Mobile ad spend on Google soared by 55 per cent year-on-year for the second quarter of 2016, according to new data published by global marketing cloud enterprise Ignition One. Despite the mobile jump, paid search spend in the US was pretty much flat overall, as the figure dipped by one per cent between April and June.

It is only the second time in seven years that search spend has decreased year-on-year, though the fall is lower than the five per cent drop recorded during the first quarter of the year. The slower spend growth is largely due to increased click shares on smartphones, where cost-per-clicks (CPCs) are typically lower than on desktop.

Ad impressions did increase by 13 per cent during the period, and clicks also rose by 10 per cent year-on-year. Again, mobile is leading the way, as smartphone impressions went up by 46 per cent and clicks jumped by 69 per cent during the second quarter. There was also a contrast in click-through rates, as this metric fell by 23 per cent for tablets but increased by 16 per cent on smartphones.

The overall drop in spend has been driven by a drop-off in investment from advertisers in the travel and finance sectors, which slumped by 12 per cent and seven per cent respectively. However, education spend did grow by 42 per cent, and it had the honour of being the only sector to witness a rise in CPCs during the last 12 months.

Google made the decision to remove text ads from the right-hand side of SERPs on desktop earlier this year, and IgnitionOne noted in the Q2 2016 Digital Marketing Report that the long-term impact of this move is still not clear, though the CPC spread for some of the ads above the organic listings could be substantial. A clearer picture is expected in the future, as the second quarter was the first where the text ads were not displayed.

“Marketers are increasingly sophisticated in their digital strategy as the industry matures,” stated Will Margiloff, CEO of IgnitionOne. “Large swings in metrics that used to be the norm are giving way to a game of inches as the focus shifts to optimization and real, tangible results. But make no mistake, every inch counts.”