Search is a major indicator of consumer behavior in China, according to Darren Jacobs, head of global digital media at the China-based firm online marketing technology platform iClick Interactive Asia.
"If search goes up, this means the brand is popular," said the self-confessed 'searchie' at the Mumbrella 360 conference in Singapore. This is especially so for the Chinese market, where Baidu PPC – the country's leading search engine - has a much higher average click-through rate at 1%, versus Google at 0.2%.
"What does this mean? It means that Chinese consumers like to be advertised to - they see it...