Website Traffic Benchmarks by Industry to Boost Your Online Presence

Understanding website traffic benchmarks is crucial for any online business, but what are the typical numbers for different industries? For example, the E-commerce industry averages around 50,000 to 100,000 sessions per month for a small online store.

A small E-commerce store can expect to have around 50,000 to 100,000 sessions per month, with an average session duration of 1-2 minutes.

In the Finance industry, a website with a moderate level of traffic can expect around 10,000 to 50,000 sessions per month, with a bounce rate of around 40-60%.

The average session duration for a Finance website is around 2-3 minutes, which is slightly longer than the E-commerce industry.

Google Ads Metrics are a crucial aspect of measuring website traffic benchmarks by industry. The average click-through rate (CTR) in Google Ads across all industries is 3.17% for search and 0.46% for display.

Dating and personal services have a surprisingly high average search CTR of 6%! This is likely due to the emotional nature of the industry, making it easy to write powerful ad copy.

The industries with the lowest average CTRs include Technology, B2B, and Consumer Services, with rates as low as 2.09% and 2.41% respectively. These industries often have more complex products or services, making it harder to grab users' attention.

The average cost per click (CPC) in Google Ads is $2.69 for search and $0.63 for display. Legal services have some of the highest CPCs, with average costs of over $6.

Here's a breakdown of average CPCs by industry:

Conversion rates are also an essential metric to track. The average conversion rate in Google Ads is highest in the Dating & Personal industry, with rates of over 9%! This is likely due to the industry's ability to offer a clear and compelling offer to users.

The average cost per action (CPA) in Google Ads is $48.96 for search and $75.51 for display. Autos have the lowest CPA, at just $33 per action.

The average monthly traffic for the aerospace and defense industry is a whopping 12,115 unique sessions. This is significantly higher than many other industries.

Some industries are growing at an incredible rate. For example, the construction industry is seeing an annual growth of 99%, with an average monthly traffic of 10,602 unique sessions.

To give you a better idea of the traffic benchmarks across different industries, here's a breakdown of the top 5 industries with the highest average monthly traffic:

These industries are seeing significant growth, with the entertainment industry experiencing an annual growth of 67%.

Organic traffic is a crucial metric for any website, and understanding the benchmarks for different industries can help you set realistic goals and track your progress.

The aerospace and defense industry has an average monthly traffic of 12,115 unique sessions. This is significantly lower than some other industries, such as entertainment, which sees an average of 31,247 unique sessions per month.

Industry average monthly traffic can vary greatly, with some seeing a 108% annual growth rate, like the biotech industry, while others see a more modest 22% growth rate, like the pharmaceutical industry.

The construction industry has seen a remarkable 99% annual growth rate in traffic, which is likely due to an increase in online searches for construction services and products. The cybersecurity industry also sees a significant 36% annual growth rate.

Here are some average monthly traffic benchmarks for different industries:

The annual growth rate of traffic can also be a useful metric for understanding industry trends. For example, the biotech industry has seen a 108% annual growth rate, while the pharmaceutical industry has seen a more modest 22% growth rate.

If you find yourself on the lower end of these numbers, that just means there's plenty of room for improvement.

CTR and conversion rates follow a last paid click attribution model.

Overall, CTRs have risen and CPCs have fallen.

Many advertisers aren't ecommerce businesses, they're looking to provide services or lead generation for their business.

Bing generally posts higher CTRs and CVRs, as well as lower CPCs and CPAs than Google.

We have additional benchmarks for Bing here and Google Mobile Benchmarks – by Ad Type.

Organic traffic and engagement are crucial for any website's success. Your engagement rate will tell you if you've correctly matched your target keywords to the right page type.

If you have a low engagement rate combined with a low session duration, it's likely that the reader is confused by the layout of the page, or the page doesn't have the right content on it. This is often a combination of both issues.

To determine if your website's UX is well designed, you'll need to combine your engagement rate with your average session duration. If you're putting sales language in front of someone who is still in the early stages of their research, a low engagement rate is probable.

On the other hand, if you have low engagement rates and visitors stay on that single page for a long time, you've succeeded in capturing their attention, but have failed to clearly indicate where on your website they should go next.

Average Click Through Rate (CTR) varies by industry, with some having much higher rates than others. Here are some average CTRs for different industries:

These rates can help you set realistic expectations for your website's performance.

Google Ads offers a range of features and tools to help you optimize your ad campaigns and improve website traffic.

The Target CPA feature allows you to set a target cost-per-acquisition and Google Ads will optimize your bids to achieve that goal.

To take your Google Ads campaigns to the next level, consider using the automated bidding strategies, which can help you reach your desired return on ad spend.

With Google Ads, you can also use the Conversion Tracking feature to monitor and measure the performance of your ads, which is essential for understanding your website traffic benchmarks by industry.

Google Ads CPC can be a crucial factor in determining the success of your ad campaigns. The average cost per click in Google Ads across all industries is $2.69 for search and $0.63 for display.

The cost of advertising can vary greatly depending on the industry. For example, legal services have some of the highest CPCs, with an average of over $6. Consumer services aren't far behind, with an average CPC of $6.40.

In contrast, advocacy and nonprofit groups have a cost per click under $2, likely due to the $2 max CPC bid Google Grant advertisers have to set on all of their keywords.

Here's a breakdown of the average CPC for different industries:

These costs have remained relatively stable over the past couple of years, with only a slight increase in display CPCs.

The average click-through rate in Google Ads across all industries is 3.17% for search and 0.46% for display. This is actually higher than it was a couple of years ago, which is good news for Ads advertisers and agencies.

Dating and personal services have a particularly high average click-through rate of 6%, likely due to the emotional nature of their ads. Other industries with high click-through rates include Advocacy, Autos, and Travel.

The Dating & Personal industry is also leading the pack when it comes to conversion rates, with an average search conversion rate of over 9%. This is significantly higher than the average click-through rate of 3.17% for all industries.

Here's a breakdown of the average conversion rates for different industries:

These numbers highlight the importance of choosing the right industry and targeting the right audience with your Google Ads campaign. By understanding the average conversion rates for different industries, you can set realistic goals and optimize your campaign for better results.

The Finance and Insurance industries used to be leaders in conversion rates, but now the Dating & Personal industry takes the top spot with an average conversion rate of over 9%. This is a significant shift in just a couple of years.

The Dating & Personal industry's high conversion rate is likely due to their willingness to experiment with different offers and conversion flows. They may also be using tactics like video landing pages to boost their conversion rates.

Ecommerce clients, on the other hand, often struggle with lower conversion rates due to their large inventories and limited options for fine-tuning ad copy.

Here are some industry insights into conversion rates:

The food niche is also a standout in terms of blog income, with a median income of $9,169 a month. This is likely due to the high demand for food-related content and the potential for monetization through ads, courses, and sponsorships.

Having a keyword show up in Google's autofill dropdown list is a clear measure of SEO success. This is because only keywords with a substantive search volume will qualify to be in a 10-item dropdown.

To be considered an autofill keyword, a term must have a high enough search volume to be predicted by Google, and it must appear in the dropdown list without needing additional typing.

A reasonable expectation for the number of transactional, autofill keywords on the first page of Google over a 5-year period is:

By the third year of an SEO campaign, the number of highly transactional, autofill keywords your site ranks for should be increasing at a much faster rate.

The food niche is a goldmine for bloggers, with a median income of $9,169 a month. This is according to a study of 803 blogs that made more than $2K a month.

The top sources of income for food bloggers are ads, courses, post sponsors, and affiliates. Ads account for 44% of the income, followed by courses at 25%.

A whopping 42.8% of food blogs studied have 50,000 monthly sessions or more. This shows that there's a huge market for food blogs.

Take Pinch of Yum, a popular food blog that started out small and grew to rake in millions of viewers per month. It's a great example of what's possible with hard work and dedication.

Pinch of Yum's success can be attributed to several factors. The couple behind the blog, Lindsay and Bjork Ostrom, care deeply about photography, recipe development, and writing. This passion shines through in their high-quality content.

Quality content is crucial for success in the food niche. According to Bjork Ostrom, spending 10 hours writing one really good blog post is better than publishing two shorter, less in-depth pieces.

Here are the top three tips for success from Pinch of Yum: