Alphabet’s Form 10-Q for the third quarter of 2026, filed October 28, finally gives search advertisers the numbers the earnings release left out. Paid clicks on Google Search and Google’s other owned properties rose 8% year over year, slower than the 11% rise across the first nine months. Average cost per click rose 4% in both periods.
That matters because the revenue line still looks strong. Google Search & other revenue grew 12% to $63.35 billion in the quarter. The filing’s figures imply roughly two-thirds of that growth came from more clicks and one-third from higher prices. Volume, not price, was the part that slowed.
Queries are growing faster than ad clicks
Alphabet said its search query growth was the fastest in five years, but the 10-Q gives no query count. So marketers cannot see what share of those searches ended in a paid click. What is clear: ad clicks grew more slowly in Q3 than in the first half, even as queries accelerated. That may mean more searches are happening on surfaces with fewer ads, or in formats that are not yet fully monetized. The filing does not answer.
The quarter in numbers
- Paid clicks: +8% in Q3, +11% over nine months
- Cost per click: +4% in both periods
- Google Network impressions: -14% in Q3, -11% over nine months
- Network cost per impression: +14% in Q3, +11% over nine months
AdSense is shrinking while AdMob grows
Google Network is moving in a different direction. Impressions fell 14% in Q3 and cost per impression rose 14%. The filing says AdMob revenue increased, while AdSense revenue decreased. For publishers on the open web, that continues a difficult trend: fewer impressions, higher prices, and a bigger share of spending flowing to app placements rather than website display units.
What ad buyers should do
Do not rebuild search strategy around one global average. Alphabet’s cost-per-click blends devices, geographies, properties and auction types, and the definitions are controlled by Alphabet. Use the filing as a health check, then go into your own account data. Compare clicks, CPC and conversion value by device, network and match type. Watch whether query growth is actually turning into ad clicks for your campaigns. If you depend on AdSense or open-web inventory, model lower impression availability before counting on supply to recover.
Beyond ad metrics, the filing shows how much of Alphabet’s future now rests on AI infrastructure. The company lists $924.4 billion in purchase commitments, $130.5 billion in data centre and energy leases that have not started, and $98.5 billion in backstops and guarantees for other companies’ data centres and power equipment. Alphabet’s revenue backlog reached $567.7 billion, with $16.8 billion tied to a multi-year contract with Crux AI, a related party joint venture with Blackstone in which Google holds a minority stake.
Source: PPC Land
