If you’re running Google Ads for a professional service business, one of the biggest questions is:
What should I be paying for leads?
Professional services vary widely, but they share one common challenge in Google Ads: balancing lead quality with cost. This page breaks down real performance data from professional service campaigns across 3 years, based on accounts we’ve worked with, managed, and analyzed.
Here’s how performance has trended over time:
| Year | Industry | Accounts | Spend | Impressions | Clicks | Conversions | CTR | CVR | CPC | CPA | Conv Value | Conv Value / Cost | Zero-Conv Accounts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Professional Services | 4 | $44,239.55 | 7,552,010.00 | 38,080.00 | 8,398.63 | 0.50% | 22.06% | $1.16 | $5.27 | $0.00 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2024 | Professional Services | 6 | $95,967.14 | 9,934,819 | 103,446 | 24163.8 | 1.00% | 23.40% | $0.93 | $3.97 | $71,808.81 | 74.83% | 1 | |
| 2025 | Professional Services | 7 | $185,587.32 | 3,159,017 | 111,940 | 10,986.54 | 3.50% | 9.80% | $1.66 | $16.89 | $512,835.94 | 276% | 0 |
| Year | Industry | Network | Spend | Clicks | Impressions | Conversions | Conv Value | CTR | CVR | CPC | CPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Professional Services | Cross-network | $9,369.05 | 15,623.00 | 7,106,696.00 | 3,311.01 | $3,311.58 | 0.22% | 21.19% | $0.60 | $2.83 |
| 2023 | Professional Services | Discover | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2023 | Professional Services | Gmail | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2023 | Professional Services | Google Display Network | $875.69 | 1,592.00 | 232,927.00 | 9.98 | $1.25 | 0.68% | 0.63% | $0.55 | $87.74 |
| 2023 | Professional Services | Google Search | $32,277.82 | 19,581.00 | 174,696.00 | 5,021.64 | $4,083.58 | 11.21% | 25.65% | $1.65 | $6.43 |
| 2023 | Professional Services | Google TV | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2023 | Professional Services | Google owned channels | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2023 | Professional Services | Maps | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2023 | Professional Services | Search partners | $1,716.99 | 1,284.00 | 37,691.00 | 56.00 | $36.73 | 3.41% | 4.36% | $1.34 | $30.66 |
| 2023 | Professional Services | YouTube | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2024 | Professional Services | Cross-network | $30,308.97 | 59,102.00 | 9,490,568.00 | 18,503.93 | $24,727.47 | 0.62% | 31.31% | $0.51 | $1.64 |
| 2024 | Professional Services | Discover | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2024 | Professional Services | Gmail | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2024 | Professional Services | Google Display Network | $487.36 | 394.00 | 42,935.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | 0.92% | 0.00% | $1.24 | inf |
| 2024 | Professional Services | Google Search | $60,957.98 | 39,061.00 | 339,041.00 | 5,465.90 | $43,344.89 | 11.52% | 13.99% | $1.56 | $11.15 |
| 2024 | Professional Services | Google TV | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2024 | Professional Services | Google owned channels | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2024 | Professional Services | Maps | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2024 | Professional Services | Search partners | $4,212.85 | 4,889.00 | 62,275.00 | 194.00 | $3,736.45 | 7.85% | 3.97% | $0.86 | $21.72 |
| 2024 | Professional Services | YouTube | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2025 | Professional Services | Cross-network | $34,204.91 | 33,536.00 | 2,199,481.00 | 1,688.02 | $106,056.87 | 1.52% | 5.03% | $1.02 | $20.26 |
| 2025 | Professional Services | Discover | $195.37 | 315.00 | 13,833.00 | 1.34 | $305.55 | 2.28% | 0.43% | $0.62 | $145.80 |
| 2025 | Professional Services | Gmail | $798.66 | 9,100.00 | 62,464.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | 14.57% | 0.00% | $0.09 | inf |
| 2025 | Professional Services | Google Display Network | $98.65 | 102.00 | 13,867.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | 0.74% | 0.00% | $0.97 | inf |
| 2025 | Professional Services | Google Search | $137,552.20 | 42,640.00 | 466,755.00 | 7,420.18 | $393,131.23 | 9.14% | 17.40% | $3.23 | $18.54 |
| 2025 | Professional Services | Google TV | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2025 | Professional Services | Google owned channels | $1,176.51 | 6,484.00 | 134,293.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | 4.83% | 0.00% | $0.18 | inf |
| 2025 | Professional Services | Maps | $0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | ||||
| 2025 | Professional Services | Search partners | $11,123.86 | 19,487.00 | 207,157.00 | 1,877.00 | $13,342.30 | 9.41% | 9.63% | $0.57 | $5.93 |
| 2025 | Professional Services | YouTube | $437.21 | 276.00 | 61,167.00 | 0.00 | $0.00 | 0.45% | 0.00% | $1.58 | inf |
Professional services campaigns rely on Search for high-intent lead generation, while increasingly incorporating other networks to support awareness and longer decision cycles.
Unlike more standardized industries:
This makes benchmarks useful for direction, but not exact expectations.
Compared to legal:
Professional services often require:
This impacts:
We often see:
If you’re running Google Ads:
You should expect:
You should focus on:
You should avoid:
These numbers give you a realistic performance range, not a guarantee.
Your results will vary based on:
If your current results are:
There’s usually a fixable reason.
We work with businesses across industries to improve performance and efficiency in Google Ads.
We’ll show you:
