• by Laurie Sullivan , 7 hours ago

Google Search advertisers are paying a higher price every time a user interacts with their advertisement.

During the third quarter of 2026, total ad-spend growth remained stable at just under 14% year-over-year.

But internal drivers that occurred in the past year -- perhaps beyond Google's control -- shifted from being driven by one factor to being driven entirely by another.

Ad-spending growth was driven by the number of ads served and the average price per advertisement.

The cost per click (CPC) also grew in the past quarter after remaining stable for several quarters.

According to data from the Tinuiti Digital Ads Benchmark Report, published Thursday, the acceleration of CPC growth from 1% in Q2 to 4% in Q3 2026 was primarily driven by two structural shifts in the advertising market.

One of those drivers in the report pointed to Amazon pulling out of almost all U.S. Google Shopping ad auctions in mid-2025, which initially created a vacuum that artificially depressed CPC growth throughout early 2026 and kept click costs relatively flat. 

By Q3 2026, other giant ecommerce platforms increased or consolidated their presence in Google's ad auctions.

This massive influx of capital forced standard advertisers to bid significantly higher to maintain their impression share, according to the report.

For Google advertisers, year-over-year spending growth held steady from Q2 to Q3, but click growth slowed.

The report suggests that Amazon not running Shopping auctions since a year ago has boosted click growth for advertisers that remained and also suppressed cost-per-click (CPC) growth.

CPC growth during that time averaged 0% from Q3 2025 through Q2 2026, and then rose to 4% in the third quarter of 2026.

Amazon pulled its advertising in U.S. Google shopping auctions in late July 2025.

While Amazon maintains a slight presence from its Pharmacy arm in health and beauty auctions, it has otherwise remained inactive in U.S. shopping auctions for more than one year.

Tinuiti analysts believe this has driven click growth up for the remaining advertisers.

Google’s Aug. 17 update to how to budget limited campaigns with target-based bid strategies also had an impact on CPCs.

YouTube CPM’s also increased year-over-year for the first time since 2022 -- rising 19%.

Shifting placements and formats have heavily influenced YouTube pricing trends over the years, according to the report.

Streaming CPMs outside of YouTube recovered from a 2% decline in Q2 -- the fourth straight quarter of declines -- to 1% growth in Q3.

This marks the first positive streaming video CPM growth since Q3 2024.

Another interesting change in the quarter, Microsoft search ad spend rose 12%, but advertisers invested more in search ads, 12% more year-over-year, in the third quarter of 2026.

The company’s search ad clicks were down 3% year over year in Q3, but that was up from a 10% decline in Q2. Its search CPCs rose 16% in Q3 down from 19% growth a quarter earlier. While Microsoft pricing compared with Q3 2025 were relatively weak, according to the report.