Study: Mobiles are searching, clicking

According to new data out from Marin Software brands are paying attention to mobile trends, and are now pushing more ad dollars at paid search via tablet than via smartphone (Q4 2012).

"Overall, tablets and smartphones accounted for a 22% share of paid search clicks with smartphones edging out tablets in click volume. However, advertisers invested more on tablets overall," said Matt Lawson, vice president of marketing and partnerships at Marin Software. "Due to the form factor of tablets, consumers find it easier to shop and transact, leading to higher conversion rates on tablets than smartphones and more competition for clicks. We expect the trend to continue as the number of tablets in the marketplace increases and as advertisers continue to optimize their campaigns for these devices."

Before Q4 2012, tablet search spending was below smartphone search spending; it's interesting to note that smartphone owners still outnumber tablet owners by about two to one.

Other interesting findings from the report include:

• Thanksgiving Weekend + Cyber Monday accounted for 8% of the tablet search spend for 2012
• 24% increase in click volume, 14% increase in cost-per-click 10% decrease in CTR (Q4 2012) through Google
• 25% increase in click volume, 22% CPC increase, 13% CTR increase (Q4 2012) via Yahoo/Bing

Tags: m:commerce, Marin Software, mobile marketing, mobile search, mobile trends, tablet shipping, tablet trends