Google Ads benchmarks for Canadian industries in 2026
“Is our cost per lead good?” is the most common question we get from businesses running Google Ads, and the honest answer is always “compared to what?” A $40 lead is excellent for a personal injury firm and terrible for a pizza shop. This guide gives directional ranges for cost per click, click-through rate and cost per lead across the Canadian industries we work in most, explains what drives them, and shows how to judge your own account against something more useful than a global average.
How to read these numbers
The ranges below are directional, drawn from accounts we manage and audit in Toronto, the GTA and other Canadian markets, cross-checked against publicly available industry benchmark reports. They are in Canadian dollars for Search campaigns. Your own numbers will differ by city, by match type and by how well the account is built, which matters more than the industry average. Treat them as a sanity check, not a target.
Search benchmarks by industry
| Industry | Typical CPC (CAD) | Typical CTR | Typical cost per lead | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal (personal injury, family, employment) | $20 – $90+ | 3% – 6% | $150 – $600 | Highest CPCs in Canada; PI in Toronto sits at the top. LSAs often cheaper per lead. |
| Dental and medical clinics | $4 – $15 | 4% – 8% | $40 – $150 | Implants, Invisalign and cosmetic terms far above general dentistry. |
| Home services (HVAC, plumbing, roofing) | $8 – $35 | 4% – 8% | $50 – $200 | Emergency terms spike in winter and summer; LSAs change the economics. |
| Real estate (agents, developers) | $2 – $10 | 3% – 7% | $30 – $150 | Seller-intent terms cost more and convert better than buyer terms. |
| Financial and insurance | $10 – $50 | 3% – 6% | $80 – $300 | Mortgage and insurance quotes are highly competitive nationally. |
| B2B services and manufacturing | $5 – $25 | 2% – 5% | $100 – $400 | Low volume, high value; lead quality matters more than cost. |
| IT and managed services | $8 – $30 | 2% – 5% | $150 – $500 | “Managed IT services Toronto” style terms are expensive; content and LinkedIn help. |
| Restaurants and hospitality | $1 – $4 | 5% – 10% | $5 – $30 per reservation or order | Local and branded terms dominate; Meta often complements. |
| Ecommerce (Search, non-brand) | $0.80 – $3 | 2% – 5% | Measured as ROAS, typically 2x – 6x | Shopping and Performance Max usually outperform Search for products. |
| Education and training | $3 – $12 | 3% – 6% | $40 – $150 | Strong seasonality around intake dates. |
What moves your numbers more than the industry
City
Toronto and Vancouver CPCs run meaningfully higher than Calgary, Ottawa or Winnipeg for the same term, because more advertisers are bidding. A GTA personal injury firm and a Saskatoon one are not in the same market even if the keyword is identical.
Match type and negatives
Broad match without a disciplined negative keyword list inflates spend on irrelevant searches. Most accounts we audit could cut 20% to 35% of wasted spend here alone, which changes cost per lead more than any bidding tweak.
Landing page
Sending ads to the homepage is the single most common and most expensive mistake. A dedicated landing page with message match, proof and a visible call to action typically converts at two to three times the rate of a homepage. See our conversion rate optimization service.
Conversion tracking
If calls are not tracked, Google’s automated bidding is optimizing on half the picture, and so are you. Call tracking and offline conversion import (marking which leads became customers) consistently improve both cost per lead and lead quality.
Local Services Ads
For legal, home services and some professional categories, LSAs charge per lead rather than per click and sit above everything else. Where available, they often deliver a lower cost per lead than Search, with the trade-off of less control.
How to judge your own account
- Work out what a lead is worth. Close rate times average customer value. Cost per lead only means something against that number.
- Segment before you compare. Brand and non-brand, emergency and planned, city by city. A blended number hides the campaign that is bleeding.
- Check search terms monthly. If more than a fifth of spend is going to searches you would not want, the account needs negatives, not more budget.
- Measure lead quality, not just count. Tag leads as qualified or not in your CRM and feed that back to Google.
- Compare to last quarter, not to the internet. Your own trend is the most reliable benchmark you have.
Industry-specific guides
We have written detailed pages on paid search for the sectors where it behaves most differently: Google Ads for lawyers, Google Ads for chiropractors, SEO vs Google Ads for dental clinics and home services marketing. For the general service, see Google Ads management and PPC management in Toronto.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good click-through rate for Google Ads in Canada?
For Search, anything above roughly 4% is healthy for most service industries; branded campaigns should be well above that. Below 2% usually indicates poor keyword-to-ad relevance.
How much should a small business spend on Google Ads per month?
Enough to generate meaningful data: for most local service businesses that is at least $1,500 to $3,000 in media per month. Below that, campaigns rarely exit the learning phase and every decision is a guess.
Are Google Ads more expensive in Toronto?
Yes, for most competitive terms. More advertisers bid in Toronto than anywhere else in Canada. Geo-targeting and bid adjustments by city help control it.
Should we use Performance Max?
For ecommerce, often yes. For lead generation, only with strong conversion tracking and lead-quality feedback, otherwise it tends to optimize toward cheap, low-quality form fills.
Want your account measured against these?
We review your Google Ads account, segment the numbers properly and tell you in writing where the spend is going and what we would change.