What Is The Average Conversion Rate For PPC

Are you trying to find the average conversion rate for PPC?

In this post, you’ll get a breakdown of conversion rates based on different industries, networks, and devices. Don’t worry, we’ll also share a few tips that will help you improve conversion rates.

Okay, let’s get started!

Average PPC Conversion Rates By Industry

If you’re looking for an overall average across all industries then the simple answer is 3.75%, but that’s only on the Google Search Network. The Google Display Network has a much lower average coming in at only 0.77%.

I should also probably mention that mobile devices convert at a slightly lower rate. The average conversion rate in Google Ads on mobile devices is 3.48% on the search network and 0.72% on the display network.

But an overall average won’t do you much good because conversion rates fluctuate as much as 500% from one industry to the next. So to get a better idea you’ll want to break things down based on your industry.

Here’s a super helpful sheet to break it all down:

Now that you know what the average is for your industry on each network it’s time for some soul searching.

Let’s start with why you’re trying to find this information in the first place.

My guess is you want to check out the industry averages so you can decide how your Google Ads account compares. If you’re beating the average you’ll be totally happy and if your behind then you’ll set a goal to beat the average.

I can see the logic here, but what if you’re wrong and average conversion rates are totally worthless. The truth is, average conversion rates aren’t a good indicator of how you and your business are doing.

The only thing that actually matters when it comes to your business is profitability. You could have conversion rates that double the industry average, but if you’re losing money you’ll go out of business eventually.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t try to improve your conversion rates. You should always strive to improve, but with a focus on being profitable. Look at conversion rates as a way to better profitability. Most importantly, forget about comparing your company to industry averages. The goal is to always be improving, you shouldn’t stop trying to improve after you reach average.

How Do I Improve My Average Conversion Rates For PPC?

Improving an accounts average conversion rate is a never-ending process of tests and revisions. The good news is there are a few tried and true methods that will get your conversion rates up lickity-split.

1 – Optimize Your Landing Page

Post-click landing pages are where the action really happens. Your ads are only a method of driving traffic to your page, it’s the job of your landing page to convert visitors. So that’s why I recommend starting your optimization process here, with your landing page.

There isn’t necessarily one “right way” to optimize a landing page. The key to improving your landing pages is A/B testing. This allows you to try out two different variants and let the data dictate which one works best.

2 – RLSA Campaigns

Do your past website visitors convert at a higher rate than other traffic?

If they do then RLSA campaigns will be your best friend. RLSA campaigns let you bid more when a past website visitor searches for keywords in your campaign.

You can easily create an RLSA campaign by adding retargeting audiences to your existing campaigns or creating new campaigns that target past website visitors.

After you add audiences to your campaign then you can make bid adjustments on the ones that perform best.

With RLSA you can get really aggressive and start bidding on broad match keywords when targeting past visitors. This will let you cast a bigger net and make sure you don’t lose out to a competitor.

The bottom line is RLSA campaigns are going to help maximize your average conversion rate.

3 – Add Negative Keywords

Irrelevant search terms will drain your campaigns budget and sink your conversion rate.

So get rid of them by adding negative keywords. Find any search term that is costing you money and not producing results then add it as a negative keyword.

To maximize the results of adding negative keywords you’ll need to make this part of a weekly optimization routine.

4 – Run A Brand Campaign

Running a brand campaign might seem like a waste of money, but if you’re not bidding on your name, there’s a chance your competitors are. Branded campaigns will also benefit from higher conversion rates. As a result, your entire account will see a lift in its average conversion rate.

5 – Leverage Search Impression Share

Search impression share tells you how often your ads appear in search engine results.

You can leverage search impression share in your favor by increasing impression share for the campaigns with the highest conversion rates.

Start by finding high converting campaigns with low impression share percentage. Then add more budget to the campaign. This will increase impression share and get your ads to appear more often.

Campaigns that are limited by budget are missing out on conversions so increasing the budget will improve conversion rates too.

Wrapping Up Average Conversion Rate For PPC

Regardless of your industry, your conversion rates will be unique to your business. Average conversion rates like the ones listed in this article and any other article for that matter should be taken with a grain of salt. They aren’t a good indication of success and aren’t even all that accurate.

The goal of PPC campaigns is always to bring in more leads and sales.

Think about improving your conversion rates from the bottom up. If your a lead gen company improve your sales process first so you close more of the leads that come in. Then optimize your landing pages to convert more of the visitors you’re already getting. If you do these things first then you’ll get better results much faster than a top-down approach. Now when you improve your PPC campaigns it’s just the icing on top.

What’s your average conversion rate and how does it compare to the industry standard? Let us know in the comments below.