100 Most Expensive Keywords for Google Ads (July 2026)

Portrait of Si Quan Ong

By Si Quan Ong

SEO & Marketing Educator at Ahrefs

Reviewed by
July 3, 20266 min read
We analyzed our database of 28.7 billion keywords to identify the most expensive keywords people are bidding for on Google Ads.

These are the 100 most expensive keywords on Google Ads, along with their monthly search volume and cost per click (CPC).

100 most expensive keywords on Google Ads in the U.S.

#
Keyword
CPC
Search Volume
1
chordee repair
$105.00
800
2
mesothelioma attorney chicago
$100.00
1,200
3
lawsuit mesothelioma
$100.00
900
4
apps live
$100.00
900
5
how bad is monster zero sugar for you
$100.00
1,000
6
los angeles slip and fall attorney
$100.00
500
7
los angeles slip and fall lawyer
$100.00
700
8
adtheorent
$100.00
1,500
9
axon taser
$100.00
1,000
10
interstitial ads cpm
$100.00
600
11
lingo meaning
$100.00
6,800
12
aaxn
$100.00
1,500
13
dallas mesothelioma lawyer
$100.00
500
14
reddit fgo
$100.00
700
15
nyc tax refund status
$100.00
500
16
axon company
$100.00
800
17
slip and fall attorney los angeles
$100.00
800
18
disney cruise line incidents
$100.00
800
19
leileiav
$100.00
500
20
truck wreck lawyers
$100.00
500
21
advertise feedbuzzard
$100.00
5,600
22
miami heat vs dallas mavericks timeline
$100.00
6,200
23
global eor
$100.00
900
24
carnival cruise death
$100.00
4,800
25
advertising feedbuzzard
$100.00
3,300
26
syngap1
$100.00
2,100
27
atlanta accident lawyer
$100.00
700
28
openreview
$100.00
800
29
maritime law firm
$100.00
600
30
cdkl5
$100.00
1,400
31
selva coffee house menu
$100.00
1,400
32
houston injury attorney
$100.00
600
33
trochoid
$100.00
500
34
og's
$100.00
600
35
mesothelioma lawsuit
$100.00
1,300
36
fieldnet login
$100.00
500
37
belpre animal clinic
$100.00
600
38
warn layoffs
$100.00
500
39
energy software development
$100.00
600
40
accident lawyer las vegas
$100.00
900
41
illinois mesothelioma lawyer
$100.00
500
42
mesothelioma lawsuits
$100.00
500
43
ohio mesothelioma lawyer
$95.00
1,000
44
tn entity search
$95.00
700
45
car accident lawyer macon ga
$95.00
900
46
tallahassee car accident lawyer
$95.00
900
47
work injury lawyer houston
$95.00
500
48
pichichi liga española
$95.00
600
49
marjam kat
$95.00
700
50
venmo withdrawal limit
$95.00
600
51
richmond truck accident lawyer
$95.00
500
52
my usc portal
$95.00
500
53
motorcycle accidents lawyer
$95.00
1,000
54
ua806
$95.00
700
55
car accident lawyer macon
$95.00
900
56
cloudysocial cshardware promo code
$95.00
500
57
los angeles rams vs carolina panthers stats
$95.00
8,000
58
openai python sdk
$95.00
700
59
columbia care marietta oh
$95.00
800
60
8kun website
$95.00
900
61
wg pay scale 2025
$95.00
700
62
hire dedicated php developer
$95.00
600
63
raytown schools
$95.00
500
64
macon car accident lawyer
$95.00
2,200
65
how to tag someone on linkedin
$95.00
1,200
66
tepezza and hearing loss
$95.00
600
67
mule fuel
$95.00
900
68
mainframe modernization services
$95.00
500
69
application controls
$95.00
500
70
houston work injury lawyer
$95.00
500
71
legal age to vape
$95.00
700
72
18 usc 371
$95.00
900
73
law firm answering service
$95.00
700
74
openai gpt-4.1 pricing
$95.00
900
75
oil refinery explosion
$95.00
1,300
76
casino ie
$90.00
600
77
defensores de accidentes
$90.00
600
78
emsmart login
$90.00
700
79
pqdi
$90.00
1,100
80
pnc hsa login
$90.00
1,800
81
car accident lawyer albany ga
$90.00
800
82
houston car crash lawyer
$90.00
500
83
flower bowl new buffalo
$90.00
1,000
84
what is dra
$90.00
800
85
ethena price
$90.00
600
86
motorcycle lawyers
$90.00
1,000
87
who is the best wrestler in the world
$90.00
500
88
riverside personal injury lawyer
$90.00
1,000
89
csi humboldt
$90.00
3,100
90
car crash lawyer houston
$90.00
1,600
91
abogados de accidentes de carros
$90.00
600
92
lo4 flight status
$90.00
500
93
deel pricing
$90.00
500
94
houston car wreck attorney
$90.00
600
95
the ira
$90.00
4,100
96
accident attorney phoenix
$90.00
700
97
car accident lawyer houston
$90.00
8,300
98
chicago truck accident lawyer
$90.00
2,000
99
personal injury lawyer seo services
$90.00
500
100
openai codex github
$90.00
600

Why are these keywords so expensive?

The main reason is due to Google’s ads mechanism:

  • Google Ads operates on a pay-per-click auction system.
  • There are only a few ads that appear for each keyword.

Companies have to outbid each other in order to secure their spot at the top of the search results. If demand for a keyword is high, it means more companies are bidding for it, therefore driving up the cost per click.

Demand for a keyword is high when companies believe it will generate a return on investment (ROI). Typically, you’ll see this when:

  • The industry offers high-value services or products (e.g., legal, finance) as each potential sale generates a lot of revenue.
  • The keyword signals strong purchase intent (e.g., personal injury lawyer near me) as they’re likely to lead to direct sales or high-quality leads.
  • The location is competitive and populous, e.g., “divorce lawyer in New York” will be more expensive than “divorce lawyer in Provincetown”.
  • There is a peak season (e.g. tax season, holidays)

Which industries do the most expensive keywords belong to?

I analyzed the top 10,000 most expensive keywords to see which niches they belong to:

  • Legal services (17.52%), with a focus on accident and injury law in specific locations (e.g., Baton Rouge)
  • Ecommerce (3.85%), with a focus on promotional codes, brand-specific queries, and product searches.
  • Education (2.58%), with a focus on university-related keywords, career and technical education centers, and student services and programs.
  • Financial services (1.52%), with a focus on trading platforms, banking services, and investment-related terms.
  • Technology (1.13%), with a focus on software development services, computer vision development, technical education and training, and international outsourcing (e.g, Romania)

How to avoid paying for expensive keywords

Marketing consultant Dan Kennedy once said, “Whoever can spend the most money to acquire a customer wins.”

Your goal is not to avoid paying for expensive keywords, but to bid for keywords that make sense according to your goals and strategy. If a keyword generates a positive ROI for you, then you should continue bidding on that keyword, no matter how expensive it is. (Expensive is relative after all; a $10 cup of coffee is expensive to me, but could be of value to a snob.)

That said, there are ways to run your Google Ads more effectively, such as:

  • Targeting long-tail keywords (e.g., “affordable personal injury lawyer in New York”), rather than generic, broad keywords like “personal injury lawyer”
  • Using negative keywords to prevent your ads from appearing on irrelevant searches.
  • Improving your Quality Score by writing relevant ad copy and creating targeted landing pages.
  • Using retargeting to focus on people who’ve already interacted with your website or shown interest in your brand, product, or service.

How to see the paid keywords your competitors are bidding on

If your competitors are paying for certain keywords, it may indicate that they’re profitable for them—and could be for you too.

Here’s how to find these keywords:

  1. Go to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer
  2. Enter your competitor’s domain
  3. Go to the Paid Keywords report

For example, if we analyze asana.com, we can see they’re bidding on 1,367 keywords in the U.S. We can also see the keywords they’re bidding on and how much they’re paying for each keyword (CPC).

If you hover over the magnifying glass, you can even see the ad they’re running for that keyword and the link they’re sending paid traffic to.

Want to do paid keyword research for your site? Sign up for Site Explorer.

Portrait of Si Quan Ong

Si Quan is a content marketer at Ahrefs. He has been involved in digital and content marketing for the past 5 years. Before he joined Ahrefs, he was content marketer at ReferralCandy, a 7-figure ARR SaaS company. Si Quan has spoken at some of the industry’s largest conferences in the Asia region, which includes TIECon and Digital Marketing Skill Share. He has also written for some of the industry’s most popular blogs like Sumo and SmartBlogger. His earliest work was marketing a product on Kickstarter, which eventually raised $150,000, more than double the original funding goal. The product was also featured on prominent tech websites, including Engadget, CNET and Digital Trends.

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