If you’re new to the online advertising business or simply looking to find out some of the latest PPC stats available at the moment, you’ve just hit the right spot because we’ll give you all the information about PPC advertising and more.
Did you know that the 1st online ad appeared in 1994?
To start off, PPC stands for Pay Per Click, and this abbreviation refers to the digital advertising domain. PPC encapsulates a lot of online advertising models, such as CPC for Google Ads, which means that you will pay every time someone clicks your ad.
Google owns 87.96% of the total PPC market.
This way, Google (and other search engines of your choosing) generate revenue from listing your ad on top of search results or on websites that promote Google Ads. The company that chooses to advertise its products and services through the PPC model can stand to gain a lot, business and brand awareness-wise, as this is the most efficient digital advertising model today.
$49,941 is the average PPC salary per year for industry professionals working in the US.
PPC is not only used when it comes to search engines; it is also used on Social Media, regardless of the social network you plan to advertise on: Facebook, Instagram, and many more. It’s how businesses manage to get in touch with their clients and future potential customers. Now let’s check out some pretty incredible facts and statistics about the PPC industry.
General PPC Statistics – 2023
We’re going to go over a full list of general PPC statistics for 2022, but we’re also going to cover some of the numbers from the past, as well as future predictions and estimates, just to have a clearer picture of this very dynamic sector.
$214 billion is the global market size of automation in PPC advertising.
These numbers are extremely high, considering that in 2019, the same industry was estimated at $1.85 billion. All trends show that the PPC industry will continue to rise.
96% of all brands spend money on Google Ads.
We’re talking about almost all the brands that do some form of digital advertising. Google’s PPC model has the largest market share of all competitors activating in this sector.
Approximately 84% of all brands that use PPC advertising are very happy with the received services.
It’s pretty rare to find such a huge percentage of companies being satisfied by a service.
Google’s advertising revenue reached $146.92 billion in 2020.
And by the looks of it, all predictions show that each year will be a record-high one for the company.
$1.54 is the average CPC (cost-per-click) for Bing ads.
That price is 33% lower than Google Ads, meaning that you are more likely to reach your targeted audience through Google’s search results than you are with Bing’s listings.
Around 25.8% of people use ad blockers when browsing the Internet.
Since 1 out of every 4 people uses some form of ad blocker, you are left with 75% of potential ad revenue that can be gained in the future if ad blockers are removed.
Approximately 72% of all companies that use PPC ads haven’t looked at their ongoing ad campaigns in over a month.
It’s quite surprising considering the huge amounts of money they spend on this specific type of advertising.
The world’s first online ad was published in 1994.
It was part of AT&T’s “You Will” campaign from almost 30 years ago!
87.96% of the PPC market share currently belongs to Google.
That’s one of the most dominating positions you can have in a capitalist market.
PPC marketers can choose from 192 different versions of Google search.
Google has made sure that it has a way of marketing any type of business, from almost any type of industry, with very few exceptions.
92% of all online paid ads go unnoticed by Internet users.
This means that a lot of the displayed ads are basically invisible to your average user while they’re browsing the web.
4,000-10,000 ads daily are shown to the average Internet user on a daily basis.
The numbers in this area are simply shocking.
SEO Vs PPC Statistics
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and this is what gets a website, or a platform, organic visits.
When people search for a product or a service online, they will run into sponsored ads (which are paid for via the PPC advertising model) or organic links, which are a product of highly efficient SEO strategies.
It is estimated that around 46% of Internet users can’t tell the difference between PPC ads and SEO.
So almost half of all Internet users don’t know if they are clicking on a sponsored link or on an organically generated website.
Approximately 77% of users consider that they can recognize paid search ads.
This number comes in complete contrast with the above shown statistics that quite obviously prove the opposite.
The average cost for a mid-level SEO campaign is between $2.500 and $5.000.
The prices are based on an average of what agencies usually charge for SEO campaigns.
90.63% of all Internet pages receive no organic traffic from Google.
For these websites, the only chance to pop up in search results is true PPC advertising.
PPC usually takes around 3 weeks to learn.
In comparison with basic SEO skills, which can take up to 3 months to master.
SEO can improve a company’s or a brand’s visibility on 2 or 3 search engines.
As opposed to PPC ads that can be displayed anywhere you choose.
PPC campaigns generate 2x the number of visitors compared to SEO strategies.
Choosing PPC advertising will get you double the number of visitors to your platform.
Let’s go over the conversion rates between SEO and PPC strategies:
- Financial Services – SEO services manage to convert customers at 7.3x the rate of PPC.
- Luxury Goods – SEO services manage to convert customers at 3.7x the rate of PPC.
- Real Estate – SEO services manage to convert customers at 3.5x the rate of PPC.
- Medical Devices – SEO services manage to convert customers at 3.4x the rate of PPC.
- Legal Services – SEO services manage to convert customers at 3.4x the rate of PPC.
PPC was ranked as the 3rd best channel for high-volume leads in 2020.
PPC campaigns have helped digital advertisers with 17 percent of their new leads.
Almost 94% of Internet users skip search ads and go straight to organic results.
In other words, more experienced Internet users skip over the PPC ads paid by companies and go for companies that choose to invest in their SEO strategies.
PPC Statistics for Business
PPC statistics for business are some of the most researched topics in digital advertising, as they are the main indicator of how successful or unsuccessful an online campaign is.
40% of companies and agencies have stated that their PPC budget is lower than desired.
Almost half of all digital advertisers want their managers to allocate more money to PPC advertising, as this has proven to be one of the most (if not the most) efficient forms of generating sales and revenue for a brand.
$10.01 billion were spent on PPC advertising by 7 million advertisers.
While these numbers apply for 2017, they are still incredibly impressive, and they have grown continuously since then.
Approximately 93% of Americans use the Internet to find local businesses.
This means that companies are strongly pushing their online advertising budgets to pop up in more search results and display ads.
$49,941 per annum is the average PPC salary for industry professionals in the United States.
One of the fastest growing industries when it comes to employee salaries is, without a doubt, the PPC business.
Most competitive PPC keywords relate to insurance, financial services, and legal industries.
These are the top 3 most competitive industries bidding for keywords and key phrases on the PPC market.
85% of all consumers use the Internet to search for local businesses in their area.
This is where all your future potential customers are, so you can only imagine how important the PPC industry actually is.
66% of all shoppers prefer online shopping as opposed to shopping offline.
And this is where PPC advertising steps into play, given that more than half of all potential customers are online.
How Much Do Businesses Spend on PPC Advertising?
PPC costs are constantly increasing based on the industry you are trying to promote products and services and on the competition for the chosen keywords and key phrases you are bidding on.
Between $9,000 and $10,000 per month is the average PPC budget paid by SMEs.
If we sum up the numbers for a whole year, that gives us a budget of $108,000 to $120,000 that small and medium-sized companies spend on PPC advertising.
64% of all brands worldwide will increase their PPC budget within 1 year.
When you analyze the ROI (Return On Investment) you can get through PPC advertising, it comes as no surprise that you will reconsider investing more in this type of ads in the future. The sooner, the better.
$1.2 billion is spent by the financial and insurance industries each year on PPC advertising.
These numbers are combined between the two major players in the PPC sector.
200% ROI is the current rate of PPC advertising.
Companies are getting back twice as much for each ad they pay for online.
Anywhere between $10-$50 is the recommended daily budget for a Google Ads campaign for a product or service.
These numbers vary a lot based on the industry you are competing in to have your ads displayed first.
Close to 50% of all marketers operate with a PPC budget of less than $50,000 per month.
While these numbers may seem huge for some other sectors, PPC costs for big brands are considered quite low.
54% of ad expenditures will be online in 2022.
This will mark the first year when ad expenditure in the digital sphere will surpass the budgets spent on traditional advertising.
Between $6 and $30 is the average cost-per-lead for Google Local Services ads, according to the latest statistics.
The more companies invest in Google Local Services ads, the more clients they stand to gain.
Since 2020, ad spending has grown by 5.9%.
And projections for 2022 show double-digit growths.
“Insurance” is the most expensive PPC keyword.
It usually costs around $59 per click to appear as a top search result for the word “Insurance”, based on your city, region, or town.
$110 billion is the amount spent by companies on search advertising in 2020.
That’s close to the annual GDP of a country like Slovakia ($117.6 billion).
Google Ads Statistics
Google ads statistics are probably the most important numbers a company can look at because Google is the world’s leading search engine. Most business comes from Google’s search results, as this is the go-to place for most Internet users.
When ads are paused, 89% of the traffic generated by Google Ads is not replaced by organic clicks.
This just proves to show you the power of Google and Google ads when it comes to the digital advertising sector.
75% of people consider that paid ads make it easier to find the products, services, or information you are looking for.
That’s 3 out of every 4 people that depend on paid links to find what they need.
For each $1 spent on Google Ads, companies earn approximately $2 in return.
These numbers were valid for 2018, but since then, it seems that the gap between the two has become smaller.
Approximately 96% of Google’s total revenue comes from Google Ads.
This makes Google Ads the company’s most important service.
2.3 billion bad ads were taken down by Google in a single year.
We’re talking about 2019, and since then, Google algorithms have improved drastically to prevent bad ads from popping up in their search results.
Google Ads is the number 1 PPC network chosen by companies and digital advertisers.
Google reigns supreme both in search engine preferences and in PPC choices for brands all around the world.
65.7% of all Internet users trust Google more than Facebook and TikTok.
The numbers apply for 2021, and they are based on pay-per-click statistics.
79 billion visitors go to Google.com every month, which makes this a haven for PPC advertising.
That’s almost 10 times the total world population visiting one single platform in just one month.
Businesses can increase their brand awareness by 80% through Google ads.
Once again, it shows you the power of Google and its advertising services.
Approximately 63% of people have clicked on a Google ad at least once in their lifetime.
And the numbers will only continue to grow from here.
Google and all the services offered by Alphabet (the mother company) deliver, on average, an 8:1 return on investment (ROI) for companies.
That means that any business that invests in Google Ads and their tangential advertising services will get back $8 for every $1 spent.
Anywhere between $1-$2 is considered to be the average cost-per-click (CPC) for Google Ads.
Regarding the Google Search Network, the same average of $1-$2 CPC applies.
PPC Stat by Ads Type
Pay Per Click Advertising comes in many shapes, forms, and “sizes” because it can be done on several platforms and through different strategies.
Companies that opt for PPC advertising can choose from having their products and services appear in search ads, display ads, shopping ads, social media ads, and mobile advertisements.
Let’s break down all the different types of PPC ads and look over some of the latest and most interesting stats.
Search Ads Stats
Search ads are the ones that pop up in your search engine results list, and they are marked as “Sponsored” so you can tell which ones are paid articles, as opposed to the ones that appear organically in your queries.
33% of people click on paid search ads that give a direct answer to their search terms.
That means that only 1 out of every 3 Internet users will follow the link shown in a sponsored ad.
$106.5 billion has been spent on search ads worldwide in a year.
And that year, as reported by Statista, is 2019. Numbers slightly dropped in 2020, just to make a huge comeback in 2021.
43.26% is the average click-through rate for branded keywords that appear in the number 1 position in search ads.
Almost half of all Internet users click on the first word they see that relates to their searched topic.
40,000 searches on average are processed by Google every second.
When it comes to PPC marketers, this is as good as it gets.
96% of all digital marketers spend money on search ads.
Search ads are the top choice for marketers getting into the PPC industry.
Approximately 41% of all Internet users say that they trust online ads.
That’s close to half of all the potential customers a company can find online.
Display Ads Stats
Display ads cover anything you see that is advertised online through images, banners, and pictures, meant to attract a user’s attention while they’re browsing social media or a regular website.
Up to 90% of all Internet users see online ads placed on the Google Display Network.
With such a huge chunk of the pie chart, Google leads the world of PPC advertising worldwide.
Around 49% of Internet users click on text ads.
Another 31% of people choose to click on shopping ads, while 16% prefer clicking on video ads.
41.5% of the times users will receive Google ads in their Google display searches.
That amounts to almost half of the total searches done each day.
Approximately 17% is the average conversion rate for the Google Search Network.
Display ads seem to have a lower conversion rate as opposed to the 75% average rate for Google Ads.
Approximately 46% is the average conversion rate for the Google Display Network.
This is close to half of the total number of users that watch ads on the Google Display Network.
There are 8 types of ads on the Google Display Network.
Companies can choose which type of display ads they want to use in order to better promote their products and services.
Customers are 155% more likely to search for brand-specific terms after they have been exposed to display ads.
One more argument that proves the efficiency of display ads worldwide.
Around 2+ million websites make up the entire Google Display Network.
That leaves a lot of room to find the best places to advertise your services based on websites that are visited by your potential clients.
It is estimated that 55% of companies use display ads.
And all projections show that these numbers will continue to rise year over year.
35% is the average CTR on the Google Display Network.
That means that 1 out of every 3 Internet users will click on the ads they are shown.
Shopping Ads Stats
When it comes down to online shopping ads, we’ve all seen them more often than not. These ads usually target someone who’s already shopping online, making them an easier target to reach.
Shopify partnered up with TikTok to reach more than 800 million users.
TikTok is the fastest-growing social network in the world at the moment, which makes it one of the most attractive PPC platforms for digital marketers.
50% of users coming from paid ads are more likely to buy a product/service from a retailer’s platform.
This statistic shows that users coming from organic links are not that inclined to purchase products and services from the platforms they land on.
Amazon spends more than $50 million a year on shopping ads.
One of the world’s leading companies spends a massive fortune on shopping ads to generate even more revenue. Jeff Bezos clearly understands that you have to spend money to make money.
$35.29 billion in Alibaba’s mobile ad revenue is estimated to be reached by the end of 2021.
This makes Alibaba one of the most important Chinese companies with a worldwide presence and activity.
Around 96% of users leave a platform without making a purchase.
This is why digital marketers always choose to retarget a certain audience via PPC advertising.
Approximately 59% of people prefer to go online for product/service recommendations.
That makes online shopping ads all the more important, given that companies manage to meet their clients on their “home field.”
0.41% is the average CTR on Amazon Ads in 2020.
This number is extremely low, and that’s why even a giant corporation like Amazon still relies on PPC ads on other platforms.
9.55% is the average conversion rate for Amazon PPC.
That means that almost 1 out of every 10 customers that view an ad will purchase the advertised product or service on Amazon.
Social Media Ads Stats
Social Media ads are the ones you see while scrolling down your Facebook or Instagram feeds (also other social networks with built-in ads). These ads want to target people based on what they like on social media, their location, and their age group.
With over 630 million users, LinkedIn is a B2B company’s heaven for advertising.
Most companies advertise based on job titles, company, industry, education, interests, company connections, and seniority.
Approximately 9.21% of Facebook ads convert into sales.
This makes Facebook the leading advertising platform when it comes to its conversion rate.
With 37.2% and 22.1%, respectively, Google and Facebook are the leading social networks regarding digital ad spending.
Most brands choose to advertise on Google and Facebook because that’s where they feel that they’ll reach more potential customers.
Around 58% of all millennials have purchased something based on an online or social media ad.
Again, we continue to spot a huge growth in companies reaching out to their potential clients via social media ads.
14.6% of the PPC ads market share is controlled by LinkedIn.
The world’s biggest professional social network ones a pretty share of the PPC pie.
40 billion dollars were spent on social media ads last year.
With such fast-paced growth, 2021 could see this industry breaking the $50 billion thresholds.
Approximately 928.5 million people are reached by Instagram ads.
Instagram, owned by META (Facebook), has a strong word to say in 1.3% was the average CTR for social media ads in 2020.
The numbers went up from 1.2% the previous year, in 2019.
Approximately 47% of Gen X Internet users have purchased something based on an online or social media ad.
Social Media ads seem to provide companies with a very high Rhe PPC sector.
ROI (Return On Investment), making them one of the most efficient types of online advertising.
$56 billion is the estimated budget that will be spent by US brands on social media ads by 2022.
And when it comes to advertising online, US-based companies make no concessions with their budgets.
Social media ads were ranked as 2nd most effective in Business to Business (B2B) advertising in 2021.
These numbers are based on the opinion of 83% of digital marketers that use social media ads. With 33% of the votes, search engine marketing (SEM) was voted as the most successful lead-generation strategy.
Only 22% of Baby Boomers have bought a product/service based on an online or social media ad.
This is the category with the lowest conversion rate when it comes to PPC advertising.
Mobile Advertising Statistics
Mobile advertising is one of the most efficient forms of promotion, given the mobile’s sector growth over the past decade. Everything in the business world, little or small, is very rapidly switching to a mobile-first company policy, given the higher return rates, as opposed to PC or laptop PPC advertising.
Mobile shot video ads are 78% more effective in ad recalls and 80% more effective for driving intent.
But when raising a company’s brand awareness, studio-shot videos are 97% more effective than mobile shot sequences.
Approximately 80% of people who look something up on their smartphone will visit that nearby business within 1 day.
It just proves to show us once again just how important mobile ads are in 2021.
$22.8 billion is the amount spent on mobile ads in 2020.
These numbers apply strictly to search ads on mobile devices, meaning that the total value of mobile ads is even higher.
More than 70% of all paid search impressions are on mobile devices.
This includes smartphones, tablets, and anything Internet users prefer to use while they’re on the go or simply relaxing on their couches.
61% of all organic search engine visits on Google were done via mobile devices.
One of the most telling stats regarding the state of the mobile sector, in the last quarter before the COVID-19 pandemic took over the world.
53% of all the paid clicks in digital advertising come from mobile devices.
More than half of a company’s potential clients view their products and services from mobile devices.
Approximately 33% of all mobile ad spending goes to Google.
And that’s why Google continues to remain on top of the food chain!
Today, mobile ad campaigns perform 5x better than online ads.
It’s no wonder why more companies are moving to a “mobile-first” policy.
FAQ’s
What percentage of businesses use PPC?
More and more businesses are choosing to go for the PPC advertising model, and the percentage of companies that pay for this service is incredibly high and promising for the next decades.
- It is estimated that 45% of small businesses use PPC advertising.
This means that close to half of the world’s SMEs are choosing to advertise their services online through the PPC model. Text ads are preferred by 49% of these companies, as they are perceived to be more efficient.
Is PPC profitable?
PPC is an extremely profitable business for both digital advertisers and companies planning to raise their brand awareness and increase their sales through online ads.
- 74% of all brands consider PPC advertising to be one of the biggest drivers of their business.
It is estimated that 64% of all brands will increase their PPC spending budgets within the next 12 months. This again proves how PPC is profitable and how much revenue PPC can generate for a company.
What percentage of clicks do PPC ads get?
These numbers may vary extremely much based on the keyword, keyphrase, or industry where the PPC Advertising model is applied.
- 2% is the average click-through rate for PPC ads.
When it comes to the click-through rate that applies for all the top paid results, the numbers go up to 8%. The average conversion rate for these clicks is estimated to reach 20%, which is extremely high for any type of digital advertising.
How big is the PPC market?
Although it was severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the PPC market has shown strong signs of growth in 2021, reaching record-high numbers.
- $20 billion is the estimated PPC market size for 2021.
With a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) estimated at 11% until 2027, chances are that we’ll continue to see the PPC market size growing for decades to come as other more traditional advertising forms rapidly decline.
What is a good pay-per-click rate?
When it comes to CTRs (click-through rate), the higher your score, the better because it means that a higher percentage of people that saw your ad have clicked on it.
- 6% is widely regarded as a good pay-per-click (PPC rate) rate for businesses.
This means that out of 100 users that are presented with your ad, 6 of them will click to see more about the products and services you are advertising.
Conclusion
Judging by the constantly growing numbers in PPC Advertising, it is no surprise that this will continue to be the future of advertising as we know it today. TV ads will slowly but steadily die out, leaving room for the ever-growing digital advertising sector.
Pay Per Click Advertising is something used by almost all businesses out there that want to stay relevant in 2022 (and beyond) because most people have Internet access nowadays, meaning that they’ll be much easier to find and track down online.
The main advantage of PPC advertising is that, in most cases, you can pay only when your ad has an impact, and it’s much easier to track your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and segment your audience.
That way, you’ll be able to analyze what you did well with a digital advertising campaign, how many people you’ve reached, and most importantly, how many of them you converted into revenue-generating customers. In the end, that’s what PPC advertising is all about.
