What is a Good CPC by Industry?

What counts as a good CPC depends on your industry, conversion rate, and CPA target. Legal: $6.75 avg. SaaS: $3.80. Reta...

A 'good' CPC can't be evaluated without knowing your conversion rate and the value of a conversion. A $10 CPC is cheap if your conversion rate is 15% and each customer is worth $500. Use the formula and benchmarks below to determine your max viable CPC.

Max CPC Formula

Max CPC = (Conversion Value × Target Margin) × Conversion Rate. Example: $200 AOV × 30% margin = $60 target CPA. At 3% conversion rate, max CPC = $60 × 0.03 = $1.80. Any CPC below $1.80 is 'good' for this scenario regardless of industry benchmarks.

Legal CPC Benchmarks

Average: $6.75. Range: $3.50–$15. Personal injury and DUI keywords in major cities regularly exceed $50–$100 per click. Despite this, legal CPC is viable because case values are in the hundreds of thousands. A $100 CPC that generates a $100,000 case at 10% conversion is a 10× return.

SaaS CPC Benchmarks

Average: $3.80. Range: $2–$8.50. Bottom-funnel terms ('best [software] for [use case]') run 3–5× higher than category terms. Competitor comparison terms often have the highest CPC but also the highest close rate — evaluate by CPA, not CPC.

Finance CPC Benchmarks

Average: $3.77. Range: $2–$9. Q1 tax season adds 30–40% to baseline CPC. Insurance keywords (life, health, car) are among the most expensive keyword categories globally due to high policy LTV.

Healthcare CPC Benchmarks

Average: $2.62. Range: $1.40–$5.50. Condition-specific terms run significantly higher than general health queries. Location-modified terms ('dentist near me', 'urgent care [city]') convert 2–3× better, justifying higher CPC.

Ecommerce CPC Benchmarks

Average: $0.88. Range: $0.45–$1.80. Google Shopping CPC runs 30–40% lower than Search for the same product at equivalent intent. Product-specific terms consistently outperform category terms on CPC efficiency.

Retail CPC Benchmarks

Average: $0.70. Range: $0.35–$1.60 — the lowest of all major verticals. High volume and broad audience targeting keep costs competitive. Google Shopping ($0.35–$0.75) is typically the most efficient retail CPC channel.

Travel CPC Benchmarks

Average: $1.53. Range: $0.80–$3.50. Q3 summer booking season adds 30–50% to baseline CPC as intent peaks. Price-inclusive ad copy ('Flights from $199') reduces CPC by improving CTR and Quality Score.

How to Evaluate Your CPC

Compare your actual CPC to your max CPC (formula above). If you're below max CPC, focus on scaling volume. If you're above max CPC, prioritize conversion rate optimization before reducing bids — a higher conversion rate lowers effective CPA even at the same CPC.