Pay-per-click is one of the most effective online marketing methods courtesy of its superior audience targeting. The PPC market, however, has changed a lot over the past few years. It is no longer Google-exclusive with Facebook and Amazon claiming spots on the list of the best PPC platforms. We prepared these vital PPC stats to help you craft a well-thought marketing strategy and choose the right platform to advertise your products or services.
PPC Stats (Editor’s Choice)
- Search ad spending is expected to reach $191 billion by 2024. (Statista)
- 40% of businesses say their PPC budget is lower than what they want it to be. (PPC Protect)
- 90% of PPC ads are not seen by users. (Search Engine Land)
- 75% of people say they click on ads because they expect an answer to their question. (Clutch)
- 70% of all paid search impressions are on mobile. (DigitalThirdCoast)
- Google pay-per-click ads have the biggest ROI of 200%. (CreativeWebsiteMarketing)
- 15% of US smartphone users are currently using ad blockers on their devices. (Cnet)
General Pay per Click Statistics
1. Search ad spending is expected to reach $191 billion by 2024.
Statista’s report on search ads indicates that companies spent $106.5 billion on search advertising in 2019. The amount is projected to grow even more and reach $191 billion by 2024. Data further shows that the total display advertising is estimated to reach $335 billion in 2024.
(Statista)
2. Nearly 60% of users can’t tell the difference between a paid and an organic result.
PPC trends indicate many people regard this method as poor advertising because they think users evolved and started avoiding sponsored results. There is some truth to this, but a recent study shows that two-thirds of the users didn’t recognize the difference between an organic search result and a sponsored ad on Google.
(Marketing Tech News)
3. Approximately 27% of users used ad blockers in 2021.
Ad blockers continue to be problematic for PPC marketers. PPC stats reveal that around 26.4% of users used ad blockers in 2020. They also state that the percentage increased in and reached 27% by the end of 2021. Marketers must either be more careful with placing ads everywhere or find a more intelligent solution.
(Statista)
4. 40% of businesses say their PPC budget is lower than what they want it to be.
As more businesses experience the excellent conversion rate of PPC ads, their appetites grow bigger. Not every company, however, has the budget to invest more in pay-per-click advertising. Pay-per-click statistics reveal that more than 40% of brands and agencies would gladly increase their ad spending but lack the funds to do so. Another research shows 62% of marketers will definitely increase their PPC budget for next year.
(PPC Protect)
5. The average PPC marketing wage in the US is $49,941 per year.
The growth of the market, as confirmed by the growing number of PPC agencies, has brought some good job opportunities for those who are part of it. The average salary in the sector amounted to nearly $50,000 per year. What this means is that their hourly wage is approximately $17. Since 2019, the average PPC salary has increased by almost $2,000 which is more than good news for those working in this niche.
(Digital Third Coast)
PPC Advertising Statistics
6. PPC advertisers are spending more on social ads.
The most recent PPC industry facts and figures from SocialMediaToday reveal that 72% of marketers spend more on social ads. With more than 2.4 billion active social media users, it’s understandable that marketers are shifting their advertising on social media. On the other hand, text and mobile ads are preferred by 60% of advertisers which is not a bad investment as mobile usage is also experiencing a revolution of its own.
(SocialMediaToday)
7. PPC advertising stats show nearly half of small businesses invest in this method.
Many small business owners find PPC advertising convenient for reaching audiences, developing brand awareness, driving profits, and converting buyers which is why 45% of small businesses invest in it. A recent PPC industry report also shows 65% of small to midsize businesses have already invested in an active PPC campaign.
(RankBoss, Wordstream)
8. Display advertising can generate up to 300% more traffic.
Pay-per-click ads statistics reveal that this type of advertising generates 300% more traffic to a website. Display advertising, also known as banner advertising, is a form of marketing that uses photographs, videos, or animation to convey the commercial message of a brand. With these ads continually moving, they succeed in capturing the attention of users and produce a higher conversion rate than text and picture ads.
(Creative Website Marketing)
9. Traffic generated via PPC advertising brings 50% more conversions than organic advertising.
Organic vs paid search statistics confirm this advertising method is better able to target the market you want and the customers you need. Compared to other advertising methods, stats show PPC is much more effective in creating conversions. So much so, that compared to organic advertising or SEO, PPC advertising yields 50% more conversions and traffic.
(WordLead)
10. 75% of people say they click on ads because they expect an answer to their question.
In case you were wondering why people click on ads, PPC stats reveal that 75% of people believe they provide answers to their queries. 33% of users state that they click the ad because they think it contains the right answer. With this in mind, the number one rule for success on search engines is to write content that provides answers to search queries. When the SEM team does their job right, people will appreciate the search query result and reward it with a click.
(Clutch)
11. Nearly half of people click on text ads.
According to pay-per-click statistics, people are more likely to click on text than video ads which kind of makes sense. For example, if you are scouting for new running shoes and you see an ad saying “sale,” “deal”, or “clearance”, chances are you will check it out. Stats show 49% of people tend to click text ads, while 31% click shopping ads in such cases. And although videos are the latest fad in marketing, only 16% of potential shoppers would click on video ads.
(SearchEngineLand)
PPC Stats on Mobile Advertising
12. A total of 50% of paid clicks are made on mobile devices.
The latest models of smartphone devices have some enhanced features that make desktops almost redundant. People are switching to mobile browsing at a rapid tempo, and marketers should be taking advantage of it. The larger screen size in combination with the intuitive UX makes users almost willingly click on search ads which has resulted in mobile generating 50% of paid search clicks. Marketers know that optimizing ads for mobile access could be vital to boosting their ad campaign which is why 54% are putting their budget into it.
(RankBoss, Marketing Dive)
13. More than 90% of mobile users are more than likely to click on the first set of results.
Pay-per-click advertising statistics reveal mobile PPC advertising can be extremely effective as long as there is an optimized presence in search results. A total of 60% of mobile users are very likely to click on the first two or three search engine results, while an additional 30% are likely to do so. So, chances are that nine out of ten mobile users will click on PPC ads that are always on top.
(Search Engine Land)
14. PPC stats reveal 70% of all paid search impressions are on mobile.
With mobile platforms accounting for more than half of search ad spending, it appears advertisers are more than prepared to meet mobile user needs by making a shift in paid search ad spending from desktop to mobile. The good news is their efforts paid off as more than 70% of paid search impressions were made on mobile devices.
(DigitalThirdCoast)
15. 15% to 30% of website traffic are those who use ad blockers on their devices.
The use of mobile ad blocking is growing, especially stateside, and yet numbers show ads prevail. Data shows that currently, 15% to 30% of Internet users browse websites without the inconvenience of display ads slowing them down. PPC statistics for mobile further indicate that many users are aware that such software exists but have never bothered to install it.
(Cnet)
Google Ads Statistics
16. Google ruled the PPC market with a 29.4% share in 2020.
It was Google that started PPC advertising in the first place, but it seems its share of the digital ad market has been slipping, as in 2019 it was 31.6%. Facebook comes in second with a 23.4% market share. And while Google has significantly decreased its market share, Facebook’s shares have increased from 22.7% to 23.4%.
(eMarketer)
17. Google Ads across all industries have an average CTR of 3.52%.
Google Adwords statistics show, however, that some industries perform better than others. The Arts & Entertainment and Travel & Tourism point to an almost excellent average CTR of around 9% which could be due to the fact that these industries have more customization qualities. Led by these data, marketers consider Google’s CTR above average which is why they use it as a way to generate leads. Even though the focus for many marketers has shifted towards social media, the way Google displays sponsored ads still proves more effective.
(WordStream)
18. Google ads statistics point to an average conversion rate of 3.75% across all industries.
The greatest conversion rates on Google’s AdWords come from the dating and personal industry with 9.64%, legal with 6.98%, and consumer services with a 6.64% conversion rate.
(WordStream)
19. For beginners, Google recommends a PPC budget of $10-$50 per day.
PPC facts show that Google typically recommends new users to spend between $10 and $50 on PPC per day. You should also check daily and see how your ads performed. If you think it is good enough, leave it as it is. On the other hand, if you think it’s too little or too much, then make adjustments. Test until you figure out what works best for you.
(Google)
20. The Google advertising network reaches 90% of internet users.
The world’s largest advertising network for placing ads of all types, Google Display Network (GDN), reaches an incredible 90% of all internet users through their 2 million websites, as Google advertising statistics reveal.
(Think With Google)
21. Google pay-per-click ads have one of the biggest ROI (200%).
For every dollar companies spend on pay-per-click advertising, they earn two dollars on average from Google Ads. With 200%, Google paid advertising provides the highest ROI from all digital advertising formats, according to a recent PPC industry report.
(CreativeWebsiteMarketing)
22. Bing supports SMEs with less money spent on ads than Google.
To acquire a Bing rep, you need only to spend $500 per month on advertising. With Google, as AdWords statistics show, you must spend more than half a million dollars per year for a dedicated account rep. In essence, to advertise with Google AdWords, an SMB would need an average budget of $2,000 while for Bing Ads, they would need between $400-$700. One of the top digital marketing agencies discovered Bing only spent 20%-35% of their AdWords campaign equivalent and still delivered exceptional performance.
(Entrepreneur, Instapage)
Facebook Advertising Stats
24. Nearly 60% of people say that they have visited the brand’s website after seeing their ad on Facebook Stories.
As many as 58% of surveyed Facebook users visited the brand’s website after they saw an advertisement on Facebook Stories. So, in this case, clicking is not as important as the brand awareness created by the ad. No clicks on your ads don’t necessarily mean you lost, impressions count as well.
(Facebook)
25. Facebook Ads have an average conversion rate of 9.21%.
Facebook advertising stats point to fitness studios as the sector with the highest conversion rate with 14.29%. Since the sector also has the lowest CTR, every click could be a potential customer. The healthcare industry’s average PPC conversion rate meanwhile stands at 11%, followed by Education with 13.58%, and the B2B sector with 10.63%. At the other end of the spectrum are retail and technology that fail to produce high conversion rates on Facebook, even if their CTR is higher than others.
(WordStream)
26. PPC stats show 30% of US ad buyers say that Facebook offers the highest ROI from all of their advertising investments.
Almost a third of all US advertisers get the biggest ROI from Facebook ads, as suggested by eMarketer’s PPC spending facts and figures. Facebook earned more than $16 billion in ad revenue in the second quarter of 2019, and their biggest boost came from Instagram ads.
(eMarketer)
27. 72% of marketers use Facebook to advertise.
Facebook advertising stats confirm 61% of all marketers deem the platform as the most important social media for their business. The most recent Facebook data about PPC advertising shows that 59% of all marketers increased their spending on Facebook ads in 2020.
(Social Media Examiner)
28. Small businesses spend $1,000-$3,000 per month on Facebook advertising.
Because small businesses have limited budgets, Facebook PPC advertising stats indicate this medium might be most affordable compared to other online marketing platforms. The average CPC on Facebook is $1.86, while the cost-per-thousand-views or CPM is $11.29, and this depends on factors starting from ad quality to ad competition. If you belong to an industry with a low PPC rate, you can double or even triple your revenue on Facebook.
(FitSmallBusiness)
PPC Statistics for Amazon Marketers
29. The average CTR on Amazon is 0.36%.
More than 0.41% means you are doing a great job. Any less, and you need to change something. The leading causes behind low CTR on Amazon come from low title quality, high pricing, bad image quality, and poor review scores. However, the charts from AdBadger show that the average CTR of Amazon has changed from 0.30% to 0.60% to 0.30% again in June 2020.
(AdBadger)
30. Amazon’s pay-per-click statistics reveal the average PPC conversion rates for this platform hover at 10%.
Statistical data shows that just like any other metric, the averages do not represent all industries. For instance, products that exceed $100 suffer low PPC conversions, because customers usually compare them with other products before they make the final purchasing decision.
(AdBadger)
31. Sponsored products make up 85% of Amazon’s ad spend.
Being the third most popular advertising platform, after Google and Facebook, Amazon provides an excellent opportunity for marketers to see their PPC campaigns reach full potential. After all, regardless of the type of search, organic vs paid search statistics reveal 66% of product searches worldwide start on Amazon. And the fact that Amazon made $10 billion in ad revenue in 2019 should come as no surprise but should serve as an incentive to invest more in sponsoring products.
(PPC Protect)
Wrapping It Up
Some say PPC is too expensive, or that SEO is the better option. Others argue that it rarely generates profit. Reality check; it works if you know what you are doing. The PPC stats in this article will help you understand how this advertising method works and where it fails, and they will hopefully give you an idea of how to incorporate it in your advertising strategy this year and beyond.
Sources: Statista, Marketing Tech News, Statista, PPC Protect, Digital Third Coast, SocialMediaToday, RankBoss, Wordstream, Creative Website Marketing, WordLead, Clutch, SearchEngineLand, Search Engine Land, Cnet, eMarketer, WordStream, WordStream, Google, Think With Google, Entrepreneur, Instapage, Facebook, WordStream, eMarketer, Social Media Examiner, FitSmallBusiness, AdBadger, PPC Protect
