PPC STATS YOU SHOULD KNOW IN 2021

A well-established PPC marketing strategy can position your business for greater success. That’s why we’ve compiled some of the best pay-per-click statistics in recent years to help guide your strategic decisions.

If you’ve listened to our podcast (Market It with ATMA on Spotify and Apple Podcast), you already know that consumer dynamics have shifted after more than a year of lockdowns. Businesses that didn’t have an online presence tanked, but those who did and also ran PPC campaigns were able to see the other side of the pandemic. Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is here to stay, and PPC statistics in 2021 prove it.

What is PPC?

Pay-per-click, or PPC, is a form of advertising that allows you to pay a fee to have your website on the search engine result page (SERP) when someone types in specific keywords or phrases to the search engine. The SERP will display the ads you create to direct visitors to your site, and the fee you pay is based on whether people click your ad. 

Generate Business Growth

According to a report published by eMarketer, search ad spending grew by as much as 5.9 percent in 2020. In a year where ad spending was expected to drop, PPC agency owners and PPC marketing pros have demonstrated that PPC is one of the best ways to generate business growth.

Even during this period of diminished economic activity, a powerful PPC strategy is transformative for your business because:

• It gives consistent, near-instant results.
• It’s a reliable source of good-quality leads.
• It allows greater control over your marketing spending.
• It features powerful targeting options.
• It’s measurable and optimizable.
• It works well with other digital marketing methods.

A well-established PPC marketing strategy can position your business for greater success. That’s why we’ve compiled some of the best pay-per-click statistics in recent years to help guide your strategic decisions.

General PPC Statistics 2021

The following pay-per-click stats provide insights into the general state of PPC marketing. You’ll see that these PPC stats show what the search marketing landscape looks like, how users perceive PPC ads, Google Ads click-through rate (CTR), and the overall effectiveness of a PPC management campaign.

1) Companies spent $110 billion on search advertising in 2020 (Statista, 2021).

Businesses continue to invest in PPC management and have increased their spending on PPC ads to generate revenue. This information about PPC advertising clearly demonstrates that business owners and marketers recognize the effectiveness of PPC ads.

2) PPC was ranked as one of the top three best channels for high-volume leads (Formstack, 2020).

In its study, Formstack asked how marketers were currently driving leads. PPC ranked third (17 percent) behind on-page website conversions (24 percent) and email marketing (18 percent) as the best sources of high-volume leads.

3) Seventy-seven percent of online users say they can easily recognize paid search ads (Clutch, 2018).

Why is this piece of PPC info relevant, you ask? Well, people have developed an aversion to online advertising, finding it too disruptive and “salesy.” This is predominantly because of invasive traditional advertising and sketchy online advertising techniques used by other marketers.

4) On average, PPC ads have a clickthrough rate of 11.38 percent (Sparktoro, 2019).

The clickthrough rate (CTR) for ads occupying different spots in search results may differ, but a properly optimized ad can expect an average CTR of about 11 percent. This is by no means the maximum CTR but is helpful as a benchmark for determining the success of your campaigns.

5) Thirty-three percent of surveyed users say they click on paid search ads because they directly answered their search queries (Clutch, 2018).

Users trust results that speak out to them and attempt to solve their pain points. In a survey of 506 respondents, 75 percent said they click on ads that make it easier for them to find the information they’re looking for. This highlights the importance of creating ads that address users’ queries or are relevant to them to attract their attention and earn a click-through.

Wrap Up

We wanted to show you the importance of getting in front of your target audience with these stats. If you are not taking advantage of PPC, come talk to a digital advertising expert at Advent Trinity Marketing Agency — we’ll get you results.

By Leslie Radford