Paid Search
B2B Lead Generation | LinkedIn vs. Google Ads
LinkedIn finds the right people before they are looking; Google catches them once they are. How the costs compare, and a practical way to split a B2B budget between the two.
BenchMarketing editorial team Updated October 2, 2026 3 min readShare
Most B2B teams end up asking the same question: should the next dollar go to LinkedIn or Google? The honest answer is that they do different jobs, and the costs only make sense once you see which job each one does.
How the costs compare
| Metric | Google Ads | LinkedIn Ads |
|---|---|---|
| CTR | 6.11% | 0.44% |
| CPC | $4.22 | $5.39 |
| Conversion rate | 7.04% | 6.10% |
| Cost per conversion | $53.52 | $97.50 |
For B2B services specifically, the Google Ads median CPA is $93.69 and the LinkedIn median cost per lead for SaaS is $58.40.
On paper Google wins on almost every line. The catch is volume and fit. Search only reaches people who type a relevant query, and in many B2B categories very few people do. LinkedIn reaches the buying committee whether or not they are searching, which is why it costs more per click.
What each platform is good at
Google Ads captures demand that already exists. Someone searching "SOC 2 compliance software" has a problem and a budget conversation coming. Those clicks convert well, but the number of searches caps how much you can spend.
LinkedIn Ads creates demand among people who match your customer profile. You can target by job title, seniority, company size and named accounts. Leads arrive earlier in their thinking, so they need more nurturing before sales should call.
A practical way to split the budget
- Fund search to its ceiling first. Bid on the problem and solution terms your buyers use, and on your brand. When extra budget stops buying extra conversions at an acceptable CPA, search is saturated.
- Put the rest into LinkedIn for a defined audience. A list of target accounts or a tight set of roles works better than broad industry targeting.
- Retarget LinkedIn-engaged accounts on search and display. People who saw your LinkedIn content search for you later; brand search volume is a useful signal that LinkedIn is working even when its own conversion tracking looks thin.
- Judge both on pipeline, not leads. A LinkedIn lead at $75.00 that becomes an opportunity one time in five is cheaper than a search lead at half the price that never does.
Where Microsoft Ads fits
Microsoft Advertising lets you target search ads by LinkedIn profile attributes such as company and job function, which makes it a useful middle ground. Its median CPC is $3.32. See Microsoft Ads vs Google Ads.
Compare your own numbers on the LinkedIn vs Google Ads benchmark page or the Google Ads B2B benchmarks.
About the figures
Benchmark figures in this article come from the BenchMarketing dataset and update when the benchmark pages do. Each benchmark page lists its sources and period; see our methodology.
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