It’s that time again. Leaves are falling, the Red Sox are back in the World Series, and The Search Agency has just released its third quarter State of Paid Search Report. Although not quite as exciting as a David Ortiz home run, the reports are always exciting reading for those of us who work in Paid Search or make money with online marketing.

Once again, the Search Agency finds that there was a lot of growth in impressions, clicks, and advertiser spend across the major search engines – Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The big mover is mobile, as it continues to gain market share. The mobile numbers are quite impressive:

• One-third of Google’s clicks coming from mobile and tablet devices
• Impressions increased 37.1 percent
• Clicks grew 16.2 percent
• Advertiser spend increased 23.1 percent over last year
• Mobile accounted for 21.4 percent of clicks on Google product listing ads

As more and more people are using tablets and smart phones for search, these numbers will continue to grow. Some other interesting findings from the report include:

• Clicks on Bing grew 20.9 percent
• Clicks on Google grew 15.3 percent
• Average Cost Per Click (CPC) increased on Bing 19.6 percent
• Average Cost Per Click (CPC) increased on Google 3.5 percent

These numbers seem to show that Bing is growing faster than Google, but Google is still the undisputed leader in paid search. They have made a conscious effort to move toward mobile devices and tablets with their Enhanced Campaigns, and it has paid off. Now, mobile devices make up more than one-third of their third quarter clicks. This is compared to only 18 percent mobile clicks on Bing.

So, what does it all mean? For advertisers, traditional paid search is still a very valuable and cost effective tool. As for mobile, you should certainly be taking advantage of Google’s Enhanced Campaigns and target consumers who are using tablets and smart phones. In fact, in the real estate sector, 29 percent of all clicks are now coming from mobile and total click growth is up 24 percent over last year. This is a good sign for mobile advertisers and is most likely an indicator as to where the insurance industry is headed!