Search Trends Vary by Device During Different Times of Day [Study]
A recent study by Bing looks at how search trends vary across different devices throughout the day. How can you use this information to adjust your campaigns?
A recent study by Bing looks at how search trends vary across different devices throughout the day. How can you use this information to adjust your campaigns?
One of the most powerful things about digital advertising is our ability to be pinpoint precise with our targeting. As we hone our targeting by demographics, geography, and seasonal events, let’s also take a close look at the devices we’re targeting. If you’ve been on the Internet lately (or if you live on planet Earth), you will have heard that smartphone and tablet traffic are exploding.
Bing recently researched device search trends over time, and drilled into clicks and actions on those devices over time. It’s a piece of research that can tell us about consumer behavior, and show us ways to get better results from our search campaigns. The most interesting things we discovered:
Search traffic trends are a great indicator for intent. With these search traffic trends, we can peer into device-specific and timing trends by device.
This chart shows search trends across devices on weekdays:
This chart shows search trends across devices on weekends:
So what can we learn about device search volume differences?
Key Takeaway
The second half of the day has a larger portion of search traffic on both tablets and smartphones. If your campaigns are running out of budget during the morning or afternoon, you’ll be missing out.
Bing Ads also went a step further by looking at advertising metrics like cost per action (CPA) and click-through rate (CTR). Turns out, in general the cost per action decreases as the day progresses.
Key Takeaway
CPA is lower across devices as the day progresses. It makes sense to make sure your campaign is still running strong during these less competitive hours.
Using your own search traffic data, start digging into precision timing that might vary based on your product or industry. Our general research aggregates all searches on Bing over a period of time – your own data will help you be more specific – which is what makes search campaigns strongest.
What trends do you see in traffic by device and by time of day for your particular industry? We’d love to hear from you!