Top 20 Most Expensive Keywords in Google Adwords Advertising

How Does Google Make Its Money: The 20 Most Expensive Keywords in Google AdWords.On the heels of Google’s blow-out Q2 2011 earnings announcement last week, we wanted to find out the most expensive keywords – what keywords demand the highest costs per click and are most competitive in terms of high search volume.

Since the vast majority of Google’s profits come from AdWords advertising, these high CPC keyword categories are responsible for a large part of Google’s profits.

97% of Google’s revenue comes from advertising. A recent study by WordStream revealed that Google generated total revenue of $33.3 billion between quarter3-2010 to quarter2-2011 of which $32.2 billion came from advertising. Google Adwords happens to be the biggest source of profits for Google. There are millions of keywords and millions of advertisers bidding on them.

Top 10 Most Expensive Google Keywords

• Insurance
• Loans
• Mortgage
• Attorney
• Credit
• Lawyer
• Donate
• Degree
• Hosting
• Claim

You’ll notice that these top ten most expensive AdWords keywords deal primarily with financing and industries that manage vast sums of money. The fact that the educational keyword “degree” is one of the top ten most expensive Google keywords, right up with lawyers and credit, reminds us of the growing cost of education.

To know what keywords demand the highest costs per click(CPC) and are most competitive in terms of high search volume WordStream did a research using data from its own keyword database, as well as the Google Keyword Tool and have come up with a list keywords.

Let’s go through the top 20 most expensive keywords in Google Adwords advertising that will help you determine where Google is making its billions from.

1. Insurance
Top CPC: $54.91

2. Loans
Top CPC: $44.28

3. Mortgage
Top CPC: $47.12

4. Attomey
Top CPC: $47.07

5. Credit
Top CPC: $36.06

6. Lawyer
Top CPC: $42.51

7. Donate
Top CPC: $42.02

8. Degree
Top CPC: $40.61

9. Hosting
Top CPC: $31.91

10. Claim
Top CPC: $45.51

11. Conference Call
Top CPC: $42.05

12. Trading
Top CPC: $33.19

13. Software
Top CPC: $35.29

14. Recovery
Top CPC: $42.03

15. Transfer
Top CPC: $29.86

16. Gas/Electricity
Top CPC: $54.62

17. Classes
Top CPC: $35.04

18. Rehab.
Top CPC $33.59

19. Treatment
Top CPC $37.18

20. Cord Blood
Top CPC $27.80

Well! These were the top twenty keywords that make up the most competitive terms and CPCs. We do not recommend including such keywords in your ad campaigns, especially if you have just started your business. However, if you are still sure enough that you will get good results bidding on such keywords for your business then, you can anyway go ahead. Just keep a few things in mind such as

• Specific targeting is always safe

• Targeting only 3-5 keywords initially is a good idea

• Use of negative keywords to eliminate keywords that aren’t relevant to your business helps you stay away from useless clicks

• Breaking up large keyword lists into smaller or say more targeted lists will save you from paying for useless clicks.

• Testing various offers to perk up conversions with landing page optimization helps you achieve a better ROI.