The Search Agency recently released its Q2 State of Paid Search Report, revealing a number of interesting developments in the world of SEM. One industry, travel and leisure, experienced some interesting shifts in click share, and our research indicates that these shifts may be the result of an increased industry-wide focus on tablets.
Overall, travel and leisure clicks were up 13% YoY. However, desktop clicks only grew by 1.19%, while smartphone clicks increased by 76.2%, and tablet clicks increased by 85.6%. Smartphone and tablets drove the lion share of click growth in the past year. Meanwhile, overall clicks decreased QoQ, a result of seasonal variation:
Rapid growth of tablets has led travel advertisers to increase their investment in tablet campaigns. This is evident in the migrating click share between desktop, tablet and smartphone:
The proportion of total clicks coming from tablets has increased by 64% YoY, from 10.6% to 17.4%. The tablet click share has steadily increased over the past five quarters. This demonstrates a heightened focus on tablets within the travel industry. The increased investment in tablets has also driven up CPC’s on tablets relative to computers:
In Q2 of 2012, tablet CPCs were 5.7% less expensive than desktop CPCs. In Q2 of 2013, however, tablet CPCs switched from a discount to a premium – now 9.8% more expensive than desktop CPCs, evidence of increased competition for tablet advertising within the travel industry.
To get further insight into current trends in Paid Search advertising, download our latest State of Paid Search Report.
