Google is planning a shift in its AdWords strategy as it adapts to the sharp rise in smartphones use.

As well as scaling its existing programmes to the smaller mobile screen size, the firm will seek to deepen customer engagement on smartphones, as well as provide marketers with better data on the effect of their advertising.

Jerry Dischler, VP of product management at Google AdWords, wrote on the firm’s blog: "Mobile has forever changed the ways people engage with the world around them – from the way we shop to the way we communicate.

"Because we can be online anywhere at any time, we count on information being immediately available and relevant.

"This expectation has changed how people make decisions and has created tremendous opportunities for marketers."

Smartphone users are expected to number 2 billion by 2016, according to data from the research firm eMarketer, with the figure thought likely to rise to 2.5 billion by 2018, or a third of the projected world population.

A survey conducted by Ipsos also showed that 91% of smartphone users now use their phones for ideas whilst carrying out a task, such as looking up recipes while preparing a meal.

Full details of the AdWords changes will be announced in a livestream on the Inside AdWords blog on May 5.