Smartphones drive 50% auto search traffic on Google

In its consumer report for 2015, web search engine Google announced a strong growth in search results around automobiles and auto brands in 2015. The overall increase combining both desktop and smartphone grew by 40 per cent in 2015. Web searches comprised of 50 percent searches driven by smartphone users and the rest through desktop.

Bengaluru emerged as the city with the maximum searches in the auto category, closely followed by Delhi. Among the nonmetros, the second highest search results were recorded from Pune, followed by Hyderabad.

Search interest was driven by tier two and tier three cities. While 30 per cent growth in queries came from tier two cities, 25 per cent search queries were from tier one cities. The rest 45 percent search queries were from Tier 3 or smaller towns.

Web searches distributed across four metros contributed about 35 per cent queries in auto vertical. Tier one cities contributed to 25 per cent, while tier 2 cities contributed slightly over 30 per cent of the combined searches.

Search interest around the “used cars” category also saw a strong pickup in 2015, highlighting a growth of over 200 per cent as compared to the previous year.

Based on the early data available for 2016, searches around this year’s Auto Expo are almost double when compared to the previous Auto Expo in 2014. New launches and announcements from automakers is expected to further fuel search interest over the next few weeks.

In the run up to the Auto Expo— basis search trends over the last 30 days— Maruti continues to capture the top slot in terms of search interest followed closely by Mahindra & Mahindra, with both taking a strong lead over other auto majors, including Honda, Tata, Hyundai, Renault, Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen.