Adobe released its Digital Advertising Report for Q2. While it’s only a small section of the broader report, it does look at the impact of Google’s mobile-friendly update.
According to that, organic traffic was up to 10% lower among sites with low mobile engagement.
“While there wasn’t a precipitous drop among non-friendly sites, the effect is pronounced over the 10 weeks after the event,” said Tamara Gaffney, principal at Adobe Digital Index. “Such continued loss of traffic suggests that immediate emphasis would have been placed on paid search as a quick way to recover traffic. But that strategy is not necessarily sustainable.”
“Brands that neglected to address their mobile Web strategies are seeing mobile advertising via Google’s network delivering less value at a greater cost, with a growing gap between mobile click-through rates (CTRs) and cost-per-clicks (CPCs),” Adobe says. “ADI reports mobile CPCs are up 16%, while CTRs are falling, down 9%.”
“Increases in CPC stretch marketing budgets due to what is known as click inflation–advertisers have to spend more just to stay even,” added Adobe Digital Index analyst Joe Martin.
You can read more on the report’s findings, including why Adobe says Google is “losing ground as a marketing vehicle” here. The full report is here.
As far as the mobile-friendly update’s impact goes, earlier we looked at some interesting findings from Stone Temple, suggesting that Google might be increasing the weight it gives mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal.
Images via Thinkstock, Adobe