Mobile Now 28 Percent Of Total Web Traffic — Report

Public Relations firm Walker Sands produces a quarterly index of mobile traffic to its clients’ websites. Yesterday the firm released new data. The data show that collectively Walker Sands’ clients are seeing 28 percent of their traffic from smartphones and tablets.

The data also reflect the relative shares of Android and iOS devices. Accordingly firm’s clients saw growth of Android tablet traffic as well as increased iPhone traffic vs. Android smartphones.

These data should be treated as “directional,” reflecting the growth of mobile usage generally, rather than indicative of precise market share. The number of companies polled in the survey is too small to be generalized to the full US market.

By comparison StatCounter data argue that mobile devices are generating 15 percent of US internet traffic. However many sites report much higher levels of mobile traffic and usage. Yelp for example says that 59 percent of its searches now come from mobile. And YP indicates that half of the search volume on its network is coming from mobile. There’s also a “mobile first” audience that favors mobile devices over PCs.

The larger point is that marketers now must address the mobile audience and multiscreen behavior. However many are still failing to do so. Mobile cannot be treated as a sideshow to the PC; it must be given equal and in some cases greater weight.