Retailers tripled the percentage of their search advertising budgets devoted to mobile users in the fourth quarter, according to IgnitionOne, a leading digital marketing firm which manages more than $1 billion in online advertising.
The firm estimates U.S. Mobile search ad impressions and spending rose 317 and 269 percent respectively in the fourth quarter compared to a year earlier. U.S. mobile search ad spend accounted for 14.2 percent of total paid search budgets among retailers using IgnitionOne, compared to 5.2 percent last year. Mobile’s share of retailers paid search advertising spiked at 24 percent on Black Friday.
That growth occurred during a record quarter for U.S. paid search advertising, which continues to be fueled by retailers. Search advertising spending among retailers rose 26 percent year over year (YoY) in the fourth quarter, compared to a 22 percent overall growth rate. Impressions correlated with that retailer spending rose 42 percent YoY, while clicks increased 42 percent and transactions rose 67 percent.
IgnitionOne data show U.S. search costs (CPCs) declined 2.3 percent from the third quarter and 8.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010. This trend benefits marketers as clicks cost less while monetizing at the same rate.
In Europe, spending on search advertising increased 14 percent, clicks increased 22 percent and click-through rate (CTR) increased 19 percent. While that lagged U.S. growth, it shows that the deceleration in search spend in Europe in the third quarter did not carry over into Q4.
IgnitionOne estimates Google’s share of the U.S. search market remained stable at 81.8 percent, while Yahoo and Bing commanded 18.2 percent.
