HealthMark IQ / Benchmarks
Healthcare Google Ads Benchmarks 2026
Click-through rate, cost per click, conversion rate and cost per lead across 16 healthcare specialties, from the strongest healthcare-specific paid-search dataset currently published.
Updated August 2026
6.07%
Healthcare search CTR
$5.64
Healthcare search CPC
8.09%
Healthcare search CVR
$66.02
Healthcare search CPL
Source: LocaliQ · 3,542 campaigns · Oct 2024–Sep 2025 · Published Jan 2026
| Healthcare specialty | CTR | CPC | CVR | CPL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Healthcare overall | 6.07% | $5.64 | 8.09% | $66.02 |
| Addiction Recovery | 4.57% | $3.46 | 0.5% | $120.30 |
| Assisted Living / Elder / Home Care | 6.35% | $6.30 | 5.51% | $74.44 |
| Dermatology | 5.91% | $4.90 | 25.33% | $18.54 |
| Emergency Dentistry | 6.4% | $7.85 | 8.89% | $75.19 |
| Emergency Medicine | 10.33% | $2.29 | 6.89% | $41.68 |
| General Dentistry | 5.06% | $7.03 | 7.74% | $84.77 |
| General Practice / Family Medicine | 5.5% | $5.47 | 11.63% | $62.80 |
| Hearing Aids & Care | 5% | $8.00 | 5.62% | $96.54 |
| Hospitals & Clinics | 7% | $4.90 | 6.1% | $72.97 |
| Mental Health | 4.46% | $4.22 | 1.85% | $141.17 |
| Ophthalmology | 6.52% | $4.95 | 18.29% | $30.88 |
| Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery | 5.89% | $7.85 | 11.6% | $55.15 |
| Orthodontics | 4.35% | $8.76 | 14.21% | $71.52 |
| Physical Therapy | 6.61% | $4.95 | 15.35% | $32.79 |
| Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery | 5.81% | $5.75 | 8.52% | $102.51 |
| Urology | 5.93% | $5.64 | 4.61% | $111.05 |
Compared with the healthcare overall figure
Addiction Recovery
CTR
4.57%
Click-through rate
-25% vs healthcare overall
Healthcare overall 6.07%
CPC
$3.46
Cost per click
-39% vs healthcare overall
Healthcare overall $5.64
CVR
0.5%
Conversion rate
-94% vs healthcare overall
Healthcare overall 8.09%
CPL
$120.30
Cost per lead
+82% vs healthcare overall
Healthcare overall $66.02
These figures are medians rather than means, which limits the distorting effect of a few very large or very small accounts. Every specialty in the study is represented by at least 43 active campaigns.
Read the numbers as the shape of a market, not a scorecard. A dermatology practice and a mental-health provider are running against completely different intent, competition and conversion definitions, and the measured gap between them—$18.54 against $141.17 per lead—is larger than most in-account optimisation will ever move.
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For email, social, reputation and patient-access benchmarks, see the healthcare marketing benchmarks hub.
How HealthMark IQ selects benchmark data
HealthMark IQ does not treat every statistic published online as an industry benchmark. We prioritise datasets that disclose the population measured, the period analysed, the metric definition and the source methodology. When current healthcare-specific data is unavailable, we identify the figure as a reference benchmark rather than presenting it as measured 2026 healthcare performance.
Benchmarks should be interpreted in context. Results can vary materially by specialty, geography, campaign type, brand strength, payer mix, conversion definition and patient intake process. A lead is also not necessarily a patient: marketing conversion, appointment scheduling, attendance, treatment acceptance and revenue are distinct stages of the acquisition funnel.
- Verified benchmark
- A credible, defined dataset that discloses its population, period and methodology.
- Reference benchmark
- A credible source that is older, broader, or an imperfect match for the question being asked.
- Planning range
- A useful estimate for planning. Explicitly not a measured industry benchmark.
Sources
- Healthcare Advertising Benchmarks — LocaliQ · 3,542 campaigns · Oct 2024–Sep 2025 · Published Jan 2026Population: U.S. healthcare search campaigns on Google and Microsoft Ads, with at least 43 active campaigns in every specialtyLocaliQ states these "averages" are technically median figures, used to reduce the distorting effect of outliers.
- Search Advertising Benchmarks — WordStream / LocaliQ · 13,000+ campaigns · Apr 2025–Mar 2026 · Published May 2026Population: U.S. search campaigns across all industriesA separate dataset from the healthcare study, covering an overlapping but different period. Treat cross-study comparisons as directional, not controlled.