Articles in The 'mobile search' Tag

Desktop Search Spend Continues to Plummet – Time to Kick Your Mobile Strategy into Full Gear

by Lauren Owens

Last week, eMarketer reported that desktop search spend will drop by 83% this year, as mobile continues to take over. If you’re running paid search ads, this means that it’s time to review your mobile strategy. Are your website, landing pages and shopping cart functionalities mobile friendly? Are your ads optimized for mobile? And, where else should you be – besides search – to take full advantage of the mobile user?Read More

Get Your Mobile House in Order in 2013

by Lauren Owens

The research firm emarketer released so-called M-Commerce numbers for 2012 last week, and the numbers were staggering. Emarketer estimates that mobile shopping jumped 81% overall last year to nearly $25 billion, capturing 15% of all online sales.

And that’s just the beginning. Emarketer estimates that sales from tablets and mobile phones combined will jump to more than 37 billion this year.

This isn’t surprising when you consider that mobile customers are everywhere. When they’re not “second-screening,” they’re shopping for shoes while pumping gas, looking for a broker while enjoying a latte, or sending flowers while waiting in line at the bank.

In order to take advantage of these trends, you not only need a mobile website, you have to make sure that people can find it.

That’s why it’s time to get your mobile house in order.

If you don’t have a mobile website, get one. If have one, make sure it’s search engine optimized, while ensuring your mobile content is user-friendly.

From there, make sure potential customers can find you by encouraging social and review site users to check in, running ads that target mobile devices, and sending them to simple, user-friendly landing pages with click-to-buy-capability where applicable.

Do these things and you stand the chance of having a very, very good year.

Mobile Site Best Practices

by Lauren Owens

Mobile devices are changing the way that users interact with the web. This means that your site has to be ready for the onslaught of mobile users who want fast, digestible information at their fingertips. But what makes a winning mobile website?

In a word, brevity. The best mobile sites offer limited content that focuses on key information and calls to action. To accomplish this, it’s important that you:

• Limit scrolling

• Use bullets

• Use white space to give your users’ eyes a break

The best mobile sites help bridge the digital divide by turning passive users into living, breathing customers. They do this by offering:

• Special features such as check-in offers and mobile-only deals

• Click-to-call functionality

• GPS functionality

Of course, you have to make it easy for users to find your mobile site in the first place. Unlike desktop search, where content is king, mobile SEO is all about design. Specifically, Google is looking for mobile friendly design that offers users the best possible on-page experience. Google has indicated that the most optimized mobile sites will be built using responsive design and device-specific HTML.

Outside of following Google’s best practices, you can drive traffic to your mobile site by:

• Linking the QR codes on your printed ad copy to your mobile site

• Making your website location friendly by adding location information directly on your homepage

None of this means that keywords are out. The content on your mobile site — however limited — should be optimized for your business, purpose and audience. That’s a best practice that will never go out of style.