The Golden Hat

For any company looking to expand their digital market share I can make no greater recommendation than to look into mobile search. This is not to say that traditional desktop search should be mitigated in terms of importance. Ongoing efforts should continue to be made to innovate for traditional search because the industry is so dynamic. But if you’re looking for a fresh channel of consumers, a new way to reach them, and a competitive edge that’s going to put you at the forefront of a growing avenue in search marketing and digital commerce then mobile search is as good as it gets. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Mobile devices currently outnumber desktop and laptop devices world-wide by a ratio of nearly 20:1. Not only are mobile devices more omnipresent than they’re gaudier counterpart but their product turn-over rate is more accelerated, helping usher in more technologically capable devices that are better able to render websites. The mobile search target population is to massive to dismiss.

2. Mobile users exhibit different browsing and searching patterns and preferences than traditional desktop or laptop users. Minimized functionality on mobile devices, smaller keypads and other device-related differences help dictate a users behavior. Taping into a mobile audience will give your company the benefit of learning more about your customer. You may find striking differences or intriguing similarities behind your customers wants, needs and habits that they exhibit when using a desktop device versus a mobile device. The knowledge you gain from your mobile users can only help you better understand them, and ultimately gear your business to provide what they want and need.

3. Mobile means competitive advantage. It would be unfortunate to lose customers to competitors because your competitor made the investment in a mobile-ready website and optimized the site for improved visibility. Search marketing is simply a game of real-estate but in a digital world. The search results page, content network advertisers, industry vertical websites, etc. all offer digital media “space” that needs to be filled. The mobile device is another location for you to plot your digital property and generate business. If you don’t fill the spot, then someone else will.

I know, the above reasons aren’t the most “scientific” or data driven. But they make sense. Mobile search though is so new that I’m not sure I can even find the data I need to support such an argument. Ideologically however it makes sense and I think the term “risk” doesn’t apply to suggesting an investment in mobile media. Not much is needed to get your company up and running on mobile devices. The upside seems so much greater than the downside. So, go mobile

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The New York Times had an interesting article today about the future of the Web and the inevitable expansion of Mobile Search. There were those of us screaming “Go Mobile!” even a couple of years ago, long before the iPhone slapped us in the face and welcomed us to the world of mobile capabilities. Some research suggests that Mobile Search ad spend could climb upwards of $2.2 billion by 2010. Considering the current economy I’m not so sure that the push for online omnipresence by many major brands and companies will expand that rapidly. I’m no expert, nor am I a statistician, so what do I know? However, even if mobile search grows half as fast as the forecasts suggest we can still expect a multi-billion dollar mobile ad market within the next 5-7 years.

If you haven’t begun thinking about a mobile Web strategy, then perhaps you should start to.

Google, Yahoo! and MSN have all embarked on developing mobile search tools, functionality, guidelines and resources. Today though I chose to focus on Yahoo! Go 3.0 Beta. In the past I think I’ve been partial to Google (who isn’t?) yet I want to give Yahoo! some much needed love - and by love I mean blogging.

So what is Yahoo! Go 3.0 Beta? In Yahoo!’s own words, Go 3.0 is an all-in-one solution for anyone with a mobile phone. Go let’s you “send an email, upload photos, download a map, search for answers, check stock quotes, or get breaking news…” Basically, think of it is your iGoogle but on your phone - but it’s Yahoo! At a glance you can view how many new emails you have, updated news snippets, photos recently posted by your friends in social media, and all sorts of other widgets that help you customize the information supported by Go 3.0 Beta. If you’re an SEO’er trying to leverage widgets for branding, traffic, and possibly even link value then make sure you don’t forget about mobile widgets as well.

Yahoo! also lets users take a test drive of Go 3.0 on their desktop to get a feel for the look and functionality. Check out the Go 3.0 demo here.

With compatibility on over 270 phones, Yahoo! Go is a sure bet. With bugs inherent in anything that’s Beta I wouldn’t worry if you encounter some issues. Just make sure you report these or else they’ll never get corrected. If you’re more tech savvy than the average Joe then check out their developer’s section for information on mobile capabilities with Yahoo!.

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If you’re thinking about launching a mobile-ready version of your website then there are some fundamental rules you want to keep in mind to make the site optimized for your mobile audience. Follow these rules to be in good with Google and other major search engines:

1. Route users to a dedicated mobile version of your site using some standard PHP commands. Check out these sample PHP commands.

2. Use a valid markup language such as XHTML Basic and XHTML Mobile Profile. If the wrong markup language is selected then your site may not render correctly on the mobile device.

3. Select a DOCTYPE and XML header and identify character encoding. For example XHTML Basic 1.0 and UTF-8 encoding.

4. Validate the markup language used. You can do so via the w3c site, however you should ideally validate the markup language for mobile specific validation.

5. Use a linear layout to minimize or mitigate the need for horizontal navigation since it is highly user-unfriendly and challenging to do on some mobile devices.

6. Minimize or limit the use of tables.

7. Use mostly HTML code to keep the code “light” and minimal. You want the design to be simple, text-based, and straight forward.

8. Use thorough internal linking to make sure that all pages are linked together. Navigating back and forth on a mobile device can be challenging and time consuming as well.

9. Use Mobile Sitemaps to notify engines of the mobile site architecture.

10. Combine your mobile search campaign with your local search campaign, when possible, to ensure cross-marketing of both efforts since they are so interrelated.

In a nutshell you want to keep your design basic with interoperability in mind. The increase in mobile devices supporting web browsing and browsers turning to their cell phones for more functionality requires that many sites now have a bullet proof mobile search campaign. You can visit most of the major search engines, especially Google Mobile for advice on mobile search, or the mobile division of w3c for more technical details on guidelines and best practices.

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