Data & Studies

100 Most Expensive Keywords for Google Ads in 2026

Si Quan Ong
Content marketer @ Ahrefs. I've been in digital marketing for the past 6 years and have spoken at some of the industry’s largest conferences in Asia (TIECon and Digital Marketing Skill Share.) I also write about my curiosities on my Substack.
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).

KeywordsCost per click
drunk driving accident lawyer houston1540.00
car accident attorney edinburg1490.00
internet randomly drops for a few seconds1455.00
tractor trailer accident attorney near me1420.00
is dsl dial up1300.00
how fast is 128kbps1215.00
freight house paducah1155.00
vpa instructure1080.00
wrongful death lawyers los angeles1050.00
new iberia car accident lawyers1030.00
dram shop liability lawyers1020.00
dothan al personal injury lawyer1015.00
aai edu1000.00
keiser student1000.00
is keiser a good university1000.00
what is system io1000.00
keiser university course schedule1000.00
phemex in usa1000.00
t premarket1000.00
keiser university directions1000.00
banks power promo code1000.00
keiser university lawsuit1000.00
the athletic 1 dollar1000.00
is keiser university regionally accredited1000.00
keiser university deadlines1000.00
scentsit1000.00
tunercult coupon1000.00
keiser cost1000.00
collegecentral/keiser1000.00
vacation offer.com reviews1000.00
go high level marketing1000.00
vacation offers reviews1000.00
1-800-ask-gary reviews1000.00
acceptance rate for keiser university1000.00
chrome pkg download1000.00
aai.edu1000.00
keiser university commercial1000.00
verizon government sales1000.00
verizon msi1000.00
keiser university student population1000.00
is keiser university private or public1000.00
keiser university help desk1000.00
keiser university undergraduate catalog1000.00
olay brand in usa1000.00
chrome msi file1000.00
miller motte tulsa1000.00
is vacation offer legit reddit1000.00
dara bricks1000.00
apexfunded1000.00
apex prop trading1000.00
verizon public sector1000.00
keiser university withdrawal policy1000.00
dell.premier1000.00
keiser university gym1000.00
what is axiom company1000.00
where is keiser university main campus1000.00
where is keiser1000.00
keiser university scam1000.00
is keiser accredited1000.00
xpert rating1000.00
athlete discount1000.00
keiser university president1000.00
how much money does disney make in a day1000.00
how many students attend keiser university1000.00
what is systeme1000.00
banks power promo codes1000.00
keiser university class schedule1000.00
android store data1000.00
okta device trust certificate1000.00
keiser university students1000.00
keiser doral1000.00
keiser university lake underhill1000.00
keiser university bursar office1000.00
systeme.ii1000.00
what does go high level do1000.00
the athletic special offer1000.00
keiser university loan forgiveness program1000.00
backup in linux1000.00
system me1000.00
verizon wireless government support1000.00
smidge promo code1000.00
is keiser university good1000.00
uptodate mounjaro1000.00
google msi download1000.00
the athletic discount code1000.00
dell premeire1000.00
keiser university employee benefits1000.00
keiser university employee handbook1000.00
keiser calendar1000.00
verizon wireless government1000.00
sntsy1000.00
stephen matthews md colorado1000.00
keiser bb1000.00
axioms definition1000.00
databricks distributed computing1000.00
cit group stock1000.00
what is systeme io1000.00
dell priemer1000.00
sistem io1000.00
keiser university corporate office1000.00
hornblasters coupon1000.00

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.

Example of a Google Ad

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)

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)

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.

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
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.