The Rise of the Tablet

If you’re an online marketer, chances are you are aware of the growing usage of mobile devices within search.

As of June 2011, Mobile impressions account for 12% of total search impressions, up nearly 100% year over year, and roughly one-third of cell owners say their phone is a smartphone.  As a result of this exponential growth, these cellular devices have become the focus for marketers within the past year, but a new area of opportunity is on the rise: tablets.

Google’s recent AdMob survey showed that 78% of consumers use their tablet to search for information, second only to gaming activities (84%).  Tablets currently account for 13.3% of all mobile search clicks; and, based on the rapid growth of mobile, similar growth in the tablet space is not unthinkable.  Consumers are using tablets as an extension of their current search behavior, and in many cases tablet use is cannibalizing desktop usage.  This is illustrated in a recent Nielson report, in which 32% of Desktop & Tablet owners have seen a decrease in their desktop usage while 30% of Laptop & Tablet owners decreased laptop usage.

So, how do we effectively utilize tablets in our digital strategy?

Google AdWords offers a few campaign targeting options for tablet devices. Users can target all mobile tablet devices on Android, iOS and webOS platforms, or any combination of the three. Google also offers the option of targeting specific mobile carriers.  Landing pages, keyword mix, messaging and budgeting can then be controlled and crafted specifically to your audience and their viewing interface.

If your brand does not have a tablet optimized site, Google recommends targeting Desktops and Tablets in the same campaign, as user experience does not greatly differ from a desktop given most tablets’ screen sizes.  In fact, Google now automatically targets tablets within existing desktop campaigns. As with all things search, further segmenting campaigns can yield greater efficiencies.  Through segmentation, marketers can drill down to the most efficient device and carrier to allocate advertising dollars.

With growing consumer interest and usage, screen size and application offerings, tablet targeting is an asset to a brand’s digital strategy. Search trends continue to evolve rapidly each day and right now, tablets are the next big thing.

Tags: Chris Michalak, Consumer Behavior, Google, Pete Levin, search, Tablet

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 27th, 2011 at 10:30 am and is filed under Department of Searchology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.