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Google Bringing In More Than $100 Million Per Day Via AdWords

Pamela Parker on October 25, 2012 at 1:55 pm

Though investors seemed disappointed by Google’s third-quarter numbers, its core AdWords business is going like gangbusters, according to a new study by WordStream. The software company found Google earning $100 million a day through AdWords in Q3, serving 5.5 billion impressions per day on search pages and 25.6 billion impressions per day on the Google Display Network.

With $10.86 billion in ad revenue last quarter, we know that Google is making $121 million per day from ads. That’s simple division and similar to Google’s previous two quarters. But WordStream’s focus on the $100 million figure is part of a bundle of statistics trying to break down how that money is earned.

WordStream came to its conclusions after examining 2,600 accounts that ran its AdWords Grader audit tool in Q3, ranging from very small to very large across every industry and country where Google does business.

Average click-through rate (CTR) in Q3 on Google search came in at 3.5 percent, meaning advertisers paid for 192 million clicks daily. On the display network, CTR was only 0.18 percent, resulting in 45.8 million clicks per day. The search figure is 12.4% lower than Q2, and the display number has risen 13.8% in the same period.

WordStream found that the average CPC on Google search was $0.53, and it was $0.35 on the display network. Both networks declined since Q2, with search dropping 16.5% and display going down 18.2%. Those numbers differ from what Google reported with its earnings. The company said aggregate CPC was down 15% year-over-year and down only 3% quarter-over-quarter. In fact, Google said the numbers would have been better but for unfavorable foreign exchange rates.

Based on the assumption that advertisers are optimizing for conversions, WordStream found that the average conversion rate in Q3 was 5.63% on Google Search and 4.78 percent on Google Display.

Though click-through rates and cost-per-click declined, WordStream CTO and founder Larry Kim believes gains in ad impression volume and clicks more than made up for these declines for Google — and, importantly, the lower CPCs might attract and retain more advertisers.

The top spending industries on AdWords are Finance, Travel and Shopping, WordStream found.

Top 10 Industries, And Top Companies Within Industries, Advertising On AdWords

The average CPCs for Finance were over $3 a click on the search network and more than $1 per click on the display network. Meanwhile, Shopping had the highest average click-through rate among industries, with an average CTR of 5.23%. When it comes to conversion rates, Jobs and Education (6.27%) came out on top, followed by Shopping (6.09%) and Beauty and Fitness (5.63%).

About The Author

Pamela Parker

Pamela Parker is Executive Features Editor at Marketing Land, MarTech Today and Search Engine Land. She's a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since 1998. She's a former managing editor of ClickZ, and worked on the business side helping independent publishers monetize their sites at Federated Media Publishing.