WordStream by LocaliQ analyzed nearly 1,800 Facebook ad campaigns across industries for its 2026 benchmarks, covering click-through rate, cost per click, conversion rate and cost per lead for traffic and lead campaigns. The headline: advertisers are getting more engagement for less money. Here are the key Facebook ad benchmarks.
Only two industries saw traffic CPCs rise: Shopping, Collectibles and Gifts (+73.53%) and Sports and Recreation (+43.90%). Real Estate fell the most (-39.56%), followed by Restaurants and Food (-37.50%) and Industrial and Commercial (-37.21%).
Most industries saw cheaper lead-campaign clicks: Automotive – For Sale (-44.17%), Dentists and Dental Services (-41.72%) and Health and Fitness (-30.30%). Only Education and Instruction (+4.24%) and Sports and Recreation (+0.93%) rose.
Traffic clicks got 14% cheaper while CTR rose nearly 13%, and lead campaigns got cheaper clicks with average CPL essentially flat. WordStream notes Google Ads CPC is now more than double Meta’s average CPC, though Google Search typically captures stronger purchase intent. It suggests improvements in Meta’s bidding and campaign optimization may be driving better conversion performance and lower costs.
Industry numbers matter more than averages. High-CPL categories like dental and beauty should track lead quality and downstream conversions; categories with rising CPCs, like shopping and gifts, should revisit creative and targeting. These figures reflect WordStream’s dataset in U.S. dollars, so costs may differ in other markets.
On cost per click, Meta looks cheaper, but search carries stronger intent — and search often harvests demand social created. Measure contribution across channels; see three ways to reclaim credit search took from paid social.
As Meta’s optimization improves efficiency, creative diversity increasingly decides results. The problem of similar ads being treated as one is covered in your ten Meta ads might be one ad.
Per WordStream, average CPC fell 14.29% to $0.60 and average CTR rose 12.87% to 1.93%.
$27.39, nearly flat year over year. Career and Employment is lowest at $12.30; Dentists and Dental Services highest at $61.56.
WordStream says Google Ads CPC is more than double Meta’s average, though Google Search usually captures stronger purchase intent.
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