Mobile Search, what you need to know. Picture this: you’re stuck in Spain with thousands of other passengers. You need to get home but there are no flights. What are the alternatives? You pull out your mobile phone and start searching for buses, Eurostar trains, and cross channel ferries. If all else fails and you have to stay put, there are always local hotels. But how many bus companies, ferry operators or hotel chains have mobile search campaigns running?
Of course, mobile search marketing isn’t just reserved for natural disasters and strikes. Why you need to take mobile search seriously: · Over the next four years, it is expected that searches made on Google from mobile devices will overtake searches from desktop computers. · easyJet and BA, to name but two, run highly successful mobile campaigns that are driving real sales. · All new Google product developments are now built with mobile use in mind. Developing your mobile search strategy 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Want to know more about Google AdWords? Estimate: Google Mobile Search Market Share Near 100% Let’s be cautious about running too far with these numbers, but Royal Pingdom (using data from StatCounter) has reported/estimated Google’s global mobile search market share to be almost 100% Google is clearly dominant in mobile search across smartphones (and feature phones). However these numbers may not be completely accurate.
For example, the chart above shows PC and mobile search market share according to StatCounter. But while the general PC search share numbers may reflect selected markets (e.g., UK) they’re not accurate for the US and a number of other places around the world. I’ve conducted mobile user surveys and seen plenty of third party data over the past two years that suggests the case isn’t quite this lopsided. It’s quite possible that Google’s lead has accelerated — especially as Android devices have sold better and better — but I’m somewhat skeptical it’s this extreme.
“If we have a billion people using Android, you think we can’t make money from that?” The Algorithm Ate My Lunch: Responding to Catastrophic Ranking Changes. One of the most unpleasant situations an in-house SEO can face is a major search engine algorithm change that results in a massive downward shift in rankings. Some webmasters have reported search engine traffic losses of up to 90% as a result of Google’s “Mayday” update, and similar catastrophes have been attached to every algorithm update significant enough to have been named.
There is only one course of action open to you in such situations: figure out what the problem is and fix it. While this can be a difficult and harrowing prospect, the good news is that any issue that resulted in such negative consequences can eventually be corrected. It may even present the opportunity to make positive changes to your site that will not only see your rankings restored but, in the long run, surpass their previous heights. Don’t panic As every search professional knows, high organic search engine rankings are not achieved overnight. Okay, panic a little Indexing issues. Site changes. Penalties. How To Transform Search Behavior Into A Great Search Experience. You’ve done your research. You understand how consumers search for your products and services.
Now, what do you do with this insight? In my previous article about Giving Customers What They Want, I outlined an approach to creating a search behavior model that can be used to develop your information architecture and your website content strategy. In practice, these are important first steps required to develop a world-class website. Now that you have this insight, what do you do next? A critical task is the evaluation and selection of a technology that enables the behavior model and maximizes the user’s search experience. There are tools that excel at maximizing the best human experience. You’ve seen them at work at Amazon.com and dozens of other shopping sites: search results are clustered by price, feature, color or other facet.
Last time, I built a consumer search behavior model for Home Improvement where I showed how to develop a content architecture using search behavior? Facebook and SEO | Search Engine Optimization | Search Engines. Are you spending valuable time thinking about FaceBook and SEO? If so, then read on my friend and we'll have a look-see if that time has been well spent.
First things first, I don't really like to think of FB as a search engine per se. At least not a web search as we're traditionally accustomed to. This is not a cat fight between Google and FaceBook. A traditional search engine crawls the web, locates, indexes and retrieves information. FaceBook is more of a 'site search' application than a (web) search engine. Ever since they announced the open graph and search enhancements we've been hearing more and more about the world of FB search and of course, optimization for same. What we know about OpenGraph Ok, so from what we do know the results are being partially ranked/scored based on 'likes'. We also have a bit of semantic code at play here, not dissimilar to what we know already with RDFa/micro-formats. What's the Value of FaceBook SEO? That my friends, is the real question here. Bing???
Google.