Learn B2B SaaS Marketing

B2B SaaS Google Ads Stats & Benchmarks for 2024

by 

Lauren O'Bryan

Last updated: July 18th, 2024

With 2024 unfolding, it’s time to look at some B2B Google ads benchmarks that will define success in the B2B SaaS space. These key stats will also help you demonstrate the value of your campaigns to marketing leadership so you can secure that extra marketing budget.

Let’s start with some statistics to encourage investment in PPC campaigns.

Why Invest in PPC?

Here are the most compelling statistics that can support your case.

• 98% of global consumers shop online, which includes researching a product online before deciding to buy.
• Of all high-intent searches, 65% result in an ad click.
• Brand awareness increased by 33% from paid advertising.
• Traffic coming from PPC campaigns converts 50% better than organic traffic.
• 65% of small to medium-sized businesses have a PPC campaign.
• Search ad spending is growing; it’s estimated that $190.5 billion will be spent in the US alone in 2024.
• 68% of search ad clicks come from mobile devices; in 2022 there were 5.4 billion unique mobile users and this number is expected to rise to 6.3 billion by 2030.
• Including a personalized PPC landing page can make campaigns 5% more effective.
• 52% of online shoppers are highly likely to call the business after clicking on a paid ad online.
• 75% of people believe that paid ads make it easier to find what they want online.
• 26% of people will click on a paid ad if it mentions a brand they are already familiar with.

Why Google Ads Is The Place to Advertise

Now, let’s go over some stats that explain why investing in Google Ads specifically is a good idea.

• Google holds over 83% of the market share as a PPC advertising platform.
• Unsurprisingly, Google Ads make up over 70% of Google’s total annual revenue.
• 51% of Google users are male and the majority (over 28%) of searches come from the US.
• Of all online searches from a desktop, 80% come from Google.
• 96.55% of all sites online get no search traffic from Google.
• In 2022, Google removed over 5.2 billion ads that breached their advertising policies designed to keep users safe.
• The Google Display Network reaches over 90% of all internet users.
• Google Display ads appear on over 650,000 apps.
• In 2023, Google Adsense distributed $10 billion to its publishers.
• Google Ads have the potential to be a highly valuable advertising platform, with an average ROAS of 200%.
• Over 68% of people don’t recognize a paid ad, but the 25% that do say they choose not to click on the ad.
• Over 80% of marketers use Facebook ads in conjunction with Google ads.
• When asked which platform their audience is likely to engage with, 52.27% of marketers said Facebook and 45.45% said Google. However, Google was better for users with purchase intent.
• Including an emoji in Google Ads can result in a 3% increase in CTR.
• 43% of advertisers say they use Google Ads for lead generation, while 30% use Google Ads to encourage direct sales.
• Over 70% opt for Google search ads over display ads, because search ads are better at generating leads and sales.
• When setting an ad bid, more than 25% of advertisers prioritize target cost per acquisition.
• Users who see a remarketing ad are 70% more likely to convert.
• Google recommends that marketers spend at least an average of 30 minutes per week adjusting their Google Ads campaigns.
• Only 10% of advertisers optimize their Google ads weekly as recommended.
• A search result in #1 position on Google has an average CTR of 27.6%.
• After a Google search, the average user takes 14.6 seconds to click on a link.
• Paid ads positioned as the number one result in SERPs claim over 27% of clicks; in contrast, only 0.63% of users clicked on anything on the second page.
• Google dominates mobile advertising, driving 95% of all mobile paid search ad clicks.
• A user’s search activity increases by 155% after seeing a display ad.
• 70% of customers will call a business directly from the Google Search page.
• Responsive search ads have the best CTR compared to video ads and shopping ads.
• 91% of businesses are using video as a marketing tool.
• Over 15% of SERPs contain images, but over 56% include reviews (featured snippets).
• 79% of advertisers surveyed use Google Smart Bidding and over 50% say they choose this option because it saves them time.
• The majority of advertisers (over 50%) only track 3 – 5 metrics in their KPI dashboard.
• The top metrics marketers are monitoring with ad campaigns are CTR, CPC, CPL, CPA, and conversions.
• In a survey of around 1.5k marketers, Google Ads and Facebook Ads came out as the top two favorite platforms for digital advertising with the highest ROAS.
• The top 3 tactics used by marketers to improve CTR for Google Ads are reviewing keywords (23.53%), improving copy (19.61%), and headline optimization (17.65%).
• Marketers manage ad spending by setting a daily or monthly budget or adjusting bids for different keywords and ad groups as needed.
• Title tags that contain between 40 and 60 characters have the highest CTR.
• URLs that contain a keyword or similar terms have a 45% higher click-through rate compared to URLs that don’t contain a keyword.
• Over 94% of search queries are long-tail keywords.
• Most marketers prioritize high-intent keywords, followed by branded keywords.
• The legal industry tops the most searched keywords and the most expensive keywords by CPC, with the keyword “motorcycle injury lawyer” costing over $200 per click.
• Including a positive sentiment in your ad title may improve the CTR by as much as 4%.

What 2024 Will Bring for Google Ads

The digital advertising space will continue to evolve and keep marketers on their toes in 2024. The forecast looks good, so here are some Google Ads stats and predictions that prove it.

• 2024 Google Ads revenue is expected to hit $81 billion in the US, up from $44 billion in 2020.
• According to a survey done by Taradel, 94% of small businesses plan to increase their marketing spend in 2024.
• 87% of CMOs agree that AI has a place in the future of advertising and marketing.
• Google is planning to include more AI-powered advertising features, just like the recently introduced Google Gemini, which includes semi-autonomous ad creation, enhanced customer targeting, and other predictive improvements.
• By Q3 2024, Google will have phased out third-party cookies entirely, leaving advertisers to rely on first-party data.
• Responsive search ads will continue to develop and become more sophisticated with AI learning, making this an increasingly hands-off system.
• Video advertising will grow due to being more engaging and attention-grabbing, but also because of the rise of video platforms like YouTube and TikTok.
• Google ads will soon introduce augmented reality and 360° product previews.

B2B Google Ads Benchmarks to Work By

The average B2B Google Ads benchmarks to base your KPIs around will vary significantly depending on your specific industry. However, here’s a generalized starting point to give you an idea.

Note: These are statistics for B2B in general. If you would like to learn more about the benchmark results we see for a B2B SaaS like yours, reach out for your Free Marketing Plan.

• In general, businesses can expect an 8:1 ROI from Google Ads.
• The average Google Ads CPC is $4.22.
• The average CPM for B2B SaaS is $50.60.
• The average number of impressions for B2B businesses in 2023 was over 31,000.
• The average CPL for Google Ads is now $53.52.
• The average B2B CTR is 2.41% for search ads and 0.46% for display ads.
• In September 2023, the median number of ad clicks for B2B was over 1,000 and the CTR was 4.5%.
• Across all industries, the average conversion rate is 7.04%.
• The average Google Ads budget varies significantly from business to business, but Wordstream found the average small business spends between $9,000 and $10,000 a month.
• The recommended daily budget for Google Ads is between $10 and $50.

Expert Advice to Scale Your Google Ads Campaigns

A common mistake SaaS businesses make with Google Ads is bidding only on high-intent, bottom-of-the-funnel keywords in the Google Search Network. This approach targets a very narrow audience and limits reach.

What Do We Recommend?

At Powered by Search, we’ve helped many B2B SaaS clients who were having trouble scaling their SaaS Google Ads campaigns. These are our top recommendations:

• Target in-market and custom intent: Use Google’s highly advanced algorithm to target users who’ve displayed behaviors indicating they are ready to make a purchase (in-market) or customize your audience segments based on a particular behavior, tools they use, or the types of websites they visit.
• Brand consideration intent: Bid on keywords that include your brand name to capture the attention of those at the top of the funnel going about buyer research. This is often considered low-hanging fruit but it’s overlooked in favor of high-intent keywords.
• Brand vs. competitor intent: Leads at the middle of the funnel are actively researching your product and comparing it to their other shortlisted options. By creating direct competitor comparison landing pages, you provide the answers users are looking for and gain control of the messaging.
• Remarket ads: Segment and retarget users who have clicked on your ad but didn’t make a purchase. These users are likely to convert, making them highly valuable. We like a technique called the “Boomerang Method.”
• Utilize the Google Display Network: Many marketers believe the GDN is too broad, however, since it reaches the eyes of over 90% of internet users, it’s too valuable to ignore. The most effective use of the GDN is with management ad placements. This allows you to be more strategic and choose which websites your ads will display on. It’s a very useful tactic to generate new leads and brand awareness.
• Using target account lists: Google’s “customer match” feature enables you to target users that match the characteristics or behaviors of those on your existing contact list. This means you can streamline your advertising and only show ads to high-value users. The more customer data you have to feed into it, the better it will work.

You Don’t Have to Do it Alone

We’ve shown some pretty compelling Google Ads stats to encourage you to invest in PPC. PPC can be a really beneficial option for businesses of all sizes, and you don’t even have to manage the campaign yourself. There is always the option to hire a B2B SaaS PPC agency.

Get in touch with us today so we can discuss how to develop and manage your next PPC campaign.