Advertisement keeps your brand popular, provides a good start for new business on the market, or gives another chance to forgotten companies. And one of the most effective advertisement types is a search advertisement. The 2024 Google Ads and Microsoft Ads benchmarks report demonstrates the development direction and further expectations from the industry.
Advertisement requires professional knowledge and skills in marketing, therefore, the specialists in this sector are highly appreciated. Considering the quality indicators, effectiveness is measured in conversion rates. The analysts compare the monthly data reviews to see the positive or negative direction of the promotion campaign.
Clients often ask for bigger results and traffic on their websites. And the most common solution for such a task is a search advertisement. It may be provided through Google Ads, Bing Ads, or any other form or system offered by big marketing companies. This is definitely considered to be one of the most resultative paid media channels. In case performance is the main purpose for the client, the search advertisement is the most perfect tool.
Microsoft and Google Ads are currently at the top rating among all the systems on the market. They demonstrate the most satisfying results via search promotion. In this article, you will find an ultimate and detailed guide to their work process and the results for businesses in completely different sectors.
The report includes:
- Search advertisement data in 2024;
- Reviews from 18 000 LOCALiQ clients from the first quarter of 2024.
Everything you need to know about Google Ads
There is no person on this planet, who would not know what Google is. This search giant has become the most popular platform, where users can find anything, earn money, get educated, and entertain themselves. Google is a multipurpose space with its own schemes and technologies.
Google Ads is the online advertising program by Google itself, which gives an opportunity to create an online promotion for traffic driving and to attract new clients of course.
The online platform provides ads with pay-per-click (PPC). Therefore, each time when a website visitor clicks the link, payment is made.
Here is the list of top benefits of the Google Ads platform, compared to others on the market.
1. Google’s massive reach
As mentioned above, Google is a business giant in the modern world. People worldwide use Google for various purposes. Google has become more than just a search system, but a brand with a confident status in the digital world. Talking more specifically, the average number of searches per year is more than 2 trillion worldwide. It is more than 5 billion searches per day.
Therefore, a massive reach is one of the first things coming to mind when it comes to Google ad its traffic.
2. Capabilities that allow for a range of targeting
The main reason for Google becoming the most popular search platform in the world is flexibility and multitasking. Business in each sector is able to find new clients, and people with any interests can find anything they need.
Counting this undoubted fact, Google provides such a promotion type as keywords. This scheme guarantees personalized advertisement in addition to a range of targeting.
3. Harness intent
Unlike promotion on social media platforms, ads on Google target users with the exact search requirements. It means that Google users come to search for something specific, and social media users use the platforms to spend time, most of the time. Therefore, if you promote your product or service on Google, it is shown to people, who are searching exactly for this.
4. Full control of your campaigns at all times
The beginning and end of the promotion campaign on Google imply minimum bureaucratic schemes and processes. Clients have an option to fully control the campaign at any moment, but of course, professional marketers can do it correctly.
5. Bring any budget to the table
Google flexibility is related not only to a variety of sectors and interests but to budget limits. The majority of prices for keywords on Google Ads are at a low level, compared to other platforms.
Without a doubt, there is an exception like the legislation sector, in which long-tail keywords may reach $1 000 per click. Find more at the link
Everything you need to know about Microsoft Ads
Microsoft Ads is another advertisement platform that plays another leading role in the global digital marketing industry. This platform is also one of the main competitors for Google Ads, but which one is better? Let us compare.
Compared to Google Ads, Microsoft Ads spreads promotions not only on the Google search platform but also on Yahoo! and Bing.
Microsoft Ads uses a pay-per-click (PPC) scheme and click-through rate (CTR) to identify how often ads should be shown. One of the main differences between Microsoft and Google Ads platforms is the option to set demographic filters for the target audience. Moreover, Microsoft Ads offers API (application programming interface) technology for easy tracking of the promotion campaign. For comfort use Microsoft Advertisement allows users to import promotion campaigns from their Google Ads accounts. It means that at any time when clients want to transport the campaign, the process will be guaranteed stressless.
Benefits of Microsoft Ads
- Full control of demographics;
- Capability to direct ads to a specific niche;
- High ROI;
- Low costs.
The lack of Google as one of the search platforms on which you can see advertisements provided by Microsoft ads does not particularly affect the number of potential clicks. Search networks such as Bing and Yahoo! have over 200 million Windows 10 users, of which 45.4 million users are search terms that Google cannot access.
Having found out all the advantages of both advertising platforms, it is worth considering the big picture in the advertising market. Namely the comparative indicators of search advertising for 2024.
Search advertising benchmarks in 2024
Datawapper cooperating with WordStream has researched the market and identified the average cost per click, cost per lead, click-through rate, and conversion rate for search ads in 23 completely different industries.
Cost per click (CPC)
The average cost per click is the measure of the price that advertisers are paying for the users to click one of their ads. Of course, click is the action depending on the competitive level of the industry and the keywords as well. The CPC is obviously different for each niche, and here are some of the CPC in Google Ads.
The lowest CPC is for Real Estate – $1.36, after which is Arts and Entertainment with its $1.51 CPC. Talking about the top CPCs among the niches, it is definitely Home and Home Improvement ($6.11). The next highest CPC belongs to Dental Services – $7.10. And the highest cost per click is for Fashion and Jewelry, which measure is $8.67.
No doubt, some external factors like COVID-19 could also affect the average CPC for several niches. Such categories as Travelling and Furniture have grown (16% and 12%). After the global lockdown was over, the demand for traveling increased, moreover, the high competition level among the operators was another significant factor.
Click-through rate (CTR)
The click-through rate is the measure of how relevant your ads are to the audience. In other words, it is the ratio of ad clicks to ad impressions. 1% of CTR means that 1 user out of 100 who see the ads click it.
Considering the average CTRs for niches, there must be noted such sectors as Arts, for which CTR is 11.43%. The Arts and Entertainment sector has the highest CTR in 2024. Travel takes second place in this top rating of CTR with its 9.19%. The Automotive niche is another popular market, which implies 8.67% of CTR.
What about the lowest CTRs in 2024? The list of the lowest ones includes Attorney and Legal services (4.24%), Home and Home Improvement (4.62%), and Business Services (5.17%).
CTR improvement is a definitely complicated process, which implies a lot of professional knowledge and skills. Considering the top tips on increasing CTR, there must be mentioned such as experimenting with an ad copy approach to see what emotions motivate the users to action the most. Moreover, targeting is another essential factor that also can provide a higher CTR for your product or service.
Conversion rate
Conversion rate is the measure of how many users after clicking your ads are doing the needed action or go on to “conversion”. It may be a purchase or becoming a lead. Conversion actions may also be filling out the form to stay tuned for further sales or registration for the free subscription plan.
Which niches have the highest conversion rate? The most active conversion is currently in the niche of Animals and Pets – 15.45%. Physicians and Surgeons is the next commercially active niche with 15.07%.
Talking about the lowest conversion rates, this rating includes Fashion (2.06%), Furniture (2.59%), and Shopping (3.07%).
Cost per lead (CPL)
Cost per lead may be also known as cost per action, cost per conversion, or cost per acquisition. This measure is calculated by dividing the total cost of a campaign by the total number of conversions.
The highest CPL in 2024 is definitely for Attorney and Legal Services ($83.10). The second highest CPL measure belongs to Career and Employment ($81.45). The furniture niche has the third highest CPL this year – $76.71.
The list of the lowest CPLs includes such niches as Animals and Pets ($17.46), Automotive services ($18.73), and Restaurants and Food ($26.58).
It is traditional to consider CPL as the more nuanced metric compared to CPC. The low cost of lead is always wanted for businesses, however, some niches with high customer values are able to afford to spend more per lead.
Conclusion
As already mentioned above, this report is based on the data from 18 364 clients of the LOCALiQ company. Thanks to this report, it is clear to see the direction of the whole search advertising industry development.
Among the main conclusions are:
1. The global pandemic influence on digital marketing is not over;
The needs and preferences of the audience change directly with the situation worldwide.
2. Most companies increase their marketing budgets;
More and more companies see how effective digital marketing is. Therefore, they are ready to spend more to attract more potential clients and increase their sales.
3. Search space keeps being competitive for the advertisers;
Search space is one of the more popular places, where users start their purchasing. They search for the needed product or service on Google or any other search platform. It is easier to type in one word, which would lead the user to the website. 89% of clients start their purchase experience from the search system.
4. The buying funnel is evolving;
According to the extremely competitive market, users have more options as well. Therefore, people search differently, compared to the previous years. Users know that the number of markets and stores is large, where the prices may be different as well. Therefore, people are ready to spend more time on research.
Read more: Top CPA networks
