Google search advertisers paid 4% more per click in the third quarter than a year earlier, up from 1% growth in the second quarter, according to Tinuiti’s latest Digital Ads Benchmark Report. Total spending on Google search ads grew just under 14%, the same pace as the prior quarter, but advertisers got fewer additional clicks for that money. Click prices had barely moved for the previous four quarters, which Tinuiti attributes to Amazon leaving almost every US Google Shopping auction in July 2025 and thinning out the competition. Tinuiti also tied the third-quarter increase to an August 17 Google change affecting campaigns that use target-based bidding and hit their budget limits.
