Do people really click on Google Ads?

How many people click on Google Ads each day? And how many of those clicks convert? Let's calculate…

Do people really click on Google Ads?

Yes. They do.

Google (or, rather, Alphabet – its parent company) is one of the world's biggest tech brands. The Fortune Global 500 for 2023 put it in third place, with an eye-watering revenue of $283 billion.

And most of that money comes from advertising. Those clicks add up, whether they're from Google Search ads, YouTube Ads or the Google Display Network.

For netizens of a certain disposition, that may sound hard to believe. Search ads, you might think, are there to be ignored. They scroll by like trees on a train journey – a momentary distraction on the way to Organic Search Central.

But you're not like most people. Most people click on Google Ads – and we're here to prove it.

How many people click on Google Ads?

In 2023, Google made nearly $238 billion from advertising – an astonishing 84% of its total revenue for that year.

And according to a 2022 survey, 98% of businesses and agencies that advertise online use Google's advertising services. As a point of comparison, a relatively paltry 60% use Microsoft Ads.

What do these statistics tell us? They tell us that Google is an advertising titan – and an effective one at that.

Google makes lots of money from advertising. Ergo, lots of people click Google Ads.

Lots of businesses use Google Ads. Ergo, they work.

But as for exactly how many people click Google Ads… well, that's kinda tricky.

By one estimate, nearly two-thirds of users don't know the difference between Google's organic and paid search results. From that, it's easy to surmise that ads get clicks on the basis that those confused users must be clicking something.

And according to a now-deleted HubSpot report, 63% of people say they've clicked on a Google ad at some point. But that doesn't tell us how often they click on ads or how often they use Google. Some of those people may have clicked an ad once in their lives. They might even be a member of that exclusive club: the die-hard Bing user.

No. We want a nice, whole number. And to figure that out, we'd have to do some quick and dirty calculations.

Luckily for you, we've got a pen and a napkin, and we're not afraid to use them.

We know the average click-through rate (CTR) for search ads is 1.9%. This metric varies a fair bit from sector to sector – but let's stick with it for now.

And let's say the average number of ads per page of Google is three. Again, this is variable – but we're working with napkin-level maths here.

Three ads per page, each with a CTR of 1.9% – that means a 5.7% chance that any ad will be clicked on the first page of Google.

We know that Google handles about 8.5 billion searches daily. If 5.7% of users are clicking on Search ads, that means about 485 million ad clicks. Every. Single. Day.

To put that into an even more confusingly vast perspective, that adds up to around 177 billion clicks each year.

Or how about this? Let's imagine a click-powered space shuttle. Each click gives us enough energy to move one centimetre. If we powered our shuttle using Google's yearly ad clicks, we could make it to the moon and back twice.

Did we mention that lots of people click on Google Ads?

How many of those clicks convert?

We know the average conversion rate for Google Search ads. It's 4.4%.

If we use our back-of-a-napkin calculations, that works out to around 21 million conversions every day.

But if you weren't already taking our maths with a pinch of salt, you should probably reach it for now. See, that 4.4% figure is the overall average – but when you zoom in on the data, you'll see that conversion rates vary widely between industries.

For instance, the vehicle industry enjoys a whopping 7.98% average conversion rate. But fashion retailers have to put up with a relatively paltry 2.77%. Most other industries fall somewhere between three percent and five percent.

Are all Google Ads meant to be clicked?

So far, we've assumed that businesses want people to click on their Google Ads. That's what they're paying Google for, after all.

However, this isn't always the case. Some ads just aren't meant to be clicked.

The obvious example is Google Display Ads – those image-rich advertising banners you see on sites around the web. Though they can be used to drive clicks, it's not their biggest strength.

Instead, most advertisers use them to boost brand awareness and remind customers that they exist. This is especially effective if those customers have shopped for their products or services in the past.

So far, so common knowledge. However, you might be surprised to learn that the same logic can apply to Google Search ads.

Let's consider a few examples.

1. Getting in there early with brand awareness

Picture this. You run a business with a niche product offering – smart chicken coops, say.

Most of your potential customers don't know how smart chicken coops work. In fact, they don't know the first thing about rearing chickens.

So, they search for phrases like "How to look after chickens" and "Best chicken breeds for beginners".

At this stage, it's unlikely they'll be interested in your high-tech coops. They're still figuring out how this whole chicken thing works.

However, by bidding on keywords related to these research-focused queries, you can plant the seed of brand awareness. You don't necessarily want users to click on your ads at this stage. But with a little luck, your brand will be front of mind when they're eventually ready to buy a smart coop.

2. Bidding on competitor brand names

Things aren't all rosy at DigiCoop. Despite your best efforts, you just can't compete with industry giants like iHutch.

An idea strikes. Why not bid on the iHutch brand name? That way, you'll appear when users search for "iHutch" on Google.

Those users are looking for iHutch, not DigiCoop, so they probably won't click on your ad. If they do, you'll probably pay through the nose for the privilege.

But it might still be worth it. You've snagged a bit of iHutch's search real estate and put your disruptive young brand in front of its much larger audience.

3. Bidding on your own brand name

That's more like it. iHutch customers are flocking to your coops – and so are the chickens.

But there's a problem. iHutch has taken a leaf from your book and started bidding on your brand name. Now its website appears at the top of Google when customers search for DigiCoop.

There's only one thing for it – you'll have to bid on your brand name too. It's the only way to snatch that valuable search real estate back from the sneaky folk at iHutch.

Ideally, customers wouldn't click on your ad. Every click costs money, after all. But you've entered into this bidding war with iHutch, and you have to see it through.

Final thoughts

As we've seen, plenty of people click on Google Ads. Millions daily, in fact.

Moreover, there are certain circumstances where you might not want people to click on your ad.

What have we learnt? Google Ads are effective – and Google Ads are complex. The formula isn't quite as simple as "ads + clicks = profit".

And we haven't even delved into the complexities of pay-per-click optimisation. The keyword research. The A/B testing. The constant tweaking of spend, strategy and ad creative. It takes time, patience and expertise to get it right.

You might have patience and expertise in spades. But if you lack the time, you won't get the results you want.

That's where we can help. We're a small but plucky paid search company with a unique and proactive approach to Google Ads management. Thanks to our expertise, My Digital Hero clients pay 28% less per click than the UK average.* Impressive, right?

It's because we put in the time to make sure everything is as optimised as it can be. Want a slice of that time for yourself? Get in touch with our friendly experts to book a free discovery call.