A new Tamar survey indicates what many mobile marketers have assumed for quite some time: the overwhelming majority of 18 to 24-year-olds prefer and trust natural search results over the paid alternative.
The fourth annual report, commissioned by the UK’s Tamar – a well known search and social conversion agency – shows that consumers online are “starting to embrace real-time search” at a much faster pace than perhaps many realize.
47% of the individuals surveyed (2210 adults) revealed a preference toward utilizing real time search via social media platforms like Twitter rather than the scant 4% who would rather opt for paid search results on the mobile web.
Adults over the age of 55, however, are most likely to distrust paid search as a reliable source with only 3% preferring them to organic search results.
The survey also indicated that roughly 14% of mobile subscribers (those in both the 18-24 and 25-34 age categories) use some form of mobile search on a daily basis.
According to Neil Jackson, search strategy director at Tamar:
Consumers have decided that natural search is the route they trust more and this defines the strategic starting point for all brands, which need to focus on being highly visible ‘naturally\’ through campaigns that reach effectively across a wide range of media and devices, especially mobile – a huge growth area for the search engines.
Mobile marketers and industry analysts will likely view the findings of this survey to represent further evidence of paid search results not resonating with individuals on the mobile web as well as they have through traditional search.
“The momentum away from paid to natural search as the preferred and trusted information source among all UK consumers continues to grow, with a big rise in the younger age groups.”