Our recent publication of Q2 SEM infographics showed how paid search trends break out by device type for the Americas, EMEA, and APJ regions, but what do those trends look like at the global level?
Desktop and Phone both saw double-digit CPC growth over the previous quarter—12% and 11%, respectively—while Phone CPC is up 20% over the same quarter last year.
As you can see, global paid search CPC increased over the previous quarter across all device types, after being mostly flat for the previous three quarters. Desktop and Phone both saw double-digit CPC growth over the previous quarter—12% and 11%, respectively—while Phone CPC is up 20% over the same quarter last year.
Year-over-year growth was slower for Desktop and Tablet, as those two device types have carved a similar trend over the past five quarters, dipping to a slightly lower level since Q2 of last year before growing again in Q2 of this year.
Obviously, the biggest change for mobile in the last year has been the introduction of Enhanced Campaigns to Google AdWords. By changing the way campaigns were created across phones, tablets, and desktops, Google made multi-device marketing the default. While there are other variables in play, such as more sophisticated tracking and attribution for mobile conversions, it’s clear that Enhanced Campaigns has affected unit economics for paid search marketers.
You can read more about the impact of Enhanced Campaigns in our recent retrospective, Enhanced Campaigns: One Year Later.