Most Expensive Google Ads Keywords in the UK (2026): The £300+ Clicks Ranked

Some Google Ads clicks in the UK cost more than a tank of fuel. We pulled Semrush data across the priciest corners of British search, and the picture is stark: a single click on the right keyword can carry an average cost of more than £300, before anyone has even filled in a form. The most expensive clicks are not where most people expect. They cluster in legal claims and commercial insurance, two markets where one converted enquiry is worth thousands, so advertisers bid accordingly.

Here is what the UK is paying for its most expensive clicks right now, and why these auctions run so hot.

The 10 most expensive Google Ads keywords in the UK

Sorted by average cost per click in Semrush's UK database. Every term on this list costs more per click than most businesses pay for an hour of professional advice.

Legal claims are Britain's priciest clicks

No sector burns through a Google Ads budget faster than law. A settlement agreement, a medical negligence case, a serious personal injury claim: each represents a fee worth thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of pounds to the firm that wins it. When the lifetime value of one client is that high, paying £100 or even £300 for a click is rational maths, and the whole vertical bids up together.

Our take: notice the pattern, the dearest legal clicks are also the rarest. "Settlement agreement solicitor" and "negligence lawyers" carry £300-plus CPCs on only a couple of hundred searches a month. These are not high-traffic terms, they are high-stakes ones. A firm does not need volume here, it needs the one enquiry that turns into a case, which is exactly why it will outbid almost anyone to get the click.

Commercial insurance is the other £100-plus vertical

Insurance is the only market that rivals law at the top of the table, and it splits in two. Consumer head terms are merely expensive: "business insurance" sits around £22 a click and "life insurance" near £21 in the UK. The eye-watering figures live in the commercial long tail, professional indemnity cover for designers (£410), commercial landlord insurance (£389), and specialist life-cover queries pushing past £300. A commercial policy renews year after year, so an insurer can pay a fortune for the first click and still come out ahead over the life of the customer.

There is also a distinctly British cluster worth flagging: the supermarket equal-pay group claims. "Asda equal pay claim" tops £388 a click, with "Morrisons equal pay claim" at £101 and "Sainsbury's equal pay claim" at £62. These are claims-management and law firms competing for claimants in some of the largest equal-pay cases in UK legal history, and the auction prices show exactly how valuable each signed-up claimant is.

Why a single click costs more than £300

Three forces combine to push a click past £300, and they are the same three every time:

1. Enormous lifetime value. A won legal case, a commercial insurance policy, or a signed-up claimant is worth thousands. When the prize is that big, the click is cheap by comparison.

2. Low search volume. The priciest terms get a few hundred searches a month, not thousands. Scarcity concentrates demand, and a handful of well-funded advertisers fight over a tiny pool of clicks.

3. A short, aggressive bench of advertisers. These verticals are dominated by a few specialists who all know the maths and all bid hard. There is no long tail of casual advertisers to soften the auction, just professionals who will not be outbid on the keyword that feeds their pipeline.

What this means if you advertise in an expensive vertical

If your market sits anywhere near this table, three things matter more for you than for almost anyone else. First, measure every click to the actual case or policy, not the form fill, because at these prices a vanity conversion is a very costly mistake. Second, build organic and brand demand you do not have to rent, a strong SEO position and a name people search for directly is the only real hedge against a £300 click. Third, get the targeting and landing experience tight enough that you are paying premium prices only for the searches that can actually become clients.

If you want help competing in the most expensive auctions in UK search, whether that is Google Ads strategy or building the organic visibility that lowers your reliance on them, get in touch.

This sits alongside Clicky Trends, our ongoing research into what the UK is actually searching for. See also our deeper look at UK finance and insurance search trends.

All cost-per-click and search volume figures are from Semrush's UK database, pulled in June 2026. CPC is Semrush's average estimate for the term and will vary by advertiser, match type, quality score and time of year.