Google continues to make headlines for privacy concerns, but it's not stopping most people from using the search platform. Here's what we found when we calculated over 3.7 billion impressions and 53 million clicks for ads on Google Search and Google Display Network in Q3. And be sure to read the Q3 2019 PPC Benchmark Report for additional ad performance trends. Check out our Benchmark Report page for the latest reports by quarter.
Google Ads Search CTR for Q3 2019 at-a-glance
In Q3 2019, we analyzed nearly 1.7 billion ad impressions and over 40 million clicks for ads on Google Search. Median CTR slid down by 18.4%. CTR remains lower than we observed in 2018, down 38.9% year over year.
Key Takeaways
- CTR increased by 18.4% since Q2 2019
- CTR decreased by 38.9% year over year since Q3 2018
Source: AdStage Inc.
Google Display Network CPC for Q3 2019 at-a-glance
In Q3 2019, we analyzed over 2 billion ad impressions and over 13 million clicks for ads on Google Display Network.
We observed median CPC slightly increase by $0.05 from last quarter, but clicks still remain considerably cheaper than last year, down 16.7% year over year.
Key Takeaways
- CPC increased by 14.3% since Q2 2019
- CPC decreased by 16.7% year over year since Q3 2018
Google ad trends Q3 2019
Keyword Planner helps prioritize keywords: Google’s been hard at work in the Keyword department, and the company hopes advertisers will be pleased. First up, Google updated its Keyword Planner tool so that it now shows the most relevant keyword ideas based on the seed keyword. The update is designed to help campaign managers prioritize which keywords to add to their Google Ads account. Pair that with this update — Google Ads will now only suggest recommended keywords if they’re estimated to drive additional traffic beyond existing keywords. Along with that update comes the news that Google Ads’ keyword recommendations can now include broad match modifiers.
Expanded close variants: Speaking of broad match modifiers, Google Ads also expanded close variants to include words that have the same meaning as the original keyword. Now, close variants can match for queries that don’t contain the keywords at all, as long as they share the same meaning.
Four new features in Editor: Image Picker: Browse and select from previously used images, or upload something from your desktop. Dark Mode: Click the moon icon in the bottom right-hand corner to make the screen a little easier on your eyes. IP Exclusions: Add and update IP exclusions, ensuring that your IP exclusion settings are consistent when copying and pasting campaigns. Accounts Manager: Manage multiple accounts with checkboxes in the accounts manager that allow campaign managers to select and open multiple accounts.
Unified app + website analytics: Google is making it easier to measure users’ interactions across platforms with unified app and website analytics. Here’s what Google had to say about the new App + Web Property Type, “Reports for this new property use a single set of consistent metrics and dimensions, making it possible to see integrated reporting across app and web like never before. Now you can answer questions like: Which marketing channel is responsible for acquiring the most new users across your different platforms?”
Gallery Ads available in beta: We previewed this in trends previously, and now it’s finally happened. Google officially launched Gallery Ads in beta. Gallery ads are a swipeable, image-based ad unit that appear at the top of search results. Much like Carousels on Facebook, they’re designed to give businesses more real estate to showcase their brand visually with the ability to include up to 8 images.
New metric for mobile performance: Us marketers know how important it is to optimize for mobile, and Google’s Relative Mobile Conversion Rate is designed to help you identify if you might be falling short. The rate reveals gaps in mobile performance and provides an accurate reflection of conversion rates over time. How can you benchmark your current performance? The blog post suggests, “Make sure you’re above 50% now – and then start going after 70% within 2019.”
Read the full Q3 2019 PPC Benchmark Report for additional ad performance trends on all the major platforms.