Google AdWords for Real Estate: New Benchmark Data to Watch in 2017
Google AdWords is a digital advertising channel used by thousands of real estate agents worldwide. The world’s most popular search engine, Google, is a powerful tool to generate online leads. Whether you’re an advanced campaigner or a beginner, some key figures on its performance are important to know.
In our latest post, we were sharing benchmark data on Facebook ads for real estate collected by the WordStream team. It’d be equally interesting to know what to expect of Google AdWords in 2017 and whether this marketing channel will pay off.
Mark Irvine and Bekah Wheeler with WordStream compiled a great set of benchmark data for various industries including real estate. Let’s see the key figures for real estate and the full post can be found here: Google AdWords Benchmarks for Your Industry [New Data].
1. GoogleAdWords for real estate: Average click-through rate
2.03% for search and 0.24% for Google Display Network (source: WordStream)
Average click-through rate shows the ratio of how many people clicked your ads after seeing them. Typically, a high CTR means you did a nice job of crafting an eye-catching and well-targeted ad.
Real estate CTRs aren’t unusually high but they show strong above average performance. For example, the highest search CTRs on AdWords are 3.40% for dating services and 2.65% for the finance industry.
At the same time, the highest Google Display Network (GDN) CTR is 0.84% for the tech industry and 0.52% for dating services.
This means you can beat real estate averages by crafting a better ad copy. As a visual industry, real estate should take every chance to capitalize on this.
2. GoogleAdWords for real estate: Average cost per click
$1.81 for search and $0.88 for GDN (source: WordStream)
Average cost per click for real estate is pretty low for both search and the Google Display Network. By the way, the average CPC for Facebook ads for real estate is exactly the same: $1.81.
To compare, the most expensive CPC for search is $5.88 for legal services! As is reported by WordStream, queries like ‘lawyer’ and ‘attorney’ are among the top most expensive keywords on Google. At the same time, the lowest CPC is $0.19 for dating services.
CPC for GDN is even lower, although this is definitely not the case with employment services with their $1.66 CTR. Agents can have some relief – the average cost per click for both search and Google Display Network isn’t extraordinarily high and so gives more freedom to play around with an advertising budget.
3. GoogleAdWords for real estate: Average conversion rates
4.40% for search and 1.49% for GDN (source: WordStream)
Just like with Facebook ads, real estate is among top performers when it comes to the average conversion rates. At the same time, Facebook is more than twice as effective in converting leads than AdWords with its 10.68% conversion rate for the real estate industry.
To compare, top CVRs for search is 7.19% for finance and insurance and 2.19% for GDN for home goods. Overall, real estate has the third highest CVR on Google Display Network.
In other words, the probability of running a successful ad campaign that will pay for itself is quite high for agents.
4. Google AdWords for real estate: Average cost per action
$41.14 for search and $59.06 for GDN (source: WordStream)
If you don’t want to pay for impressions or clicks, you can pay for specific actions your leads might take. In this case, cost per action (aka cost per acquisition) is an important metric to watch.
Typically, this figure is higher than the cost per click. That’s because a much smaller number of people will perform a desired action, for example sign up or make a purchase, as opposed to seeing or clicking your ad.
When compared to the average CPA on Facebook, which is $16.92, AdWords seems very expensive for both search and GDN. However, the highest CPAs on AdWords can run as high as $135.17 (for legal services)! At the same time, the most expensive CPA for Google Display Network is $129.69 for employment services.
While surely not among the most expensive, agents can find their CPAs adding up to the overall costs significantly.
What’s next?
It’s really good there are several digital advertising platforms to choose from. Both Google AdWords and Facebook have their strengths and weaknesses but you have the freedom to chose which one suits you better. We have just spared you the guesswork by sharing this real-life data that might inspire you to run better ad campaigns.
