What's the Average Cost Per Lead for Pest Control Companies on Google Ads?

Pest control companies paid an average of $98.12 per lead on Google Ads in 2025, according to trade publication Pest Control Technology (PCT), down from close to $200 per lead earlier that same year after campaign optimization. Average cost per click across the period was $5.99.

The data behind the number

PCT's 2025 reporting on pest control Google Ads performance tracked leads costing close to $200 early in the year, falling to an average of $98.12 as campaigns were optimized, with average cost per click landing at $5.99 (PCT recommends keeping maximum CPC bids under $8 for the category). This is trade-press reporting on real campaign performance rather than a large-sample statistical survey, so treat the $98.12 figure as a representative, checkable data point rather than a precise industry-wide average.

What drove leads from $200 down to $98

The improvement PCT documented came from active account optimization rather than a market-wide price drop — meaning pest control companies running unoptimized, broad-match campaigns should expect costs closer to the $150-$200 end of that range, while accounts with tighter keyword targeting, negative keywords, and service-specific ad groups can realistically land nearer $98 or lower.

Service-specific cost varies significantly

• General pest control: tracks closest to the $98.12 blended average
• Mosquito control: as low as $30 per lead during peak season months, specifically March and July per PCT's data
• Rodent control: as low as $45 per lead in April

Running one broad "pest control" campaign instead of splitting out these service lines is one of the more common reasons an account's blended cost per lead sits above what any individual service should actually cost.

A widely-cited "$90.92" figure isn't traceable to a real source

Many marketing blogs cite pest control's Google Ads cost per lead as "$90.92, per WordStream/LocaliQ benchmarks." That specific figure could not be traced to LocaliQ's or WordStream's actual published industry benchmark tables, which report Home Services subcategories like HVAC and plumbing individually but do not appear to break out pest control as its own line item. Treat the PCT-reported $98.12 figure as the more reliably sourced number for this specific vertical, and be skeptical of round, precisely-cited numbers that circulate across marketing blogs without a traceable original source.

How pest control compares to nearby home-service categories

$98.12 per lead lands pest control roughly in line with other recurring-revenue home services rather than at the expensive end of local service advertising — well below categories like legal or home remodeling, and in a similar range to HVAC and plumbing. That matters for budgeting: a pest control company evaluating whether Google Ads is worth the spend should weigh that cost per lead against the recurring value of a pest control contract, not just the value of a single treatment visit, since most accounts are won as ongoing service plans rather than one-time jobs.

Bottom Line

Budget close to $98 per lead for an optimized pest control Google Ads account, expect unoptimized campaigns to run closer to $150-$200, and split high-volume seasonal services like mosquito and rodent control into their own campaigns — those can run meaningfully below the blended average when targeted specifically.