The Advertising Trends You Need to Know About

We are now halfway through 2017, and the first six months has given analysts a lot of data about online advertising trends. According to Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report 2017, considered one of the most comprehensive and authoritative reports on the state of Internet usage in the industry, if you want to stay competitive, you need to heed these advertising trends:

Mobile advertising

Every report about Internet usage shows the same thing—mobile usage is up and is expected to keep increasing. Last year, already, mobile devices surpassed desktops and laptops as users’ preferred devices to access the Web. A growing number of users are using mobile devices exclusively to access the Internet.

So, if you want to reach your target market, you should consider advertisements posted where your potential customers are most likely to see them—on mobile devices.

However, you cannot invest in mobile advertising without also ensuring that your website—the one place online where you completely control what’s said about your company—is also mobile-friendly. The algorithms used to determine what ads to display to mobile users are just as sophisticated as “regular” search engine algorithms. Search engines are not going to direct their users to (paid) sites that do not deliver a good mobile experience.

Advertising on the most promising channels

When you’re ready to invest in mobile advertising, you can get more “bang for your buck” by advertising on channels that yield the best visibility. To date, the two most popular platforms for mobile advertising are, by far, Google and Facebook.

These two platforms take very different approaches to mobile ads:

  • Google, with the powerful mobile search algorithm backing its ad placement, offers mobile users ad results relevant to their geographic location, search and purchase history, etc.
  • Facebook delivers an image-driven ad experience for its users, favoring ads with images and videos.

Ultimately, though, your choice of mobile advertising platform should be driven by your target market—where they are and where they search. In fact, the same is true for non-mobile online advertising as well.

Voice search

Voice search is emerging as an advertising powerhouse with the rise of mobile devices with integrated voice search capability and the improvement of results generated by voice-activate searches. Voice search is likely to be especially important for businesses that compete locally—e.g., restaurants, retailers, home service providers, etc.

Need Help with Your Online Advertising?

There’s a lot more to crafting effective online ads than simply knowing where to put them. SonicSEO.com can help your business get the most from your online advertising dollar by crafting targeted ads and selecting the best platforms for your industry and market. If you’re not already taking advantage of our comprehensive Internet marketing capabilities, contact us today.