Important PPC Statistics You Should Know (2023)

Updated/reviewed 2023

PPC Statistics

Curious about PPC? If you’ve been wondering how pay-per-click advertisements work and if these ads would be a good idea for your business, there are a few things you should know.

For starters, PPC can be a valuable asset to your team, or it can be a major setback if you aren’t quite aware of the power they have.  

About PPC Advertisements

Pay-per-click (PPC) is an advertising model that enables businesses to promote their company, products, or services online and pay only once an ad has been interacted with. This methodology has been proven to be advantageous to businesses like yours in a variety of ways.    

Benefits of PPC Ads

45 percent of businesses have implemented PPC ads into their digital marketing strategy and there are several reasons why. Some of the most common benefits a company can receive from PPC ads are:

How effective are PPC ads?

• 33 percent of online users click a PPC ad because it answers a question, 26 percent click an a because it mentions a familiar brand, and 26 percent of users click on PPC ads because they are listed before other results (Clutch)
• The average click-through rate for PPC ads is about 2 percent (WordStream)
• 20 percent of businesses believe PPC ads offer the highest ROI out of any digital marketing strategy (Statista)

How much does PPC cost?

• The average PPC campaign can range from $1,000 to $10,000 per month for small to mid-sized companies (WordStream)
• Large companies can expect to pay anywhere from $10,000 per month to upwards of $50,000 per month (CostOwl.com)
• PPC advertising returns $2 for every $1 spent – a 200 percent ROI (WordLead)

Display Ads

What are display ads?

Display ads, also referred to as banner ads, are visually enticing digital advertisements used to promote your brand online. These ads can appear on social media platforms, applications and even on a website you visit. It is easy to determine which advertisements are display ads because they generally contain an image and copy.

How effective are display ads?

• 43 percent of PPC marketers say display ads are their least effective channel – yet 84 percent of marketers still invest in display ads (Hanapin Marketing)
• A 59 percent average lift in conversions can occur when users conduct a search related to a display ad (LinkedIn)
• Display ads appear across the entire Google Display Network, reaching over 90 percent of online users (Google)

Search Ads

What are search ads?

Search ads are a form of online advertising that can promote a product, service, or company using text advertisements. This is one of the most popular forms of PPC advertising. Search ads are found both above and below the organic search results. These ads are easy to spot because they are made exclusively with text and they are marked with the word “Ad” next to them.    

How much do search ads cost?

• Advertisers have spent an estimated $59.22 billion on paid search ads (Semrush)
• The average cost-per-conversion across Google Ads is $56.11 (WordStream)
• The average cost-per-click (CPC) for Google search ads is under $2.69 (WordStream)

How effective are search ads?

• 89 percent of the traffic generated by search ads cannot be replaced by organic clicks when ads are paused (Google)
• 3 out of 4 online users (75 percent) believe paid search ads make it easier to find the information they are searching for (PR Newswire)
• 84 percent of respondents who use paid search are currently using or planning to use Google’s new responsive search ads (Search Engine Journal)

Social Ads

What are social ads?

Social ads consist of advertisements placed onto social media platforms that aim to connect with a desired audience. Facebook ads are the most popular form of social ads.  

How much do social ads cost?

• Facebook video ads have a low CPC at $0.55 (Social Insider)
• The average Instagram cost-per-click (CPC) is $1.23 in the US (Sprout Social)
• 5 percent of revenue should be allocated to your social advertising budget for steady growth and 12 percent should be allocated for aggressive growth (Social Media Examiner)

How effective are social ads?

• Facebook ads provide the highest return on investment (ROI) among all paid advertising channels (HubSpot)
• Social media advertising is the second biggest market in digital ads and it is expected to grow to over $252 billion in 2026 (Hootsuite)
• Google (38.6 percent) and Facebook (19.9 percent) hold the largest share of total U.S. digital ad spend (eMarketer)

Google Local Services Ads

What are Google Local Services Ads?

Google Local Services Ads are designed to attract local prospects to your business. These ads typically appear above the list of organic results, at the top of the search results page, and in areas where traditional Google Ads are generally displayed in search engines.

While LSAs are a form of paid advertisements, there are some differences between their pay-per-lead model and traditional pay-per-click. For starters, a business is only required to pay a fee per qualified lead, instead of paying each time an advertisement is clicked.  

How effective are Google Local Services Ads (LSAs)?

• Local Services ads by Google receive 13.8 percent of local SERP clicks (BrightLocal)
• According to Google, a 900 percent increase in the use of “near me/close by” searches (Think with Google)
• 76 percent of online users that search for something nearby on a smartphone typically visit a brick-and-mortar business within one day (Google)

What ranking factors are considered for Local Services Ads?

• 4 in 5 consumers want search ads to be customized to their city, zip code, or immediate surrounding (Think with Google)
• Google Local Services Ads ranking factors are determined by business hours, location, reviews, responsiveness, and the overall amount of complaints a business receives (Google)
• Local Services Ads (LSAs) require at least one Google My Business review on your profile before they can go live (Google)

How much do Google Local Services Ads cost?

• Google Local Services Ads cost around $6-$30 per lead (WordStream)
• The average monthly budget for a Google Local Services Ads campaign is $5,000 (Search Engine Journal)
• The Google Guarantee Program associated with Local Services Ads costs $50 a month (TechRadar)

Retargeting Ads

What are retargeting ads?

Retargeting ads enable businesses to circle back and market to online users that have interacted with their website, but have not yet taken the appropriate action to qualify as a conversion.

How effective are retargeting ads?

• Retargeting ads can lift engagement rates up to 400 percent (SharpSpring)
• 30 percent of consumers have a “positive” or “very positive” opinion of retargeted ads (LinkedIn)
• Customers are 70 percent more likely to purchase a product when a company utilizes retargeting (TechJury)

References

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Angie Batten

Angie leads Dagmar’s PPC team and is responsible for developing PPC strategies, mentoring team members, and ensuring we give our clients every advantage in their respective markets. She has held management positions across the digital marketing spectrum for more than 14 years.

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