of a subset of adtribute customers, all European direct-to-consumer brands. Each metric uses a balanced panel, the same brands in every month, and ROAS is attributed by adtribute with one model applied identically to every brand. Only medians and quartile bands are published, never a single brand's value, and the figures update every month.
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