Insights
Notes from inside the accounts.
Short, practical writing on paid media and SEO. What I actually see when I open an account, and what to do about it. Each post is a mini consulting session.
Start here
The writing is organised into series. Each one opens with the article that lays out the whole argument, then works through it a piece at a time.
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Cost per lead
14What a lead should cost, why yours climbs when you scale, and how to work out the number for your own account.
Start with What a good cost per lead actually looks like All 14 articles
Everything, newest first
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Creative is the targeting now
Meta ads audience targeting used to be the main lever. Broad targeting with strong creative now beats hand-built interest stacks in most accounts.
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Instant forms or a landing page, and when each one wins
Facebook lead ads produce cheaper enquiries than a landing page, and often worse ones. Here is how to decide which your business should run.
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Cut what a lead costs without losing the volume
Most attempts to reduce cost per lead just buy worse leads. Here is the order that works, from tracking to creative, with what to leave alone.
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Search, social and SEO, priced side by side
Comparing cost per lead by channel is where most budget decisions go wrong. Here is why the cheapest enquiry is often the most expensive customer.
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Your Meta costs are rising while your Google costs are not
Why cost per lead is rising on Meta while search fell for the first time in five years, what is behind the split, and what to do with your budget.
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Google search lead costs fell this year, which almost never happens
Google Ads cost per lead averaged $66.69 in 2026 and fell for the first time in five years. Here is what changed and what it means for your budget.
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What a Facebook lead actually costs right now
Facebook ads cost per lead sits around $27.66 in the most recent published data, but ad prices are up 12%. Here is how to read both figures.
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Most benchmark tables are one dataset wearing several hats
Cost per lead benchmarks get quoted everywhere and traced almost nowhere. Here is what happens when you check the sources against each other.
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What a lead costs in 2026, industry by industry
The average cost per lead by industry ranges from $26.84 to $131.63 on Google search in 2026. Here are the figures, and how to read them properly.
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Cost per lead and cost per acquisition are not the same number
Cost per lead vs cost per acquisition: what each one measures, why the gap between them is your close rate, and which to judge a campaign on.
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Work out what one lead is really worth
A lead value calculation turns profit and close rate into the most you can pay for an enquiry. Here is the maths, and the mistakes that inflate it.
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A good cost per lead is decided by your close rate
There is no universal good cost per lead. Your close rate and profit per sale set the ceiling, and this is how to work out where yours sits.
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