A click on a branded Google Ads keyword, a search for a specific company or website, costs $5.91 on average against $10.64 for all other keywords, 44% less. Searches where people compare options before buying cost the most, at $17.86, three times the branded average.
Analysis of 9,550 US keywords · Google Ads Keyword Planner prices and search intent labels, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.A click on a branded Google Ads keyword costs $5.91 on average against $10.64 for non-branded keywords, 44% less.
- 2.The typical branded Google Ads keyword costs $3.58 per click, against $4.19 for the typical non-branded keyword.
- 3.Google Ads keywords where people compare options before buying cost $17.86 per click on average, three times the branded average and the most of any search intent.
- 4.25% of branded Google Ads keywords cost under $1 per click, against 18% of non-branded keywords.
- 5.Branded Google Ads keywords that include a buying word can cost more than $50 a click, such as "the zebra insurance quotes" at $53.14.
Summary
Someone types "home depot near me" into Google. They know where they are going; they want directions or opening hours. Someone else types "best credit card for travel". They have not decided anything yet, and every card issuer wants to be the one they read about. Advertisers pay very different prices for those two searches.
The difference matters for anyone planning a budget. Branded searches, where people look for a specific company, are cheap to buy and come from people who already know the brand. Research searches, where people are still choosing, are where advertisers fight hardest and where most of the money goes.
A branded click costs $5.91 on average against $10.64 for everything else, 44% less, and the typical branded keyword is cheaper too. Commercial research searches cost the most by a wide margin, at $17.86 per click, three times the branded average.
What we measured
In September 2026 we matched 9,550 US keywords that had both a Google Ads Keyword Planner price above zero and a search intent label. We compared the average and median cost per click of branded keywords with all other keywords, then broke prices down across the four intent types.
Cost per click is what an advertiser pays each time someone clicks its ad. Search intent describes what the searcher wants. A keyword is branded when its main intent is navigational: the searcher wants to reach a specific brand or website, as in "zillow". Commercial keywords are research before a purchase ("best", "compare", "reviews"), informational keywords ask a question, and transactional keywords are ready to act ("buy", "order", "apply"). The median is the middle keyword: half cost less, half cost more.
Brand searches cost less per click
The 949 branded keywords are cheaper at every level. Their median is $3.58 against $4.19 for non-branded keywords, and a quarter of them, 25%, cost under $1 per click, against 18% of non-branded keywords.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 9,550 US keywords · Google Ads Keyword Planner prices and search intent labels, September 2026
The biggest brand searches are among the cheapest clicks on Google. "zillow", searched 20.4 million times a month, costs $0.08 a click, and "home depot near me", searched 7,480,000 times, costs $0.96. The searcher has already chosen the company, few advertisers compete for them, and the brand usually ranks first without paying.
Comparison searches cost the most
Commercial keywords, where people compare options before buying, average $17.86 per click with a median of $8.75. That is the most expensive intent by a wide margin: three times the branded average and more than twice the informational average of $6.85.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 9,550 US keywords · Google Ads Keyword Planner prices and search intent labels, September 2026
These are the searches where a customer is still up for grabs, so every company in the category bids for them. Transactional keywords are the cheapest intent at $4.51, with a median of $1.54, below even branded terms.
Brand searches with a buying word can cost $50 a click
Cheap on average does not mean cheap everywhere. Brand searches that include a buying word can be expensive: "the zebra insurance quotes" costs $53.14 per click and "state farm quote" $51.02. Those are searches for a specific company at the moment of purchase, and competitors pay to appear there.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 9,550 US keywords · Google Ads Keyword Planner prices and search intent labels, September 2026
| Branded keyword | Monthly searches | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| the zebra insurance quotes | 22,200 | $53.14 |
| state farm quote | 27,100 | $51.02 |
| state farm homeowners insurance quote | 12,100 | $44.81 |
| google business profile | 550,000 | $23.39 |
| capital one credit card | 2,240,000 | $7.05 |
| chase credit card login | 550,000 | $1.05 |
| home depot near me | 7,480,000 | $0.96 |
| discover credit card account login | 550,000 | $0.32 |
| zillow | 20,400,000 | $0.08 |
Account searches are the cheap end. "chase credit card login" costs $1.05 and "discover credit card account login" $0.32. People looking to log in are not shopping, so few advertisers want them and the price stays low. The words around a brand name, not the brand itself, decide what the click costs.
What this means for advertisers weighing brand campaigns
Bidding on your own brand is usually cheap and protects your most qualified traffic. A separate Suff Digital study found that every Bing brand search that showed ads included an ad from another company, so a low-cost brand campaign keeps your own offer at the top of the page. Watch brand searches that include buying words such as "quote" or "price" most closely, because that is where competitors pay to intercept.
Put most of your testing budget where the money goes: commercial searches. At three times the branded price, small improvements in ad relevance and landing pages save the most there. A google ads agency such as Suff Digital splits branded, commercial and transactional keywords into separate campaigns so each gets its own budget and bid.
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/branded-vs-non-branded-cpc">Branded Google Ads Clicks Cost 44% Less Than Non-Branded Clicks - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). Branded Google Ads Clicks Cost 44% Less Than Non-Branded Clicks. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/branded-vs-non-branded-cpc
Branded Google Ads Clicks Cost 44% Less Than Non-Branded Clicks - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/branded-vs-non-branded-cpc
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