The number of click’s on Google’s paid search ads increased significantly in April, according to figures from comScore.
Investors in the search engine had been concerned by slower than expected growth in Google’s paid search income in the first quarter of the year, but the latest results suggest that this may have been a temporary decline.
Google had previously attributed this disappointing performance to quality initiatives by the search engine aimed at reducing the number of accidental clicks on paid search ads, as well as reducing the overall number of paid search ads.
Clicks on Google’s paid search adverts increased by 19.6% year on year in April, compared with growth of just 3% for February and March.
The news was not so good for Google’s main search rivals, with the number of clicks on Yahoo’s paid search ads decreasing by 4%, and Microsoft’s by 9% year on year.
Figures on click through rates – the number of searches divided by sponsored clicks – were also released by comScore. Google’s click through dropped from 10.9% in March to 10.5% in April.
Yahoo’s click through rate also fell slightly, from 13.2% to 12.5% between March and April.
Microsoft’s click through rate increased in the same period, from 10.2% to 10.3%.
