It’s no secret that users access the internet through both desktop and mobile devices. In the past few years, mobile has been surpassing desktop internet usage. Official Google statements indicate that over 50% of search queries come from mobile devices. Since these statements though, there is new evidence that mobile dominates a larger proportion of internet search queries.
In a recent 2016 study, Hitwise found that mobile now accounts for 58% of search queries in the US. This figure was based on cross-examination of “hundreds of millions of online search queries” originating from PCs, mobile and tablet devices. These queries took place between April and May 2016, giving us a current and fresh outlook on mobile search domination.
Hitwise also discovered search query statistics from each industry. Mobile online searches account for the majority of search query origination within the food and beverage (72%), health (68%), sports (68%), news and media (64%), lifestyle (62%), automative (62%), retail (52%) and travel (52%) industries. Other industries included in the study had a lower share of mobile initiated search: real estate (48%), entertainment (42%) and banking (39%).
What do these figures mean for your business?
The Hitwise report shows us that mobile devices are fast dominating online search queries in 2016. This year, Google have already initiated a new update to their mobile-friendly algorithm. The update started in May and was said to increase “the effect of the [mobile-friendly] ranking signal.” Google said if your website is already mobile-friendly, there was no need to worry because “you will not be impacted by this update.”
Ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is essential to ranking well on search engines and to reach a larger audience. Even if you’re in the banking industry, 39% of users are using mobile for their online search queries. This is still a huge proportion of your audience that you could be losing if you don’t adopt mobile into your digital marketing mix, particularly for SEO and mobile PPC ads.
Not sure if your website performs well on mobile devices? Use Google’s quick and easy tool
