Search click volume from smartphones increased by 86 per cent year-on-year across Google and Yahoo! Bing, according to a report from online marketing firm The Search Agency.

Despite a 10.4 per cent drop in CPC (Cost Per Click), total advertiser spend on smartphones was up 68 per cent. Spend on tablets grew twice as fast, increasing by 135 per cent year-on-year.

 This helped drive an overall growth of 21.6 per cent in total search advertising spend year-on-year.

While overall impressions actually dropped by four per cent, this was offset by a 15 per cent increase in CTR (Click-Through Rate), leading to a 11.7 per cent increase in clicks, and an 8.8 per cent increase in CPC.

“2012 was a strong year for search advertising and mobile and tablets helped drive this growth exponentially. Bing has been ferociously working to grab market share from Google, particularly battling it out on tablet devices,” said Keith Wilson, vice president of agency products at The Search Agency. “The study also showed tablets continue to be a driving force. Consumers are hitting the tablets to shop and buy, with tablet performance steadily increasing over the past five quarters. I don’t see this slowing anytime soon.”

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