PEAK PC: 'Most' Google web searches 'come from mobiles' in US

The majority of Google web searches in America, and a few other nations, now come from phones and tablets – outpacing PCs for the first time, we're told.

According to NetMarketShare, Google owned a 92.22 per cent chunk of the global search engine market for mobiles and slabs, and 65.73 per cent of the desktop search market, in April.

"More Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan," blogged Jerry Dischler, veep for product management for Google's AdWords program, today.

"This presents a tremendous opportunity for marketers to reach people throughout all the new touchpoints of a consumer’s path to purchase."

Which tells you all you need to know about the announcement: Google hasn't published any data on the search differential between platforms nor the mystery 10 nations beyond US and Japan.

But it just so happens to be holding its annual Adwords conference, and has a bunch of new tools available for those looking to advertise on mobiles.

These include targeting particular vertical sectors, such as ads for cars, hotel chains and mortgages. Auto advertisers can now add photos automatically, and hoteliers can advertise a basket of rates, as can mortgage sellers.

Google has also introduced new tools for marketers to track their advertising performance to see where advertising clicks are coming from, and to try out new ways to draw people in. The end result, Google hopes, is to bring up the value of its mobile advertising business that's now in the majority, allegedly.

The move to mobile is a bit of a problem for Google in the long term. Mobile ad revenues are well below what desktop advertisers are used to paying, and the California giant is going to have to get used to low revenues, or make mobile more valuable for advertisers, if it's going to continue its free-spending ways. ®