So, OK, mainly this run on Google stock was due to the printers submitting the results document a few hours early, and without Larry Page's 'calming' interpretation of the results quote in the executive summary. It wasn't helped that Google's numbers didn't hit analyst expectations, of course.
But, digging into the numbers, a key reason for the revenue and profit miss can be laid fairly and squarely at mobile's door.
Google have reported a fall in "cost per click" – the amount that advertisers pay when people click on Google's adverts. This despite (or maybe because) in June this year, Google merged AdMob into AdWords so clients can integrate their PPC campaigns automatically.
Google said that such revenues fell by 15% year on year and by 3% compared with the second quarter, even while the number of "paid clicks" grew 33% year on year.
If we combine this with the knowledge (from Google) that over 50% of all mobile internet sessions start with search, and that mobile search is an increasing percentage of all search behaviour, then we can extrapolate that there is a lot less money flowing through adwords on mobile - and when it does flow, it's a lot cheaper than the more grown-up desktop version.
This is down to supply and demand - without the mobile websites in place, there is no demand from the majority of clients to spend money on mobile search, driving customers to a non-mobile website. So the keyword costs are lower (for now - take advantage whilst you can!).
It is quite possible - and we do the maths with clients to highlight this - to prove that the cost of optimising a website can pay for itself relatively quickly by the related initiation of a mobile adwords campaign which will provide immediate increases in (mobile) search reach and traffic generated will be a fraction the cost per click compared to the same keyword/ phrase on desktop.
More traffic, arriving more cheaply and with improved conversion = mobile performance.
It would be remiss, of course, to avoid pointing out that search also dropped this quarter for the first time since people measured the amount of online searching that was taking place. This is put down to the fact that some search activity is now happening within app stores, some of it has been diverted by direct links on adverts etc (QR codes and their ilk) and, mainly, because the sites/services that people use time and time again (and usually "search" for with their google tool bar on their browser home page) are now sat on their phone desktop screens as apps. I don't need to search for the train time website anymore, I can just open the app.
And STILL so many companies out there can't see the need to optimise, or it's "on the list" - but not til mid-2013 (or beyond).
