TOP words for adsense ads How Does Google Make Its Money: The 20 Most Expensive Keywords in Google AdWords

How does Google make its money? 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. The results of our research are illustrated in an infographic of the most expensive keywords. (Click the image to enlarge the google adwords keywords infographic

The Most Expensive PPC Keywords

How does Google make money? Surprisingly, 97% comes from online pay-per-click advertising. At WordStream we can’t get enough PPC; that’s why we decided to conduct some research and find out what the most expensive keywords are in Google. Some of our results about the most popular and most expensive PPC keywords were to be expected, while some (like cord blood and mesothelioma treatment) surprised us and our readers.

Note: If you don't quite understand this infographic, consider learning more about what is Google AdWords.

Top 10 Most Expensive Google Keywords

The Top 10 Most Expensive Keywords are:

1. Insurance
2. Loans
3. Mortgage
4. Attorney
5. Credit
6. Lawyer
7. Donate
8. Degree
9. Hosting
10. 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.

The next ten most expensive keywords complete our total list, resulting the top 20 most expensive AdWords keywords:

11. Conference Call
12. Trading
13. Software
14. Recovery
15. Transfer
16. Gas/Electricity
17. Classes
18. Rehab
19. Treatment
20. Cord Blood

There you have it – the highest cost keywords. If you are considering entering into one of these industries, be ready to pay high klick rates for the top keywords. While some may start treatment facilities for the greater good, be aware that you’ll wind up in one of the most expensive niche groups, and your paid search marketing wallet will suffer from those high CPCs.

The most expensive SEM keywords may be frustrating for those in the industries, but they are the  best key for Google, who makes 97% of revenue from advertising on Google sites (AdWords, AdSense). In the last four quarters, the biggest player of search engine historybrought in $32.2 billion in total advertising revenue.