These days it seems nearly everyone is using some sort of mobile communications device to connect to the internet. Cell phones, PDAs, iPhones – all are becoming more and more popular with today’s busy, modern populace.
With a single small device, anyone can get connected and stay in touch with their social media network, news stories, videos, and content on the internet.
Have you thought about how this impacts your internet marketing methods? If you haven’t, you should. The way mobile device users view and search for online content is different than those using a regular computer or laptop.
This means that your website needs to be optimised not only for the user of a mobile communications device, but for the way Mobile Search engines work.
How And What Mobile Users Search
One thing to consider is that mobile device users have a very tiny keyboard. When they perform an internet search, they are going to use abbreviated terms and phrases. They are unlikely to use long tail keywords. For instance, if they are looking for a place to buy a specific product, the search will probably be nothing more than the product name and the city in which the user is located: “TV Perth” rather than “HD television set Perth discount retailers”.
A second factor is that these searchers expect relevant results to be shown on the first page – they are not going to scroll through several pages of results without changing the keywords. The first page on a mobile device is far smaller than on a standard-sized screen, so page ranking becomes even more important. Think about this; if the standard desktop user receives about 10 listings per page, on a mobile device this could be as little as four. If your site doesn’t make it into the top four results, chances are that people performing a Mobile Search will never find it.
Third, the subject matter of searches is different. Mobile users tend to most often seek music downloads, ringtones, navigational help, entertainment, sports, local information, shopping, and general reference. Generally, they are limited by time and need, in-depth searches for general topics of interest are probably not at the top of their priority list. Mobile users most often want information that will offer immediate help.
Optimising For Mobile Devices
What this information means for the internet marketer is that optimising a website for Mobile Search requires more than just working on the back end by downsizing current content and using different coding to comply with mobile standards. In fact, there are several things you must do to be successful at reaching this new target market. These include:
• PPC campaigns that focus on the shortest combinations of appropriate keywords.
• Ensuring content is completely relevant to those shorter keywords combos.
• Doing everything possible to achieve page one rankings on the search engines.
• Creating content that is relevant to the mobile searcher; i.e. that focuses on the topics listed above.
• Creating relevant content that is easily identifiable to search engines.
• Including the site in local directories.
• Using geo-specific keywords and meta tags.
Mobile communications device users represent a new market and some great opportunities for internet marketers. Thinking like your target audience can help you reach more of them!
Have a most outstanding day.
Sean RasmussenAussie Internet Marketing
www.AussieSEO.com 2010
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hi Sean,
There’s a lot more to optimising for mobile search than I realised. It’s clearly critical that you have those top three page rankings if you’re to have any chance at all. And, you have to be ranking for highly competitive terms.
It seems like people using mobile search are more likely to search for certain subject areas than others. It seems like they’re all about needing information and needing it now. Do you think the iPad will change how we optimise for mobile search?
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