Paid Search Growth and Budget Increases Expected for Mobile in 2013

According to research from a recent Search Agency study, 23.4% of paid search clicks came from mobile in Q4 of 2012. An article from eMarketer, which highlighted the key findings of the study, expects mobile paid search budgets to increase 80.6% year-over-year in 2013 due to rapid consumer adoption of mobile devices and the discounted CPC.

The Search Agency study attributed the increase in mobile paid search clicks, in part, to the fact that advertisers pay less per click on mobile devices. In Q4 of 2012, CPC on desktop computers cost marketers $0.64, whereas tablet CPC was $0.50 and smartphones were at $0.30. Tablets saw the most significant growth YoY with 9.8% of all mobile paid clicks, a 56% increase from Q4 of 2011. CPC on mobile has been at a discounted price in order to attract marketers to invest budgets in a mobile paid search campaign, reported Search Agency. As more marketers create mobile optimized landing pages and websites, Search Agency expects the discounted CPC of mobile will gradually decrease.

The growing mobile presence provides several opportunities for marketers to further expand reach but, according to an article from BtoB, there will be hurdles to overcome. A Marin Software study indicated that “it will become more challenging this year for marketers to separately devise and analyze search campaigns by device because of Google’s restructuring of its AdWords paid-search service, removing the ability to have specific mobile, tablet or desktop-targeted programs.”

eMarketer expects marketers’ “appetite” for mobile paid search to only get stronger in coming years. Despite the expected decrease in current CPC discounts, the audience presence on mobile is too significant for marketers to ignore.

Source : Komarketing Associates