Merkle Digital Marketing Report Q3 2016 – Highlights

Posted October 29th, 2016 by Kirti & filed under Google Ads Tips.

Merkle’s Digital Marketing Report for the third quarter sets agenda straight for advertisers, of where the influx of traffic is coming from. Overall mobile still happens to be a winner as a result of the various developments taken place.

Here are some of the highlights of the report.

1. Expanded Text Ads have little impact on CTR, Local Search Ads succeed

Data shows that since the ad format was launched, it has witnessed an average performance overall. For top of page results, brand keywords show a below average CTR in comparison to Standard Ads and non-brands keywords show a mixed result.

While this product enhancement has shown mixed response, expansion of Local search ads and mobile text ads inventory launched at the end of Q2, 2016 has saved Google from witnessing a fall. The local search ads has contributed in driving 3% of phone traffic for brand keywords. It is definitely a great start, though click share for non-brand keywords is steadily growing.

2. Google’s Paid Search Spend Growth Stalled

While the overall Google’s spending increased by 20% YoY in Q3, it fell down from a 22% the Quarter 2, 2016 witnessed.

Spend on Google Shopping PLAs grew by 36% YoY while falling from a 43% YoY in Q2, whereas the text ads dropped to 9% YoY from 10% YoY in Q2. The major reason for this drop is said to be due to the increase in mobile volume since 2015.

3. Influx of Mobile Traffic

From showing three ads at top of page results on mobile to the placement of a fourth ad unit, Google has maintained the rise in click volume as a result. Q3 saw the fourth ad garner 1.4% of clicks on mobile text ads.

Of all devices, mobile click share was 62% combining both phone and tablets. On the other hand, for non brand keywords phone CPC fared well at 56% of Desktop levels, whereas for brand keywords it fell less favorably at 41% of Desktop levels.

4. Phone Organic search visit stands out

In Q3 desktop search visit fell 7% and tablets by 27%. Though overall organic search visit continued to fall at 5%, for phone the search visits rose by 9%.

Since 2015, where the paid search share of clicks from mobile device has increased to 57%, the organic search share has risen to 48%. Overall Mobile produced 51% of organic search visits for Google in comparison to 49% in Q2, 2016.

Comparing the organic search visit share on search engines, Merkle has shared that Google’s search visit fell by 1%, the result of monetization impact on mobile device, whereas Bing Ads fell by 2% YoY