San Francisco — Google’s revenue continues to grow year-on-year, but following the “disappointing” earnings announcement over the weekend the company reportedly generated a whopping $37.9 billion in revenue during 2011, a 29% increase compared with the previous year. But, according to a recent research conducted by WordStream Inc., a provider of search marketing software, today released an infographic that describes the top 10 industries that contributed the most to Google AdWords advertising in 2011, contributing 96% of Google’s overall revenue.
Although the company intensified its spending on sales and marketing by 62% compared with the previous year to $4.5 billion, revenue from advertising on Google-owned sites increased 34% to $26.1 billion for the year, but the money Google makes on each of these clicks, or cost-per-click, fell eight percent.
However, Google recorded $9.7 billion in net income, up 14% compared with its 2010 net income. But, industry analysts are deeply contemplating on the most disappointing quarterly results in over three years since Larry Page took over as Chief Operating Officer.
“There are so many opportunities for Google today. But to make a real impact in the world, we need to make hard choices about where to focus our efforts,” Google’s chief executive, Larry Page, said in a call discussing the results. He cited Android, Chrome, Gmail, YouTube and display advertising as areas where Google has done well.
According to WordStream Founder and Chief Technology Officer Larry Kim, who compiled the research, maintains that the results summarized in the infographic below reveals the top 10 industries that hugely contributed to Google’s AdWords in 2011. More so, the graph also indicates that particular industries derive tremendous benefit from PPC.
Take a peek at Google earnings infographic for the complete results of WordStream’s analysis, including the top five advertisers and common keywords from each industry sector.
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Click to enlarge… Image Credit: (WordStream.com)
“If your business operates in any of these industries, there is immense potential for you here.” Kim said that pay-per-click advertising is especially effective for businesses that: Provide goods or services that people aren’t sure where to get (the stuff you used to look up in the yellow pages)
Because Google ads are fractionally priced on demand, a growth in the amount of ads usually reduces cost-per-click, Google’s senior vice president of ads, Susan Wojcicki, said. A combination of fluctuating foreign exchange values and the fact that many of the additional paid clicks occurred on cheaper advert venues, such as those served to mobile devices, caused the fall, she said.
So, if you are already advertising on Google and would like enhance further, get a free, instant audit of your AdWords account with the AdWords Performance Grader. It evaluates how well your account adheres to best practices and compares your performance to other advertisers with similar budgets.
Lastly, from what I can see, a billion people are doing a billion searches on Google every day, looking to buy stuff, financial products, or to improve their skills. So while I’m no economist, my own prediction is that the US economy will be OK in 2012, stated Kim.