US fourth quarter paid search reports indicate fantastic growth in terms of traffic, volume, and conversions thanks to mind-numbing figures posted on Thanksgiving Day. Important aspects of the Q4 reports are mentioned below.
2012 witnessed a noticeable increase in tablet and mobile smartphone users that peaked during the fourth quarter of the year. Advertisers in the USA were certainly happy as they saw a 31 percent rise in clicks along with a 38 percent rise in impression volumes as compared to the previous year. Average CPC rise too was 9 percent more that the same quarter of 2011. It seems that this was due to Thanksgiving and Christmas witnessing a larger gap of days between them as well as a nominal improvement in the US economy.
Google also managed to maintain its top position in the market with 80 percent spend and 67 percent impression volume as per a report provided by Marin. On the other hand Google also witnessed a decline in clicks, impressions, and spend levels which were at their lowest in this quarter.
Thanksgiving Day did prove to be lucky for many online retailers as the day witnessed a remarkable 60 percent rise over the previous year as per a report by Kenshoo. Other days that witnessed substantial growth were Cyber Monday, Black Friday, Free Shipping Day, and even on the day following Christmas. These optimistic figures indicate that this trend could continue in the current year as well.
The fourth quarter of 2012 also witnessed a remarkable rise in tablet and mobile smartphone usage to access the internet and make online purchases. Spending through these devices witnessed a growth of 30 percent Year-on-Year and CPCs rose by 60 percent in comparison to the previous year. While the traffic share of tablets rose to 12 percent and smarphones increased to 10 percent, the share of desktops shrunk to 78 percent in the fourth quarter.
Even though smartphones registered more clicks, spending via tablets was marginally higher at 9 percent as compared to 8 percent via smartphones as per reports from Marin and Covario. Conversions on tablets have witnessed higher figures and advertisers have adapted their strategies by increasing CPCs to match increased demand.
The US online market has certainly witnessed an impressive growth in terms of paid search and Google too seems to have retained its premier position. Online retailers have good reason to cheer and would surely be praying that 2013 breaks all records set during the past year.