Google's Share of the Search Advertising Market Increased in 2016

Google’s Share of the Search Advertising Market Increased in 2016

By: Rank Media
Google's Share of the Search Advertising Market Increased in 2016

When it comes to search engine advertising, there is no doubt that Google AdWords remains the preferred choice among media buyers and small businesses alike. The wide reach available within the Google environment provides a rich amount of targeting for any type of business. A recent report by eMarketer corroborates the notion of Google AdWords being popular among media buyers, as the search engine giant generated $24.60 billion in revenue from search advertising in 2016, dominating the United States market.

$24.60 billion.

That figure represents over 75% of the market, with Microsoft, Yahoo!, Yelp, Amazon, and others splitting the other quarter of the pie. The full breakdown is as follows:

Search Advertising Market
That’s a lot of clicks on poorly written ads. Need help with ad copy? We can help. 😉

Interestingly enough, forecasts show that Google’s stranglehold on the search advertising market will only continue to grow in the coming years, which makes sense as smartphone usage continues to increase on a year-by-year basis. With users turning to their smartphones to look for information locally, Google will only continue to capture more of the search market share from their main competitors via its mobile apps (Google Chrome, Google, Google Maps) on various Android and Apple devices. Unfortunately, this is a portent for Microsoft, Yelp, and AOL, all of which will see a decrease in market share in the coming years.

Another key reason why Google continues to see an increase in search revenues is the myriad of advertising formats available to businesses. For example, you can launch the following type of campaigns within Google’s search network depending on your core product and target market:

  • Regular all-features campaigns, ripe with ad extensions that can help increase your click-through rate.
  • Call-only campaigns built to capture only inbound calls, potentially increasing your click-through rate and eliminating extra steps in the conversion funnel.
  • Shopping campaigns for small and massive retailers alike, which can push traffic to ecommerce websites or local storefronts.
  • Mobile campaigns focused on generating app downloads, allowing new businesses to get their app downloaded by users around the world.

Of course, many of these campaigns can be replicated within the Bing Ads platform (it’s as simple as clicking the “import from Google AdWords” button), but the potential traffic on mobile devices on Bing pales in comparison to that of Google.

While Microsoft, Yelp, and AOL are expected to see a decrease in coming years, Amazon is expected to capture a greater share of the market in the near future. Amazon, also known as “The Everything Store”, continues to pull a good amount of traffic away from Google when it comes to product-based searches. The growth of Amazon’s advertising platform will also encourage more advertisers to hop on board, using sponsored products ads and other advertising formats to capture more traffic and generate sales.

If you haven’t already utilized Google AdWords within your marketing strategy, it might be time to hop aboard the train and propel your business to the forefront. What’s there not to like about getting more conversions and making more money?