Electricity dominates energy-related searches made on mobile devices

"Energy Sector Report - Issue 1", the first of the agency's new quarterly research covering this vertical, profiles the most popular energy-related keywords consumers used on Google UK for queries pertaining to dual fuel, gas, electricity and energy services. The research also reveals the most visible websites, brands and advertisers for those searches and the size of the potential online audience split by computers (laptops/desktops) and mobile devices (tablets & smartphones).

According to the report, in April, consumers made a total of 235,050 energy-related queries online, 11% using mobile devices.

Electricity-related terms dominated mobile device searches, with the keyword 'electricity' making up 40% of them. 'Electricity prices' followed with 7% whilst 'london electricity' and 'cheap electricity' accounted for 5% of searches a piece.

Npower was the most visible website on mobile devices for electricity-related searches, attaining a 53% share of visibility in natural search* whilst uSwitch was the most prominent advertiser in the paid listings** holding a comfortable 89% share of voice.

On laptops/desktops, Uswitch also secured top position in the paid listings for queries pertaining to electricity, commanding an 85% share of voice. However, in the organic listings, Moneysupermarket reigned supreme - ahead of npower and Southern Electric, with a 57% share of visibility.

Other findings from Greenlight's report found queries for energy-related keywords totalled 79,716 and accounted for the lion's share of searches (35%), made on computers. The three most popular search terms were 'energy', 'energy comparison' and 'compare energy prices'. Combined, they made up 56% of searches for this sub-sector on laptops/desktops and 62% on smartphones & tablets.

Greenlight's 'Energy Sector Report - Issue 1', profiles search behaviour in this sector. It assesses which websites, advertisers and brands are the most visible in Natural Search, Paid Media, and Social Media and hence have the greatest share of consideration when consumers go to Google UK to make searches pertaining to dual fuel, gas, electricity and energy. Computer (laptops/desktops) and Mobile Devices (tablets & smartphones) splits are given for each.

Notes:

*Natural/Organic Search - Listings in search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms
**Paid Media - an Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market.