• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 3, 2016

Yahoo will bet its turnaround partly on mobile search. CEO Marissa Mayer told analysts and investors during the fourth-quarter 2016 earnings call Tuesday that as consumer behavior shifts toward contextual search queries, Yahoo sees "the biggest opportunity" in mobile search.

The focus turns toward mobile search investments and strategizing how search should change.

"It's much more about your personal information," Mayer says. "How can we make you more efficient, more effective, and know where you might want to be going, how to get you there most efficiently, what apps can help you accomplish the task that you ultimately want to accomplish?"

Mobile, video and native ads -- both display and search -- and social media drove growth for Yahoo by nearly 26% year-over-year to $472 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. 

eMarketer estimates that in 2016, U.S. advertisers will spend $42 billion reaching consumers with mobile search and display advertising, as well as content, to all types of mobile Internet-connected devices.

The innovation, however, will need to come from mobile search advertising opportunities other than on smartphones. Devices like smartphones, laptops, and tablets will drive about 92% of global mobile data traffic by 2020 -- down from 94% in 2015, according to the 10th Annual Cisco Visual Network Index released Wednesday.

Machine-to-machine traffic, like the type used to connect and transfer data across Internet-connected smartwatches, will represent 7% of global mobile data traffic by 2020, up from 3% in 2015. Basic handsets will account for 1% of global mobile data traffic by 2020, down from 3% in 2015. 

Globally, 67% of mobile devices and connections will be "smart" by 2020, up from 36% in 2015. By 2020, Cisco estimates 5.5 billion mobile users, representing 70% of the global population. Global mobile data traffic, which includes advertising, will reach 30.6 exabytes per month, up from 3.7 exabytes in 2015.