If you’re looking to invest in Google Ads, getting the best possible return for your business matters most. That comes down to having the right Adwords management strategy in place. Here are the key Google Ads benchmarks worth focusing on when building your Google Ads campaigns.
The PPC metrics that matter
When building a Google Ads campaign, one of the biggest decisions is which benchmarks to actually track. Between CTR benchmarks and ad spend benchmarks, there’s no shortage of options. Here are the four most important ones to keep an eye on:
- Average Click-Through Rates
- Average Cost-Per-Click
- Average Conversion Rate
- Average Cost-Per-Action
Why Google Ads benchmarks and PPC statistics are important
Put simply, understanding key PPC metrics and industry benchmarks, and knowing how to actually interpret them, lets advertisers and agencies see how they stack up against competitors. You’re probably aiming for the highest CTRs and conversion rates you can get, but what counts as “good” varies quite a bit from industry to industry.
All about CTR (click-through rate)
Average CTRs across industries
Click-through rate (CTR) tells you how many people clicked your ad after seeing it. If 100 people viewed your ad and 10 clicked through, your CTR sits at 10%. Right now, the average CTR across all industries is 3.17% for search and 0.17% for display. Some sectors run well above that, personal services and dating, for instance, see a CTR around 6.05%, while technology sits much lower at just over 2%.
What is considered a good CTR?
As you can probably guess, what counts as a good CTR depends heavily on your industry. Knowing the average for your specific sector is what lets you set a realistic benchmark for your own campaigns.
All about CPC (cost-per-click)
Every time someone clicks your ad, you pay a small amount for that click. This benchmark matters because it lets you cap how much you’re willing to spend per click, since a great CTR doesn’t mean much if each click costs you a fortune. The average CPC for Google Ads currently sits at $2.69 for search and $0.63 for display. That said, what you actually pay depends on how competitive your keywords are and how strong your ad copy is.
Conversion rates in Google Ads
Turning visitors into actual customers is the whole point of a good conversion rate. Worth noting, conversions mean different things depending on your industry. Some ecommerce sites count a conversion as a completed sale through the ad, while other industries might count an enquiry or a booked appointment instead. The average conversion rate across all industries sits at 3.75%, though plenty of industries sit well above or below that number.
All about CPA (cost-per-action)
CPA is the last benchmark worth covering here. It refers to how much you spend to acquire a single paying customer, and it’s arguably the clearest measure of how well your campaign is actually performing, since it tells you the real return your spend is generating. The average CPA across all sectors sits at $48.96 for search and $75.51 for display, though some industries will run considerably higher depending on what you’re actually selling.
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