Share of Online Searches Initiated on a Mobile Device by Industry

Nowadays technology is evolving considerably fast. Along with it came the internet, where the number of people using internet search engines is increasing year on year. Mobile devices have surged ahead of traditional computers in consumer demand and online traffic.

Hitwise examines hundreds of millions of online queries across 11 different categories, including 3.5 million smartphones and tablets[1] and argues that in the US mobile search is roughly 58 percent of overall search query volume.[2]

The category with the highest percentage of mobile search volume was „Food and Beverage“, with 72%. The Health and Sports industry see a similarly high share of searches (68%). Not all categories achieve such good results when it comes to online searches. The banking sector has the lowest results of all the industries surveyed. It gets just 39% of searches from mobile. According to the Hitwise Consumer Insights Report, it is because of the highly sensitive data and information in the Banking and Finance sector. That is why this industry is one of the few where the majority of searches still originate on desktop devices.

Therefore, Marketers need to be strategic about prioritizing their mobile optimization and content strategies. Moreover, they should consider the key features and characteristics that define an industry in order to create content that is optimized for that device.

[1] https://www.hitwise.com/en/ Consumer Insight Report

[2] https://searchengineland.com/report-nearly-60-percent-searches-now-mobile-devices-255025