![University of Phoenix, Ask.com Are Google's Biggest Advertisers [STUDY]](https://helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/archives/04690gszn2AlBqaYzN6FK2m/hero-image.fill.size_1248x702.v1647021591.jpg)
As an industry, finance may be the biggest spender on Google search, but it's the University of Phoenix, the largest for-profit college in the U.S., which is Google's single biggest paid search client.
According to a search marketing firm WordStream, the university spent an average of $200,000 per day advertising its on-site and online coursework with Google, making it the search giant's number-one customer in its third quarter.
The University of Phoenix could not be reached to confirm those figures.
Ask.com, Amazon.com, Zappos.com Hotels.com and Geico rounded out the top five. The study was based off of data from 2,600 AdWords accounts, representing $250 million in annualized spending. (For more on WordStream's methodology, see here.)
Collectively, Google makes $100 million per day on advertising served through its Paid Search and Display Network products. Facebook, by comparison, generates around $21 million in advertising revenue per day, $3 million of which is from ads running on mobile devices.
Average cost-per-clicks (CPCs) declined significantly in the third quarter -- down 16.5% for Google Search, and 18.2% for Google's Display Network -- while click-through rates declined 12.4% for Google Search and increased 13.8% for Google Display. The total number of impression and clicks were up considerably: 21.6% for Google Search, and 29.1% for Google Display, which more than made up for declines in CPC pricing.
For advertisers, the decline in CPC rates is a very good thing: They can now get more click-throughs for less money.
The study found that CPC rates were still most expensive for advertisers in the financial industry, which averaged $3.09 per click for search and $1 per click for display. Jobs and education commanded the second-highest CPC rate, at $1.80.
Shopping, with a CPC rate of $0.25, enjoyed the highest click-through rate for search: 5.23% of impressions lead to a click, compared to 0.23% for display. Jobs and education garner the least for search, at 1.72%. Internet and telecom companies enjoy the highest conversion rate for both search and display at 6.27% and 8.59%, respectively. Travel has the lowest conversion rate for search at 1.45%.
Those stats and more are made visible in the infographic below.
