The past few years have been a roller coaster for businesses, and many are looking for fast, effective ways to get their brand, products, and services in front of qualified audiences.
One of the most efficient ways to do this is through pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements. PPC ads have become a critical component of digital strategies. PPC is a form of digital advertising whereby a digital ad is presented to internet users based on a formula of terms entered into a search engine.
These ads appear alongside, atop, or below organic search results relevant to whatever the user is searching for. Companies bid on different variations and combinations of search terms to appear for and measure the cost-per-click (CPC) for each conversion driven by their ads.
Are you interested in learning more about PPC stats and how consumers and businesses alike use paid ads? Here are 120+ PPC statistics you need to know:
65% of buyer-intent keywords are paid clicks (MARKINBLOG)
46% of Internet users can’t readily tell the difference between pay-per-click advertising and links returned organically from searches (MARKINBLOG)
75% of users click on ads to find authentic and relevant information (Curvearro)
75% of people say paid ads make it easier to find what they need (WebFX)
77 percent of the respondents said they’re confident they can recognize search advertisements in the results (Clutch)
More than 50 percent of people between the ages of 18–34 can’t differentiate between an ad and an organic result on Google (Search Engine Land)
57.5 percent don’t recognize Google ads. 34.8 percent recognize them but don’t click on them, and 7.7 percent recognize paid ads but do click them (Search Engine Land)
Only 1% of consumers have a negative appreciation of PPC advertisements (Marketing Expertus)
People aged 18-24 have 75% of the attention span of the 65+ demographic when it comes to watching Facebook ad videos (SmallBizGenius)
How often do people click on paid ads?
63% of individuals said they’d click on a Google ad (Askmedigi)
33% of users click on a paid search ad (GoRemotely)
Text ads are the most popular with 49% of users clicking them (Search Engine Land)
49 percent of people said they click on text ads; 31 percent on Shopping ads; and 16 percent on video ads (Search Engine Land)
About four times as many people are more likely to click on a paid search ad on Google (63%) than on any other search engine – Amazon (15%), YouTube (9%), and Bing (6%) (Clutch)
Google Ads results receive 65% of the clicks that started with buying keywords, while organic results only receive 35% (Askmedigi)
PPC visitors are 50% more likely to purchase something than organic visitors (Unbounce)
In a survey of 506 people who said they have clicked on a paid search ad in the past month, 75% said the ads make it easier to find the information they’re looking for, and they’re most likely to click on ads that answer their questions (Clutch)
70% of consumers say it’s important to include directions and a call button in ads (Social Media Today)
49 percent said they click on text ads; 31 percent on Shopping ads; and 16 percent on video ads (Clutch)
63 percent said they’d click on a Google ad, while just 15 percent said they’d click an ad on Amazon, 9 percent on YouTube, and 6 percent on Bing (Clutch)
Video ads are clicked 73% more than display banners (Sativant)
An average Facebook user clicks on 11 ads per month (Websitebuilder)
How do People Search Online?
Marketing world & search engine results
Search engines drive 93% of all website traffic (Omnicore)
53% of users abandon sites that take longer than three seconds to load (SmallBizGenius)
90% of people haven’t made their mind up about a brand before a search (Review 42)
More than 36% of all clicks to American advertisers come from overseas (Google Economic Impact)
66% of buyer-intent keywords are paid clicks (Wordlead)
90% of consumers say they trust online reviews (MARKINBLOG)
By 2022, 82% of all business and consumer Internet traffic will come from videos, up from 75% in 2017 (Single Grain)
The top PPC search engines in order are Google, Yahoo, and Bing (MARKINBLOG)
More and more people rely on “local”
“Near me” searches saw a 500% growth between 2016 and 2018 (Atomic Reach)
46 percent of Google searches are seeking local information (Atomic Reach)
Nearly 30 percent of searches for something in a specific location will result in a purchase (Valve+Meter)
How people use Google to search in 2026
62% of all core search queries in the United States are generated by Google (Statista)
Google sees an average of 83,787 searches every second of the day (Internet Livestream)
Consumers make more than 160 billion searches per month on Google alone (Valve+Meter)
Google has 92.96% of the global search engine market share in September 2019 (SmallBizGenius)
95.88% of Google searches are four words or more (Statista)
67% of clicks go to the first 5 search engine results (Zero Limit Web)
95% of search traffic goes to the first page of search results (Digital Synopsis)
Google Ads’ Display Network reaches 90% of internet users via 2 million websites (SmallBizGenius)
How people use other search platforms in 2026
$1 million is Pinterest’s expected ad revenue in the U.S. in 2020 (eMarketer) and 64% of Pinterest users described the platform as a place to find ideas, products, or services they can trust (Pinterest)
Bing handles 6 billion searches per month (99firms)
Mobile Searches & PPC Ads
The overwhelming majority of Americans own some type of cell phone, and of that 81% own smartphones with internet capabilities.
Digital marketers have seen a slow but steady transition from searches on desktop and laptop computers to those done on mobile devices. As many Americans shift their reliance from computers to phones, digital advertisers need to take notice:
Search advertising on mobile is expected to reach $22.8 billion in 2020 (Statista)
$146 billion is how much mobile advertising spend will reach by 2023 (Statista)
90% of mobile owners conduct mobile searches (eMarketer)
70% of all paid search impressions are on mobile (Mobile Marketer)
96% of Google’s revenue comes from advertising (Curvearro)
Google and Facebook still hold the largest share of total U.S. digital ad spending, with 37.2% and 22.1% (AdAge)
Measuring PPC Results
Search engines and social platforms are serving up more and more ads to potential customers each year. With the seemingly exponential growth of paid ads on these platforms, businesses must be seeing excellent returns to justify the ad spend, right?
74% of brands say PPC is a huge driver for their business (State of PPC)
79% of marketers say PPC is hugely beneficial for their business (Hanapin Marketing)
$162.03 is the average ad spending of an internet user in the U.S. in 2020, up 10% from last year (Statista)
Consumers spend 10 percent more money in a store if they have clicked on the retailer’s Google search ad before visiting (Valve+Meter)
80% is about how much search ads can increase brand awareness (WebFX)
Remarketing increases conversion by 70% (Marketing Expertus)
Google Ads alone reaches a network of more than 2 million websites and applications (Valve+Meter)
Average conversion rates on PPC ads
Click-throughs from PPC results convert at a 1.5 times higher rate than their organic counterparts (Atomic Reach)
Leads from search engines have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (ex. cold-calling, direct mail, etc.) have a 1.7% close rate (Junto)
65% of advertisers say their company’s use of shoppable images within search will increase in 2019 (Search Engine Journal)
Retailers can raise conversions by 16 percent when they include cross-device data (Valve+Meter)
The most effective PPC channels are text ads, remarketing, and mobile (Valve+Meter)
32% of advertisers say that video is the most effective social ad format, followed by image ads at 26%, Instagram Stories at 23%, and carousel ads at 19% (Search Engine Journal)
When paused, 89% of search ads are not replaced with organic clicks (99firms)
Conversion rates for social media & mobile app ads
65% of B2B companies have acquired customers through LinkedIn ads (WebFX)
91.69% of social media advertisers opted for Facebook (99firms)
The average CPC for Facebook ads is $1.72 (SmallBizGenius)
Facebook’s medium CPC for the first quarter of 2020 was $0.78, a 2.6% decrease since Q4 2019, but a 4% increase YoY (AdStage)
Instagram saw a median CPC of $3.35 in the 1st quarter of 2020, an increase of $1.82 from the previous quarter, while the majority of advertisers recorded median CPCs between $3.00 and $3.50. That equates to a roughly 118% increase from the fourth quarter, but a 93% decrease year over year (AdStage)
Twitter’s median CPC in the first quarter of 2020 was $0.58, which was up $0.32 cents from the fourth quarter of 2019. Similarly, their CPC was up 47% year over year (AdStage)
$935 billion is what mobile apps are projected to generate in revenues for 2023 via paid downloads and in-app advertising (Statista)
Conversion rates for Google Ads
80% of all companies focus on Google Ads for PPC (WebFX)
Google’s display campaigns reach more than 80% of the global internet audience (99firms)
98% of advertisers rate Google as the most trustworthy with a 4 or 5 out of 5 on the trust index (Search Engine Journal)
The average click-through rate in Google Ads is 3.17% for the search network and 0.46% on the display network (WordStream)
84% of advertisers who use paid search are currently using or planning to use Google’s new responsive search ads (Search Engine Journal)
The average cost-per-click across all industries in Google AdWords on the search network is $2.69. The highest cost-per-click is found in the legal industry, while the lowest cost-per-click is found in the dating and personals industry (Valve+Meter)
The highest average click-through rate in Google AdWords is found in the dating and personals industry, while the lowest click-through rate is found in the legal industry (Valve+Meter)
While the average click-through rate for PPC advertisements is only 2 percent, the average click-through rate for the top paid result on the screen is almost 8 percent (Valve+Meter)
The average CTR is higher with Google Ads than with Bing Ads. A paid ad on the first position on the first page of Google has a CTR of 7.11% (99firms)
Paid ads have an 11.38% CTR on Google (Askmedigi)
Google ads experienced a first-quarter median CPC of $1.28, an 8.5% increase from the previous quarter but an 8.2% decrease year over year (AdStage)
PPC During Covid-19
Covid-19 has changed the way many companies do business. From trimming budgets and furloughing or laying off employees, to ramping up production to meet growing demand, no two businesses have had identical experiences during the pandemic.
Business management and office supplies, non-profits, medical advertisers, as well as beauty, skincare, and gifts have all experienced a positive increase in PPC engagement during the pandemic.
Business management and office supplies during Covid-19
Business management searches have grown by 23% since February 23, 2020 (Wordstream)
Searches for office supplies increased by 90%, paid search ad clicks increased by 35%, and search conversion rates increased by 41% (Wordstream)
Packing and shipping supplies more than doubled their search ad conversions (up 123%) and search ad conversion rate (up 107%) (Wordstream)
Non-profits PPC during Covid-19
10% increase in search ad impressions (Wordstream)
23% increase in search ad conversions (Wordstream)
20% increase in search ad conversion rate (Wordstream)
Medical advertisers saw a spike in performance during Covid-19
5% increase in search ad clicks for medical supplies (Wordstream)
24% increase in search ad conversion rate for medical supplies (Wordstream)
34% increase in search ad clicks for pharmaceuticals (Wordstream)
47% increase in search ad conversion rate for pharmaceuticals (Wordstream)
Retail and beauty PPC advertisements during Covid-19
Skincare has seen a 3% decrease in search CPC, a 21% increase in search CVR (Wordstream)
Spa care has seen a 20% decrease in search CPC, a 41% increase in search CVR (Wordstream)
Miscellaneous industry PPC ads impact during Covid-19
On-demand media has seen a 102% increase in search ad conversions (Wordstream)
Searches for cards and greetings have seen a 15% increase in conversion rate (Wordstream)
Searches for gift baskets have seen a 30% increase in conversion rate (Wordstream)
Searches for floral arrangements have seen a 43% increase in conversion rate (Wordstream)
Real estate listings and agents have seen a 15% increase in CPC but a 25% and 30% decrease in CVR, respectively (Wordstream)
Which industries have PPC ads that have been negatively impacted by Covid-19?
On the flip side, Covid-19 negatively impacted thousands of businesses across the United States. Many struggled to stay afloat as customers and conversions declined during the pandemic.
Travel and tourism
41% decrease in air travel conversion rates (Wordstream)
44% decrease in cruise conversion rates (Wordstream)
49% decrease in travel booking serves conversion rates (Wordstream)
50% decrease in vacation packages conversion rates (Wordstream)
Bars and restaurants
Restaurants have seen an 18% decrease in ad impressions (Wordstream)
Restaurants have seen a 59% decrease in search CVR (Wordstream)
Bars have seen a 26% decrease in search ad impressions (Wordstream)
Bars have seen a 57% decrease in search CVR (Wordstream)
What Are the Key Metrics to Track for PPC Campaigns?
Key metrics include click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), conversion rate, return on ad spend (ROAS), and quality score.
How Do Different Industries Compare in PPC Performance?
Performance varies; high competition industries like legal and finance often have higher CPCs, while retail and e-commerce typically see higher conversion rates.
How Has Mobile Search Impacted PPC Strategies?
Mobile search has increased significantly, with more ad impressions and clicks coming from mobile devices, necessitating mobile-optimized ads and landing pages.
What Are the Average Costs Associated with PPC Advertising?
Costs vary widely by industry, but the average CPC across all industries on Google Ads is approximately $2.69.
How Can Businesses Improve Their PPC Campaign ROI?
Improving ROI involves continuous keyword optimization, effective ad copy, A/B testing, and refining targeting to reach the most relevant audience.
Interested in leveraging the power of PPC marketing? See how our agency can help by learning more about our paid media services or contact us now!
