The UK is among the global frontrunners in mobile search, according to online advertising company Marin Software. With 15 per cent of paid search clicks in December coming from mobile devices, the country is second only to Japan and Australia.

The State of European Mobile Search Advertising 2012 report shows that UK mobile search went from strength to strength in 2011. The proportion of mobile paid search clicks increased by 180 per cent from January to December 2011.

Advertisers have also started to acknowledge the vast growth in smartphone and tablet adoption, with the share of search budget for mobile growing by 191 per cent – from 3.2 per cent to 9.3 per cent – over the course of 2011. With the share of mobile clicks still higher than spend, however, there is still room for budgets to grow further.

The Eurozone also showed strong growth in 2011, with share of mobile paid search clicks growing 177 per cent between January and December, from 2.1 per cent to 5.8 per cent.