Paid Search Trends 2016 Q4

Last year was eventful in the world of paid search. It is accurate to call 2016 the year of efficient growth - with traffic up and costs per click down, marketers enjoyed ad efficiency at scale.

In iProspect’s 2016 Q4 Paid Search report, we unpack these meaningful trends created by both the external fluctuations of the search engines and notable internal client strategy shifts. Download the full report today. 

Some key data points and takeaways include:

• The era of undervalued mobile paid search traffic is coming to an end as advertisers expand mobile coverage to mirror consumer search behavior. 
• The largest impact to Q4 performance were the 41% spend increase for Shopping ads and the 26% CPC increase for mobile.
• Mobile shopping spend was at an all time high in Q4 2016.
• iProspect highly recommends that marketers increase PLA investment now before they start losing due to unexpected competition in the near future. 
• As consumers continue to become more comfortable shopping on their phones and as more conversions are attributed to drive-to-store, we will see retailers continue to invest in mobile.
• With advertisers increasing their mobile presence, mobile CPC increased in both Q4, up 35%, and overall in 2016, up 14%. 
• B2B advertisers are moving to capitalize on the increased adoption and use of smartphones by B2B buyers.

In many ways Q4 of 2016 demonstrates what we expect to see in 2017, especially the growth and evolution of mobile paid search and Shopping ads.  To learn more download our full report.