Google's Biggest Problem, Explained In 114 Words

Thanks to the rise of mobile and the decline of the desktop, Google is in a vise.

In the middle or her report on Google's earnings, the New York Times's Claire Cain Miller explains 114 words:

The shift to mobile is happening as Google’s biggest, most lucrative business — desktop search — is slowing. The share of clicks on Google results that happen on desktop computers has fallen to 73 percent from 77 percent in the last six months, while the share of clicks on tablets and smartphones has increased to 27 percent from 23 percent, according to data from Adobe.

The problem is that clicks on retail ads on tablets, for instance, cost about 16 percent less than they do on the desktop, according to Adobe. The price of clicks on retail ads on tablets rose 16 percent over the last year, but on smartphones they fell 11 percent.

The good news for Google is that while mobile search may be less lucrative, Google completely owns the mobile search market. Check out these charts from our presentation on the Death Of The PC:

Because Google owns the mobile search market and search makes a lot more money than other kinds of online ads, Google owns mobile advertising, too:

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