Traditionally, travel advertisers including online travel agencies are among the biggest search ad spenders on Google. That business tanked last year, but ecommerce-related search advertising outperformed thanks to the supercharged digital retail environment.
We estimate that search ad spending in the US reached $61.69 billion last year, up 10.4% over 2019 but more than $2 billion short of our March 2020 forecast for the year. Despite this, search ad spending will rebound in 2021 and reach levels higher than previously expected—and it will remain on a higher trajectory throughout our forecast period.