It’s been just over a month since Christmas, but when we enter February, we begin to see the next massive surge of search engine activity, with the run down to Valentine’s Day. From February 1st there is still two weeks to go but you can see even in the first couple of days that the action is beginning, and set to become more intense as we get closer.
Hot new data delivered by Bing gives marketers an idea what is trending in 2016 with searches specifically related to February 14. The data looks at the main frontrunners, which include chocolates, presents, flowers, jewellery and restaurant bookings. There is also very useful information that deals with the performance of adverts, as market managers test and retest the ‘water’ in cyberspace to find what will be the best eye-catching promotions to win over the love-struck, and mainly juvenile searchers.
The first seven days of February will see a marked difference in search activity than the last week in January. This, however, is nothing compared to the seven-day run-up to Valentine’s Day. If we match like for like periods, then in 2015, Bing’s archived search history during the final week spiked much more dramatically on desktops rather on mobile.
Last year from February 8 until 14, desktop searches went up by 77 per cent. Mobile searches went up as well, but by 71 per cent over the previous week. Both results are commendable and in the main expected, and it will be interesting to see what transpires this year. Last year, overall mobile searches made up 32 per cent of overall searches for Valentine’s Day related products. This was 17 per cent of clicks on Bing
Interestingly, the data compiled by Bing revealed that searches related to gifts peaked on February 11 while chocolate and confectionary searches continued until February 13.
People looking at jewellery as a gift option increased in number, and then skyrocketed from February 12 and continued through to the 14th. It is vital for companies to customise bidding and budget strategies; depending on the different products that they are competing against each other for, in terms of paid searches.
Last year the overall click-through (CTR) rate peaked from February 10 until February 14 and averaged 4.9 per cent. Desktop CTR’s spiked February 12 in the afternoon. Mobile users reached a peak on Valentine’s Day starting at 15:00 and ending at 22:00.
