As advertisers are forced to pay more for each click, fewer overall clicks can be obtained using available budgets, strategies such as increasing bids for the highest-value customer; Based on these two trends alone, overall CPC increases are inevitable.

Via analyzing 1,300 Google AdWords accounts – global- & more than 176,000 active campaigns, you can understand the Consumer search behavior to take advantage of the fast-moving shift in consumer behavior:

Overarching Trends:

• In Q1 2017 62% of clicks were on mobile vs. only 49% last year.
• Mobile CPCs rose to 40% YoY while desktop CPCs were up 26% YoY, 24% YoY increase in overall mobile click share.
• 59% of clicks coming from mobile vs. 32% from desktop and 10% from the tablet.
•  Mobile impression growth is outpacing mobile click growth: impressions increased by 56% & clicks 13% increased.
• Desktop impressions decreased by 16% YoY. Desktop clicks also decreased down 27% YoY resulting in an overall 8% decrease in clicks.
• 500 million people are using Voice search, and it’s expected that 50% of all search queries will be made via voice by 2020.
• Total investment on Shopping (PLA) increased 44% YoY and clicks increased by 76% YoY.

Verticals Deep Dives:

• Retailers, 58% of all clicks were on mobile vs. 32% on desktop and 10% on tablet. Overall CPC increased 23% YoY based on a mobile CPC increase of 39% YoY and a desktop CPC increase of 20% YoY.
• The B2B vertical also saw similar overarching trends in Q1 2017, including a higher CPC (up 12% YoY) and growth in both mobile impressions (up 8%YoY) and traffic (up 18% YoY). Mobile CPC is on the rise, with CPG clients recording a 146% YoY increase in Q1.

Charts Show The Click Share By Device in The First Quarter of 2016 and 2017.