• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 6, 2015

More searches on Google now take place on mobile devices compared with desktop in more than 10 countries, including the United States and Canada, the company said Tuesday. Some 91% look up information in the middle of a task such as comparing running shoes in a store, or looking up a receipt while cooking.

Mobile queries include mobile browser-based searches and those from Google’s mobile search apps, yet the company did not break out each. The journey, now broken into micro moments, indicates that consumers turning to devices to learn, buy or accomplish a task require new tools. Many of those journeys take place in apps.

Some 40% of smartphone users look for apps in app stores, but not all find them there, according to Google's research. Of those who downloaded an app based on an ad viewed on their smartphone, 50% said did so through a paid search advertisement.

One in four app users discover an app through search -- one reason why Google indexes apps in its search engine through deep links. Google now encourages Android developers to build deep links into the app. Google now has more than 30 billion links within apps indexed.

A variety of ads prompt a download. In fact, 49% named social ads as those prompting a download of an app, followed by 47%, banner or graphic ad in apps; 45% banner or graphic ad on a Web site; and 43%, video ads, per research from Google and Ipsos.

Getting individuals to install an app is one thing, and getting them to use it is completely different. Still, surveying 8,470 people with smartphones who had used apps in the previous week, Google discovered that one in four installed apps do not get used.