Latest iProspect quarterly report on paid search trends

[ergophobe]

Describes pretty much what we are seeing in paid search...

Based on 1800 accounts and 200,000 campaigns managed by iProspect US

Highest costs since they started the report in 2014

Impressions down 16%
Clicks down 27.5%
Cost per click up significantly: 13% over previous quarter, 36% YOY

In May, Google began rolling out a change to the way Ad Rank is calculated that places more emphasis on bid price and less emphasis on Quality Score.

Effect on brand terms: "In the past, quality score has played a major role in keeping CPC low for trademark keywords. Because the latest update has reduced the weight of quality score, that factor provides less of a counterbalance."

On average, they find cost of brand terms up 8% with a small reduction in non-brand as the more expensive brand campaigns leave less budget for non-brand and, thus, less competition.

CTR is down 13% YOY across all platforms, with mobile CTR down 25% and desktop down only 4.5%. This was largely driven by Shoping ads. CTR for search actually improved.