LinkedIn Ads vs Google Ads for B2B

Different funnel jobs, unfairly compared on CPL. Google converts buyers already searching; expect cheaper leads of mixed seniority. LinkedIn buys exact titles at exact companies who were not looking; expect leads costing multiples more that close differently. The comparison only resolves at cost per closed deal.

Search side: $66.69 average cost per lead, $5.42 average CPC across the 2026 pooled search survey▸LocaliQ · 2026 survey; B2B categories run above the average (business services $93.69, career services $67.36▸LocaliQ · 2026 survey). LinkedIn side: no published CPL benchmark; the citable first-party numbers are the $10 minimum daily budget and $2 minimum bid▸LinkedIn · checked 2026. High minimum bids against narrow professional audiences are why LinkedIn CPLs run to multiples of search; the exact multiple is account-specific and unpublished.

Effective CPA = CPL ÷ close rate, per source. Worked: Google delivers $70 leads closing at 8% ($875 per customer). LinkedIn delivers $200 leads, but title-filtered to economic buyers, closing at 20% ($1,000). The 2.9× CPL gap collapses to a 14% CPA gap, and lead-quality drift decides the winner. Score each source through the CPL-to-CPA math with its own close rate over at least a quarter; anything shorter measures form fills, not pipeline.

• Google: capture demand (category and competitor terms, high-intent comparisons). Details on the Google page.
• LinkedIn: create and shape demand in named accounts (docs, demos to ICP titles). Details on the LinkedIn page.
• Read both through blended CPA and CAC payback (CPA vs CAC); SaaS context on the SaaS benchmark page.