Infographic: Retailers Were Second-Largest Source of Google Ad Revenue in 2011

A new infographic released by search marketing software provider WordStream looks at the breakdown of industries that account for the 96 percent of Google’s revenue that comes from keyword advertising. While the finance and insurance industry took the top spot, spending $4.0 billion annually on Google ads, retailers and general merchandise companies (including small local business owners) came in second, with $2.8 billion in spending.

WordStream founder and CTO Larry Kim, who compiled the data, said in a release that the results indicated that certain sectors saw particular value from pay-per-click advertising, and that it is “especially effective for businesses that … provide goods or services that people aren’t sure where to get (the stuff you used to look up in the yellow pages).”  He also projected that local search and mobile search would be big growth areas for AdWords in the coming year.