See Mobile Run

Mike Siers - July 5, 2011

Google has seen mobile search grow at an exponential rate, increasing five-fold worldwide in just the past two years. This is a rate comparable to the early days of Google’s desktop search. Because of this, Google has released new updates to their mobile search page, which now makes mobile searching faster, easier, and more intuitive. Google has introduced features like autocomplete, Voice Search, Google Goggles, Google Instant and Instant Previews.

With continuous updates being rolled out, this is just the beginning of what is to come. You can gain a more in depth look into Google’s mobile focus by visiting Inside Search. As you will see, the mobile world offers new marketing possibilities that combine the physical and virtual worlds, enable webmasters to streamline processes, and allow businesses to become more interactive with their customers.

A good example of how Google is adapting their search platform to the mobile world is by their new icon features. On Google’s mobile search page, visitors are now offered the option to simply click a respective icon to get instant, local results. In the image below, you’ll see an example of using the restaurant search icon:  

On the results page, users will see a map with markers for local establishments in conjunction with their current location. Scrolling through the results, the map remains at the top of the page and adjusts automatically to the listings.

Such improvements to mobile search are sure to mean that even more people will turn to their phones to discover solutions to their queries. For businesses that have been wavering on initiating a mobile marketing strategy, now is the time. The opportunity is wide open to take the lessons from the desktop age and combine them with the creative marketing potential that lies ahead.

I, for one, am very excited about this new frontier and look forward to helping businesses develop a strategy to hit the ground running. We will keep you posted on future developments of the mobile arena.