Search adspend rises 24% in Europe

Warc, 6 August 2014

LONDON: Search advertising expenditure increased by nearly a quarter (24%) year-on-year in Q2 2014 across EMEA, which also recorded 23% growth in sales revenue from paid search, the latest industry data has revealed.

The EMEA Search Advertising Trends Q2 2014 infographic from Kenshoo, the digital marketing technology firm, also showed that mobile is becoming increasingly important for advertisers.

Mobile took 38% of all paid search clicks in the UK, its highest rate recorded so far, while ads shown on mobile devices in the UK accounted for a similar proportion (36%) of all paid search spend during the quarter – again, the highest on record.

The total volume of clicks on search ads in EMEA rose by 11% year-on-year in the second quarter while total impressions fell by 6%.

Kenshoo said that indicated advertisers had improved the targeting of their ads and increased the efficiency of their campaigns, as evidenced by an improved click-through-rate (CTR) of 17% year-on-year growth to 1.8%.

"The data shows a healthy paid search markets in EMEA, with advertisers enjoying increasing revenue from their advertising through more efficient campaigns," said Justin Thorne, regional marketing director for EMEA at Kenshoo.

He said advertisers' confidence in the paid search channel and strong demand for keywords meant the cost of search advertising has continued to rise.

The average cost-per-click (CPC) increased to €0.43, up from €0.38 in 2013, but there were considerable differences across the national markets surveyed.

Germany had the lowest CPC in Europe, at €0.31 while also recording the highest CTR of 2.0%, which Kenshoo said demonstrated the nation's "efficiency" in paid search advertising.

Other European countries highlighted in the report were the UK (€0.47 CPC, 1.9% CTR), France (€0.45 CPC, 0.7% CTR), and Sweden (€0.65 CPC, 1.6% CTR).

The relatively low rate of CTR in France reflected "a more discerning French consumer carefully evaluating adverts before clicking,” Kenshoo said, adding that paid search in France is expected to accelerate more quickly in the next five years.

Google's enhanced campaigns program could be responsible for the improved overall performance, Thorne explained.

"The increased share of spend and clicks taken by mobile could in part be due to the success of Google's enhanced campaigns which simplifies the process of creating Google AdWords campaigns.

"Since migration to enhanced campaigns, search advertisers no longer have to run separate campaigns targeting desktops, tablets and mobiles – all devices can be served with ads within the same campaign, making it much easier to target mobile devices."

Data sourced from Kenshoo; additional content by Warc