Below are the average conversion rates on both search and display for the top 10 industries that spent the most on Google AdWords in Q3 2012:

Finance

Average conversion rate for the Finance Industry on Google Search: 6.12%

Average conversion rate for the Finance Industry on Google Display Network: 5.12%

Travel

Average conversion rate for the Travel Industry on Google Search: 1.45%

Average conversion rate for the Travel Industry on Google Display Network: 2.99%

Shopping

Average conversion rate for the Shopping Industry on Google Search: 3.58%

Average conversion rate for the Shopping Industry on Google Display Network: 2.19%

Jobs & Education

Average conversion rate for the Jobs & Education industry on Google Search: 6.09%

Average conversion rate for the Jobs & Education industry on Google Display Network: 2.09%

Internet & Telecom

Average conversion rate for the Internet & Telecommunications Industry on Google Search: 6.27%

Average conversion rate for the Internet & Telecommunications Industry on Google Display Network: 8.59%

Computers & Electronics

Average conversion rate for the Computers & Electronics Industry on Google Search: 4.79%

Average conversion rate for the Computers & Electronics industry on Google Display Network: 2.96%

Business & Industrial

Average conversion rate for the business & industrial industry on Google Search: 4.23%

Average conversion rate for the business & industrial industry on Google Display Network: 4.10%

Home & Garden

Average conversion rate for the Home & Garden industry on Google Search: 2.21%

Average conversion rate for the Home & Garden industry on Google Display Network: 3.43%

Autos & Vehicles

Average conversion rate on the Autos & Vehicles Industry for Google Search: 4.29%

Average conversion rate on the Autos & Vehicles industry for Google Display Network: 6.15%

Beauty & Fitness

Average conversion rate for the Beauty & Fitness industry on Google Search: 4.56%

Average conversion rate for the Beauty & Fitness industry on Google Display Network: 2.27%

Average Conversion Rates by Industry: Highlights

Here are a few interesting findings that stuck out to us about this data:

• The Internet and Telecom industry has the highest conversion rates on both search and display. Top advertisers in Internet & Telecom include AT&T, Sprint, T Mobile, Verizon and Comcast. Whether these companies are primarily using search ads to generate leads for mobile plans or whether they’re selling phones and other hardware, it appears that AdWords is working for them.
• The finance industry has the second highest average conversion rate – as well as the highest cost per click (CPC) of the bunch. Finance and insurance companies like State Farm, Geico, Quicken Loans, and Bank of America spend the most of any industry on Google search advertising and were also responsible for the highest number of complete conversions in Q3, with 1.39 million conversions through Google search and another 268K through the Display network.
• The travel industry has the lowest average conversion rate, at 1.45% on search. This could be because people tend to shop around a lot before pulling the trigger on travel purchases like plane tickets and hotel rooms. The largest advertisers in this vertical are Expedia, Hotels.com, Booking.com, Priceline and Kayak.

Check out the full infographic to see other average metrics by industry, including click-through rate (CTR), total clicks, cost per click and total conversions.

Average Cost Per Conversion on AdWords by Industry

Using the above average conversion rates as well as average cost per click data, we were able to determine the average cost per conversion on AdWords by industry as well. The average cost per conversion across all of Google is $9.41 for search and $7.26 for display.

The average cost per conversion figures for the top 10 industries in Q3 2012 are below:

Finance

Average cost per conversion for the Finance industry on Google Search: $50.49

Average cost per conversion for the Finance industry on Google Display Network: $20.12

Travel

Average cost per conversion for the Travel industry on Google Search: $20.00

Average cost per conversion for the Travel industry on Google Display Network: $9.36

Shopping

Average cost per conversion for the Shopping industry on Google Search: $6.98

Average cost per conversion for the Shopping industry on Google Display Network: $12.33

Jobs & Education

Average cost per conversion for the Jobs & Education industry on Google Search: $29.56

Average cost per conversion for the Jobs & Education industry on Google Display Network: $16.27

Internet & Telecom

Average cost per conversion for the internet and telecom industry on Google Search: $17.70

Average cost per conversion for the internet and telecom industry on Google Display Network: $4.66

Computers & Electronics

Average cost per conversion for the computers & electronics industry on Google Search:  $29.02

Average cost per conversion for the computers & electronics industry on Google Display Network: $14.86

Business & Industrial

Average cost per conversion for the business and industrial industry on Google Search: $39.48

Average cost per conversion for the business and industrial industry on Google Display Network: $23.66

Home & Garden

Average cost per conversion for the Home & Garden industry on Google Search: $34.39

Average cost per conversion for the Home & Garden industry on Google Display Network: $24.40

Autos & Vehicles

Average cost per conversion for the Autos & Vehicles industry on Google Search: $22.61

Average cost per conversion for the Autos & Vehicles industry on Google Display Network: $16.75

Beauty & Fitness

Average cost per conversion for the Beauty &  Fitness industry on Google Search: $24.34

Average cost per conversion for the Beauty &  Fitness industry on Google Display Network: $44.49

Finance once again “boasts” the highest cost per conversion, at over $50 per. Business & industrial (with large advertisers like Staples and ULINE) has the next highest cost per conversion on search at $39.48. Note that for most industries, cost per conversion is lower on the display network, but not in every case.