Mobile Trumps Desktop in Paid Search Click Share [Study]

The Search Agency released its State of Paid Search Report today to show the climate of online search advertising in Q3 2013 and year-over-year (YoY). Overall, data showed advertiser investment in paid search is up about 21 percent YoY, and mobile trumps desktop when it comes to paid clicks in both Google and Bing.

(Note: The data in this graph is represented in index form, not absolute value.)

Advertisers are spending more. Cost-per-click (CPC) is up overall on both the Google and Bing networks YoY (references to Bing include the combined search marketplace of the Yahoo-Bing search alliance).

While CPC on Google and Bing was up across all devices, the Bing marketplace saw the largest lift YoY in CPC for smartphones (25.2 percent), tablets (14.9 percent), and desktop (20.9 percent).

Driving the marketplace is click share by device, showing desktop waning YoY on both Google and Bing networks. For the first time in the State of Paid Search Report's history, data showed smartphones and tablets made up more than one-third of total clicks on Google.

Bing also showed tablet and smartphone clicks growing at the expense of desktop YoY.

Product Listing Ad spend specifically increased 27.9 percent YoY.

(Note: The data in this graph is represented in index form, not absolute value.)

And according to the report, PLA click-through rates are up 48 percent YoY, while the CPC decreased about 25 percent.

In addition, clicks on PLAs from smartphones increased dramatically YoY to a 21.4 percent share from a negligible amount in Q3 2012.

For more data, including information on paid search performance by category such as business to business, consumer services, financial services, real estate and construction, health care, retail and ecommerce, and travel and leisure, download the report here.

 Search by the NumbersSearch Revenues Hit $8.7 Billion in First Half of 2013U.S. Paid Search Spend Continues Rising in Q3 2013Product Listing Ads Click-Through Rate 21% Higher Than Text Ads [Study]

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