What does is it cost to generate a lead these days? We took it upon ourselves to analyze the most expensive property-related keywords in commercial real estate based on Google Adwords cost-per-click (CPC) data.
Cost-per-click is the cost an advertiser will pay Google for a website visitor to click on their Ad and it can vary drastically depending on the market and keyword you are targeting. Specifically, Ads may appear in Google’s search results (search network) or within web pages (content network).
The study results show that office-related keywords are by far the most expensive asset class (in comparison to industrial, retail, and lab) and Washington DC, New York, and Dallas are the most competitive for office-related keywords with average CPCs of $29.44, $23.45, and $19.62 respectively. So before you start your next online property marketing campaign, make sure you do your research.
Below are the results of the 20 most expensive office-related keywords in Google Adwords.
| Rank | Keyword | $ CPC |
| #1 | office space washington dc | 29.44 |
| #2 | office space new york | 23.45 |
| #3 | office space dallas | 19.62 |
| #4 | office space austin | 17.78 |
| #5 | office space houston | 15.66 |
| #6 | office space seattle | 14.90 |
| #7 | office space los angeles | 13.15 |
| #8 | office space san francisco | 12.63 |
| #9 | office space denver | 11.57 |
| #10 | office space chicago | 11.36 |
| #11 | office space boston | 11.25 |
| #12 | office space miami | 9.02 |
| #13 | office space san diego | 9.00 |
| #14 | office space phoenix | 8.80 |
| #15 | office space raleigh | 8.75 |
| #16 | office space orlando | 8.33 |
| #17 | office space san jose | 8.05 |
| #18 | office space minneapolis | 7.73 |
| #19 | office space charlotte | 7.10 |
| #20 | office space portland | 5.51 |
The keyword analysis takes into account historic averages and current CPC prices for the top 20 most expensive markets based on Google Adwords and SEM Rush, analyzed in September 2014. The study only reflects results from the United States from Google.com.
The most expensive keyword CPCs in other industries include Insurance ($54.91), Loans ($44.2), and Mortgage ($44.12) according to a previous study by Wordstream.
Keyword costs are based on a few important factors including the Maximum Bid an advertiser is willing to pay, the Quality Score of the Ad, and competitiveness of the keyword.