In the world of online advertising, it’s so easy to get lost in all of the numbers! How can you determine if you are successful? Are you performing better, worse, or on par with others in your industry? Knowing key PPC metrics with industry benchmarks can help you figure out where you stand against the industry average. But benchmarking has several benefits other than just seeing what the standard in the industry is. By observing the current standards, you can commit to better performance, prioritize areas of improvement, leverage areas of strength, all backed by data!
I dove into over 20,000 US-based WordStream client accounts who were advertising on Google’s Search and Display Networks. These accounts came from over 20 different industries, allowing you to find a similar industry. Each industry has their own benchmarks for four important metrics:
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Cost per click (CPC)
- Conversion rate (CVR)
- Cost per action (CPA)
Check out our 2021 search advertising benchmarks here.
Click-through rate (CTR)
The average click-through rate in Google Ads across all industries is 3.52% for search. Industries such as Arts & Entertainment and Travel & Tourism have a much higher CTR hovering around 9%. This makes sense—these industries have a lot more customization qualities to them!
In the opposite direction, Finance and Internet & Telecom industries have a much lower CTR. When in the industries with lower than average click-through rates there are a few practices that we recommend. We’ll be sure to dive into details here in the webinar.
Cost per click (CPC)
The average cost per click across all industries is significantly lower on display than search. CPCs usually tend to be cheaper on display than search because display is presenting ads in front of people that already meet a specific criteria, whereas search ads only activate when someone is proactively looking for something. Display ads focus more on the volume of people and search ads tend to focus more on the specific intent. Due to this, we recommend trying different kinds of display strategies together. We’ll let you know how to stack those strategies for the best results during the webinar.
Conversation rate (CVR) and cost per action (CPA)
While I can’t reveal specifics until the webinar, I can let you know why industry benchmarks are particularly useful for these two metrics. Conversion rate—more than any other metrics—fluctuates depending on industry.
Our 2019 Conversion Rate Benchmarks.
And CPAs have been shifting dramatically in the last few years. That means if you’re basing your strategy on last year’s data, or without taking into account your customer lifetime value, it’s time to revisit.
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