In January 2012, tablets and smartphones accounted for 14.8 per cent of UK paid search clicks. By December, this had risen to 24.4 per cent, oustripping the Eurozone at 14.5 per cent, according to a report by Marin Software.

Clicks on paid search ads on mobile in the UK increased by 65 per cent during 2012 and UK advertisers increased their mobile paid search budgets by 94 per cent, from a 9.94 per cent share of search to 19.32 per cent. The report predicts that cost-per-click for smartphones and tablets will come into line with desktop during the year, reducing the dominance of online advertising.

The UK has the highest click-through and click-to-conversion rate in Europe, according to the Mobile Search Advertising around the Globe study of 13 leading mobile search markets. Japan and Singapore see the highest share of smartphone clicks globally, with Singapore spending the most on paid smartphone search. Australia has the highest share of paid tablet search clicks and the largest share of ad spend here.