Professional Documents
Culture Documents
July 2013
www.thesearchagency.com
Contents
Introduction 3 Executive Summary 3 Research Methodology 4 Overall Trends in Paid Search 4 Trends in Paid Search By Search Engine 7 Impressions 7 Clicks 8 CTR 8 CPCs 9 CTR by Device by Search Engine 9 CPC by Device by Search Engine 10 Share Totals by Search Engine 11 Search Engine Total Share by Device 13 Summary 15 Overall Trends by Device 15 Desktop Spend 15 Tablet Spend 15 Smartphone Spend 16 Impressions 17 Clicks 19 CTR 21 CPC 21 CPC Discount by Device 22 Click Share by Device by Search Engine 23 Spend Share by Device by Search Engine 25 Summary 26 Ad Format 27 PLA Clicks 28 PLA CTR 28 PLA CPC 29 PLA Performance by Device 29 PLA CPC Discount from Desktops Tablets 30 PLA Share of Clicks and Share of Spend 30 Trends in Paid Search Analysis by Industry 31 Business Services 31 Consumer Services 34 Financial Services 37 Real Estate and Construction 40 Healthcare 43 Media and Entertainment 46 Retail/eCommerce 49 Travel and Leisure 52 About The Search Agency 56 Contact 56
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Introduction
The Search Agencys State of Paid Search Report summarizes current paid search marketing trends across search engines, devices, and industries. Our findings and forecasts are based on year-over-year (YoY) and quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) analyses on aggregated client data.
Executive Summary
Overall impressions were up 19.2% across all search engines QoQ, while overall clicks declined
7.8%.
Bing clicks were up 12.9% YoY but down 4.7% QoQ, while Google clicks were up 4.1% YoY but
down 6.7% QoQ.
Google CPCs rose 21.2% QoQ, while Bing CPCs remained relatively unchanged. Google CPCs were up across all three device types QoQ, with the largest increase coming on
tablets at 26%. Q2 marks the first quarter in which tablet CPCs on Google are at a premium to desktops, with a 1.7% difference.
Google impressions were up 10.8% YoY and 21.4% QoQ, but the search engine experienced a
dramatic drop in CTR, falling from 3.5% to 2.7% QoQ.
Overall, tablet clicks were down 8% QoQ, marking the first quarter in which click volume on tablets
has declined. Nonetheless, tablet click volume is still up 62% YoY.
Bing continued to gain traction on tablets, increasing its share of clicks from 8.7% in Q1 to 10.9% in
Q2.
Smartphones were the only device segment to show an increase in clicks in Q2 up 1.6% QoQ.
Smartphones also delivered the largest increase in advertiser spend up 25% QoQ.
Retail clicks declined 7.5% YoY. Across devices, clicks declined on desktops, but increased 124.8%
on smartphones and 32.4% on tablets.
The real estate and construction vertical saw strong click growth in Q2, with an increase of 26.1%
YoY. Much of this growth came on smartphones and tablets, where clicks were up 172.6% YoY and 124.4% YoY, respectively.
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Research Methodology
To uncover key trends for Q2 2013, we extracted client data from search engine advertising tools. Our sample included advertisers who had fifteen consecutive months of data with The Search Agency and an established and stable business model from Q2 2012 to Q2 2013. All results are based on U.S. campaigns only. To gain an in-depth understanding of paid search trends within specific business verticals, the sample of advertisers was segmented into eight industry categories classified by Dun & Bradstreet. The industries include: Business to Business, Consumer Services, Financial Services, Real Estate and Construction, Healthcare, Media and Entertainment, Retail/eCommerce, and Travel and Leisure. We measured key performance indicators (KPIs) on a YoY and QoQ basis across search engines, devices, and seven industry-specific groups. Some KPIs, specifically impressions, clicks, and cost, were indexed according to Q2 2012 data to more clearly represent overall trends. Therefore, all graphs indicating total clicks and total spend represent indexed data. All other KPIs were reported as absolute values. In all instances, Bing refers to the combined search marketplace of the Yahoo!Bing search alliance.
Our analysis demonstrates that overall impressions increased 7.5% YoY and 20% QoQ.
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Clicks
Overall search engine clicks increased 5.2% YoY but decreased 6.4% QoQ.
Spend
Overall search engine spend increased 15.8% YoY and 9.7% QoQ.
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CTR
Our search engine analysis demonstrates CTR decreased 2.1% YoY and 22% QoQ.
CPC
Overall CPC across search engines increased 10% YoY and 17.3% QoQ.
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Summary
Overall, YoY search volume saw a healthy growth, as click traffic increased 5% and impressions increased 8% YoY. However, the relative decline in clicks QoQ tells a different story: increased impressions and decreased clicks may indicate a shift in matching or query mapping changes at the search engine level. This cause is most likely driven by advertiser adoption of Googles Enhanced Campaigns. The rise in marketplace competition caused a spike in CPCs during Q2.
According to our data, Googles total impressions increased by 10.8% YoY and 21.4% QoQ. Bings total impressions decreased by 2.3% YoY but increased by 15.6% QoQ.
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Clicks
Our analysis shows that Googles clicks increased 4.1% YoY and Bings clicks increased 12.9% YoY. Total clicks fell on both engines in Q2, dropping 7.1% on Google and 4.1% on Bing QoQ.
CTR
Googles average CTR decreased 6% YoY and 23.1% QoQ, while Bings average CTR increased 15.6% YoY and decreased 17.5% QoQ.
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CPCs
According to our data, CPCs increased across both search engines YoY. Googles average CPC increased 8.3% YoY and 21.2% QoQ, while Bings average CPC increased 18.9% YoY and remained relatively flat QoQ.
Our data demonstrates that CTR declined across all devices on Google. Desktop CTR decreased 6.8% YoY and 24.1% QoQ; smartphone CTR decreased 15.6% YoY and 16.2% QoQ; and tablet CTR decreased 23.8% YoY and 26.2% QoQ.
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Bing
Our analysis for Bing finds that desktop CTR increased 12.2% YoY but decreased 18.2% QoQ. Smartphone CTR decreased dramatically, by 27.2% YoY and 28.2% QoQ. Lastly, tablet CTR dramatically increased YoY, up 120.9%, but remained relatively flat QoQ.
Our Google data shows that desktop CPCs increased both YoY and QoQ, by 9.6% and 20% respectively. Smartphone CPCs decreased 4.9% YoY but increased 23.8% QoQ. Lastly, tablet CPCs increased 25.3% YoY and 27.8% QoQ.
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Bing
According to our Bing data, desktop CPCs increased 21.9% YoY and 1.1% QoQ. Smartphone CPCs decreased 3.7% YoY and more dramatically QoQ, by 13.8%. Tablet CPCs increased 8.9% YoY and remained relatively flat QoQ.
Googles impression share reached 77.1% in Q2a 3.1% increase YoY and a 1.1% increase QoQ.
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Googles click share fell to 86.9% in Q2, marking a minimal decrease YoY and QoQ. Spend Share by Search Engine
Googles spend share fell to 83.8% in Q2a 2.5% decrease YoY and a 3.1% increase QoQ.
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In Q2, 11% of impressions on Google came from tablets, 13.7% came from smartphones, and 75.3% came from desktops. These figures were relatively unchanged from Q1. Bing Impression Share by Device
In Q2, 4.4% of impressions on Bing came from tablets, 8% came from smartphones, and 87.5% came from desktops. While tablet share was relatively unchanged from Q1, impressions continued to move from desktop to smartphones.
State of Paid Search Report - Q2 2013
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Smartphones continued to gain share on Google in Q2, while tablet share increased YoY and decreased QoQ. Desktop click share fell to 71%, marking a 14.9% decrease YoY and a 1.2% decrease QoQ. Bing Click Share by Device
Smartphones and tablets continued to gain click share on Bing in Q2. Desktop share fell to 83.5%a 9.1% decrease YoY and a 3.1% decrease QoQ.
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Summary
Across search engines, CTR behavior was rather similar: both search engines saw a spike during Q1 and then an average decrease of 20% during Q2. Additionally, Googles CPCs grew significantly QoQ, with a 21% increase, while Bings CPCs remained relatively flat QoQ. This data may be a result of changes to Googles matching algorithm and the introduction of Enhanced Campaigns, as competition within the marketplace begins to increase.
Tablet Spend
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Smartphone Spend
Total spend on smartphones increased by 97.2% YoY and 22.9% QoQ. Spend Share by Device Desktop spend share decreased by 12.5% from 85.2% to 74.5% YoY and decreased by 2.5% from 76.5% QoQ.
Smartphone spend share increased by 70.4% from 8.4% to 14.2% YoY and increased by 12.0% from 12.7% QoQ. Tablet spend share increased by 74.7% from 6.4% to 11.2% YoY and increased 4.2% from 10.8% QoQ.
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Impressions
Desktop
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Smartphone
Smartphone impressions increased 148.3% YoY and 24.8% QoQ. Impression Share by Device
Desktop impression share decreased 12.4%, from 89.2% to 78.1% YoY. Tablet impression share increased 77.9%, from 5.3% to 9.5% YoY. Smartphone impression share increased 131%, from 5.4% to 12.4% YoY.
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Clicks
Desktop
Total clicks on desktops decreased 9.5% YoY and 7.8% QoQ. Tablets
Total clicks on tablets increased 61.7% YoY but decreased 8.1% QoQ.
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Smartphones
Total clicks on smartphones increased 107.3% YoY and 1.6% QoQ. Click Share by Device
Desktop click share decreased 14%, from 84.5% to 72.7% YoY. Tablet click share increased 53.7%, from 7.2% to 11% YoY. Smartphone click share increased 97.1%, from 8.3% to 16.3% YoY.
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CTR
Desktop CTR decreased 3.9% YoY and 22.6% QoQ. Smartphone CTR decreased 16.5% YoY and 18.6% QoQ. Tablet CTR decreased 15.1% YoY and 24.1% QoQ.
CPC
Smartphone CPC decreased 4.8% YoY but increased 21% QoQ. Tablet CPC increased 25.1% YoY and 24.5% QoQ. Desktop CPC increased 12% YoY and 15.9% QoQ.
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The smartphone CPC discount from desktops increased from a premium of 0.3% to a discount of 14.9% YoY. The discount on tablet CPCs fell from 11.2% in Q2 2012 to 0.8% in Q2 2013. Smartphone CPC Discount by Search Engine
Google CPC discount from desktop on smartphones increased YoY from -2.2% to 11.3% and decreased QoQ from 14.1% Bing CPC discount from desktop on smartphones increased YoY from 9.2% to 28.3% and increased QoQ from 16.0%.
State of Paid Search Report - Q2 2013
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Google Googles tablet CPC discount from desktop fell from an 11.1% discount to a 1.7% premium YoY and decreased from 4.5% QoQ. Bing Bings tablet CPC discount from desktop increased from -3.3% to 7.7% YoY and increased from 5.2% QoQ.
Googles share of total clicks on desktops decreased 2% from 86.7% to 84.9% YoY.
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Tablet
Googles share of total clicks on tablets decreased from 93.9% to 89.1% YoY. Smartphone
Googles click share on smartphones increased from 93.4% to 94.1% YoY but fell from 94.7% QoQ.
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Googles share of total spend on desktops decreased from 84.9% to 81.3% YoY but recovered from its sharp drop-off in Q1 (78.6%). Tablet
Googles share of total spend on tablets decreased from 92.0% to 87.4% YoY but remained virtually flat QoQ.
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Smartphone
Googles share of total spend on smartphones increased from 93.2% to 93.9% YoY but had a relatively large jump QoQ, increasing from 92.3% to 93.9%.
Summary
Our analysis demonstrates that Bings quarterly growth in click share for smartphones and tablets grew more rapidly than Googles, albeit from a lower starting base. From this, we see device adoption on Bing continues to grow, while Googles device adoption remains steady. Declining CTR and increasing CPC is consistent across devices on Google, which suggests that Googles growth is steady and demonstrates that there is no single device segment that is impacting overall performance more than the others. Tablet click share on Bing saw consistent growth QoQ and YoY, indicating a potential investment opportunity for marketers to push tablet campaigns on Bing. Overall, we can conclude that it is critical for advertisers to leverage, understand, and develop a consistent mobile strategy to better understand consumer behavior. Tablet and smartphone CPC discounts from desktop are continuing to shrink and will shrink more dramatically after all advertisers are opted in to Enhanced Campaigns on July 22. Demonstrated by Q2 data, the tablet CPC discount from desktops is already shrinking on both Google and Bing.
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Ad Format
PLA Spend
PLA Impressions
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PLA Clicks
PLA CTR
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PLA CPC
13.1% of total PLA clicks came from tablets. Share of PLA clicks from smartphones more than tripled QoQ and desktop clicks decreased 12.5% QoQ.
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Tablet CPC discount from desktops increased 31.8% YoY, from 8.8% to 11.6%. QoQ, the discount increased 17.1% from a discount of 10.3% in Q1.
The share of overall Google spend on PLAs increased 296.7% YoY, from 1.0% to 3.9%, and decreased 24% QoQ. The share of overall clicks from PLAs increased 363.4% YoY, from 1.1% to 5.1%, and decreased 31.1% QoQ.
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Business Services: Companies that focus on the sale of products, services, or information to other
businesses.
Consumer Services: Providers of consumer services such as directories, ratings and review sites,
and personal services.
Financial Services: Banks, insurance companies, insurance brokers, and providers of personal
finance services.
Real Estate and Construction: Companies engaged in real estate brokerage, ownership, development, or management.
Healthcare: Companies that provide health services, information, or products. Media and Entertainment: Producers, operators, and broadcasters of radio, television, music, and
filmed entertainment. Also includes retailers that exclusively sell entertainment-related products and services.
Retail/eCommerce: Companies specializing in the direct sale of consumer goods and services. Travel and Leisure: Companies providing travel and tourism services. Business Services
Impressions
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Clicks
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CPC
CPC increased 25.9% YoY and 19.9% QoQ. CPC Discount for Desktops
The smartphone CPC discount from desktops decreased from 43.1% to 240.2% YoY. The tablet CPC discount from desktops decreased from 14.7% to 17.0%.
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Tablet click share increased 65.5%, from 1.7% to 2.8% YoY. Smartphone click share increased 683%, from 0.2% to 1.7% YoY. Desktop click share decreased 2.5% from 98.1% to 95.6% YoY.
Consumer Services
Impressions
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Clicks
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CPC
CPC increased 33.5% YoY and 22.2% QoQ. CPC Discount from Desktop
The smartphone CPC discount from desktops increased by 101.1% YoY, from 23.8% to 47.8%, and increased 64.3% QoQ. The tablet CPC discount from desktops increased from a slight premium of 0.1% to a discount of 6.4% YoY.
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Tablet click share increased 62.1% YoY and 13.6% QoQ. Smartphone click share increased 49.1% YoY and 1.2% QoQ. Desktop click share decreased 14.2% YoY and 1.8% QoQ.
Financial Services
Impressions
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Clicks
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CPC
The smartphone CPC discount from desktops decreased from a 14% discount to a 0.3% premium YoY. Tablet CPCs remained at a premium to desktops, but decreased slightly from 19.6% to 19.3% YoY.
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Tablet click share increased 26%, moving from 5.1% to 6.4% YoY. Smartphone click share increased 54.2%, from 4.1% to 6.3% YoY. Desktop click share decreased 3.9%, falling from 90.8% to 87.3% YoY.
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Clicks
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CPC
CPC decreased 12.7% YoY but increased 12.6% QoQ. CPC Discount from Desktops
The smartphone CPC premium to desktops decreased dramatically, moving from 40.5% to 0.9% YoY. Tablet CPCs grew from an 8.9% premium to desktops to a 10.8% premium YoY.
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Tablet click share increased 78% YoY, but decreased 22.2% QoQ. Smartphone click share increased 116.2% YoY and 52.7% QoQ. Desktop click share decreased 11.5% YoY and 0.6% QoQ.
Healthcare
Impressions
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Clicks
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CPC
CPC increased 13% YoY and 35.1% QoQ. CPC Discount from Desktops
Smartphone CPCs switched from a 55.8% discount from desktops to a 1.7% premium YoY. Tablet CPCs switched from a 21.6% discount from desktops to a 28.6% premium YoY.
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Tablet click share increased 51.1%, from 6.5% to 9.8% YoY. Smartphone click share decreased 38.6%, from 11.1% to 6.8% YoY. Desktop click share increased 1.2%, from 82.4% to 83.4% YoY.
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Clicks
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CPC
CPC increased 37.8% YoY and 2.4% QoQ. CPC Discount from Desktops
The smartphone CPC discount from desktops decreased from 60.2% to 19% YoY. The tablet CPC discount from desktops decreased from 21.1% to 4.5% YoY.
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Tablet click share increased 54.1%, from 7.7% to 11.9% YoY. Smartphone click share increased 46.8%, from 8.5% to 12.5% YoY. Desktop click share decreased 9.7%, from 83.8% to 75.6% YoY.
Retail/eCommerce
Impressions
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Clicks
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CPC
CPC increased 15.8% YoY and 18.1% QoQ. CPC Discount from Desktops
Smartphone CPCs switched from an 8.4% premium to a 19.5% discount from desktops YoY. The tablet CPC discount from desktops decreased from 18.9% to 8.3% YoY.
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Tablet share of clicks increased 43.8%, from 8.2% to 11.7% YoY. Smartphone share of clicks increased 143.1%, from 8.9% to 21.6% YoY. Desktop share of clicks decreased 19.5%, from 82.9% to 66.7% YoY.
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Clicks
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CPC
CPC increased 40.9% YoY and 18.6% QoQ. CPC Discount from Desktops
The smartphone CPC discount from desktops decreased from 26.7% to 24.3% YoY. The tablet CPC discount from desktops switched from a 5.7% discount to a 9.8% premium YoY.
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Tablet click share increased 64.4%, from 10.6% to 17.4% YoY. Smartphone click share increased 56.1%, from 3.7% to 5.8% YoY. Desktop click share decreased 10.3%, from 85.7% to 76.8% YoY.
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Contact
Alec Green, Vice President of Marketing: Alec.Green@thesearchagency.com
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