It was no surprise to marketing professionals when Google announced that keyword-level data for organic campaigns will be replaced with “not provided” in Google Analytics due to the recent trends in PPC. Google profits largely from pushing marketers from SEO to paid search advertising, and by eliminating keyword-level data  in organic reports, Google hopes to convert more users to using Adwords. Although search engine optimization is the foundation of online marketing, PPC advertising continues to become an important marketing tactic to capture leads and generate sales immediately. Some insights from a multitude of reports prepared within the industry provide some telling insights and indicate that pay-per-click spending will only continue to rise in the coming years.

Paid Search Advertising has Grown 10% the Past Year in the United States

According to research prepared by Kenshoo, year over year search advertising spend increased by 10% in Q3 2013. Additionally, it grew by 6% in the past quarter alone, indicating that the amount spent on paid search advertising will only continue to increase in the coming quarters as more advertisers attempt to identify which keywords, organic or paid, generate optimal returns for their marketing investments.

Some other interesting stats include:

• Cost-per-click averages have increased by 14% year over year, and 13% quarter over quarter.
• Click volumes have actually decreased by 3% year over year and 6 % quarter over quarter.
• Impression volume has fallen by 10% the past quarter alone compared to Q2 2013.
• This will make advertisers happy: click-through rates have increased by 4% this past quarter compared to last, and come in at an average of 1.36%.

Mobile vs. Desktop

According to the Digital Marketing Report, Q3 2013 prepared by RKG, 31% of all clicks originating from paid search advertising on Google platforms came from mobile devices, and 25% of all paid search clicks originating from Bing came from smartphones and tablets. This illustrates the power PPC marketing on mobile platforms, especially for companies that provide products and services locally.

Although mobile marketing is the main contributor to increasing the overall spend growth for paid search platforms such as Google Adwords, do not discount the importance of desktop PPC campaigns. Despite desktop’s  share of paid search spend declining, 69% of all paid clicks on Google came from non-mobile platforms, indicating that there is still a significant audience for traditional pay-per-click advertising.

Will Investing in Paid Search Advertising Help my Business?

Depending on your target market, heavily investing Google Adwords and Bing Ads campaigns might be the most effective way to generate a significant amount of leads and/or sales. A strategic PPC advertising campaign can help drive highly targeted traffic to your site, especially when are able to capture users that are past the exploratory stage and are in a “ready-to-purchase” stage.