The Retailers & General Merchandise industry was #2 among the industries that spent the most on Google AdWords in 2011, according to research by SEM software and PPC service firm Wordstream. Finance & Insurance and Travel & Tourism were the #1 and #3 top spenders, respectively.

Larry Kim of Wordstream analyzed Google AdWords spending to see which industries and companies spent the most on Google advertising last year. Kim created an infographic listing the results of his research and also published some insights into what he believes his findings mean for the U.S. economy in his report, What Industries Contributed to Google’s $37.9 Billion in 2011 Revenues?

In his report, Kim offered an analysis of commonly used keywords and their corresponding cost-per-click, viewable in the infographic. Below is a listing of the industries and amounts spent by the top ten big advertising spenders.

1. Finance & Insurance – $4.0 Billion
2. Retailers & General Merchandise – $2.8 Billion
3. Travel & Tourism – $2.4 Billion
4. Jobs & Education – $2.2 Billion
5. Home & Garden − $2.1 Billion
6. Computer & Consumer Electronics – $2.0 Billion
7. Vehicles – $2.0 Billion
8. Internet & Telecommunications – $1.7 Billion
9. Business & Industrial – $1.6 Billion
10. Occasions & Gifts – $1.2 Billion

Advertising revenue from the above ten industries accounted for 60 percent of Google’s $37.9 billion 2011 revenue, while the remaining $14.4 billion came from other industries.

Retailers & General Merchandise Industry

In the retail industry, Amazon.com led the pack at $55.2 million spent on AdWords in 2011, with eBay ($42.8 million), Macy’s ($35.6 million), Sears ($34.3 million and JCPenney ($30.9 million) following. Commonly used keywords and cost-per-click are shown on the infographic.

Analysis of U.S. Economy Based on Google Ad Revnue

Kim made some conclusions about the economy based on Google AdWords spending. His reasoning is that we can learn a lot from Google’s 3 million advertisers and 2 billion daily queries. Among his conclusions:

1. Concerns of Occupy Wall Street are legitimate since the finance and insurance industries were the biggest spenders despite the financial meltdown. They wouldn’t be spending big if they weren’t making money by acquiring new customers with PPC ads.

2. Consumers are spending despite the weak economy and high unemployment. While Kim did not mention the disparity between the poor, middle class and rich, I suspect that is a factor, with the affluent doing the majority of the spending.

3. High unemployment has created opportunities for education and training. Unemployment continues to remain high, prompting people to get retraining or college degrees. That has created a boon for online universities and schools. However, there have been complaints on misleading ads that do not result in jobs.

4. Home & Garden ads beat Real Estate ads since the housing recovery has been slow. That means more people are spending money fixing up their homes and gardens rather than buy a new home.

5. Business and industrial spending was soft compared to other industries and based on the industry’s GDP. It appears corporations are holding back and are slow to invest. While this is typical of a recession, it does not help the slowly recovering economy.

Based on his research, Kim predicts the U.S. economy “will be OK in 2012.” Let’s hope he’s right, and that businesses starts hiring, investing and flourishing in 2012.