25 Fast Facts About Google Ads

1. Google was launched in 2000, with pricing based on a flat CPM (cost per impression model). It was relaunched under an auction model in 2002. (Search Engine History)
2. An 18-year-old college dropout named Scott Banister is credited with the brilliant, multi-billion-dollar idea of pay-for-placement search listings, an idea later brought to fruition by Bill Gross at IdeaLab. (TechCrunch)
3. About 97% of Google’s total revenues come from advertising. (Google Investor Relations)
4. Businesses make an average of $2 in revenue for every $1 they spend on Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords). (Google Economic Impact Report)
5. As of Spring 2011, Google had over 1.2 million businesses advertising on its search network. (AdGooRoo via Perry Marshall)
6. The average click-through rate for an ad in the first position is 7.94%. (AccuraCast)
7. Ads in the top position have been observed to get 10 times as many clicks as side-position ads. (Practical Ecommerce)
8. In Q2 of 2012, Google’s revenues rose 35% to $12.21 billion. In the same quarter, aggregate paid clicks went up by 42%. (Business Insider)
9. Google dominates mobile search advertising, taking 97% of mobile search spend. (Search Engine Land)
10. In 2011, Google search and advertising tools generated $80 billion in economic activity across the U.S. (Google Economic Impact Report)
11. The finance and insurance industry spent $4 billion on Google Ads in 2011. (Search Engine Watch)
12. Finance and insurance related keywords are among the most expensive in Google Ads, with some demanding costs per click (CPCs) over $50. (The 20 Most Expensive Keywords in AdWords)
13. Amazon spent an estimated $55.2 million on Google Ads advertising in 2011. (Breaking Down Google’s 2011 Revenues)
14. 89% of the traffic generated by search ads is not replaced by organic clicks when ads are paused. (Google Research)
15. For high commercial intent search queries, the top three ad spots take about 40% of the clicks on the page. (The War on Free Clicks)
16. If there is no right-hand column, almost half of people (45.5%) can’t tell the difference between organic and paid search results. (SEO Book)
17. AdWords advertisers can now target by Congressional District. (Google Politics)
18. Google owns the world’s largest online display advertising network, with properties including YouTube, Gmail, and Blogger. (comScore)
19. The Google Display Network serves 180 billion impressions each month (about 6 billion a day!). (comScore)
20. Google display campaigns reach 80% of global internet users. (Google Benchmarks and Insights)
21. According to Google, “99% of our top 1,000 clients are now running campaigns on the Google Display Network and YouTube.” (Google Benchmarks and Insights)
22. The average click-through rate of an ad on the Google Display Network is 0.4% — four times as high as the average banner ad in the US and almost ten times as high as a Facebook ad. (Facebook vs. Google Display Network)
23. Consumers exposed to display ads are, on average, 155% more likely to search for brand- and segment-specific terms. (Specific Media)
24. Yankee Candle Company reports that remarketing allowed it to increase conversion rates by 600% while cutting cost per conversion in half. (Google Ads Blog)
25. According to Google, campaigns that use the Conversion Optimizer achieve a 21% increase in conversions while decreasing CPA by 14% on average. (Google Conversion Optimizer)

For more Google facts, check out our list of 26 things you probably didn’t know about Google and our history of AdWords! See also our list of Facebook facts you didn’t know.