Covario: Search spend up 22% for Q1 2012

In March 2012 comScore reports more than 18 billion explicit core searches were performed with most (12.2 billion) queried through Google. Microsoft accounted for 2.8 billion searches while Yahoo accounted for 2.5 billion. Bing pushed 25% of search queries. Most queries (68%) carried organic search results from Google, found researchers.

On a global scale, Covario's report found paid search spending up 22% versus Q1 2011. PPC spending increased 15% (the Americas) and more than 85% (Asia Pacific).

"Advertisers are expected to benefit from such drivers as the Summer Olympics, the U.S. presidential elections, and the European Football Championships," said Charles Gaylord, Research Analyst, Covario. "The PC industry, in particular, is poised for enormous marketing pushes on behalf of Windows 8 and a flurry of new laptops and ultrabooks."

What can marketers expect from the remainder of 2012? Steady growth, forecasts the company. PPC spending is expected to grow at a rate of 18-22% through 2012 for much of the globe while spending in the Asia Pacific region will grow at 40% rate. And, look for Google to continue outpacing most of the competition, though the Yahoo/Bing alliance now accounts for about 13% of the global market share (tech advertisers) and the Baidu engine holds 80% of the market in China.

Tags: comScore, Covario, organic search, paid search, PPC advertising, search engines, search marketing