Dec 12, 2012 at 1:07pm ET by Greg Sterling

Just when you thought competition in search was effectively over, it starts to get interesting again. Over the past two weeks I've spoken to no less than four companies that say they are trying to reinvent "mobile search" for smartphones or tablets. I would almost guarantee there are more out there as well. These companies either believe Google is vulnerable in mobile or say they're trying to bring a fresh approach to content discovery that goes beyond what they believe has been done to date on mobile devices. A More Visual Approach Last week I wrote about KickVox, a new mobile search a [...]

Mobile SEO Is Not A Myth: 8 Popular Claims Refuted

Dec 10, 2012 at 1:38pm ET by Bryson Meunier

Last year at this time, I refuted 7 myths in mobile SEO, saying mobile SEO isn’t a myth, but there are myths in mobile SEO. As we near the end of 2012, there are still too many SEOs who put mobile SEO in the same category as Santa Claus and his elves: good story but entirely mythical (sorry, kids!). I’m seeing mobile search and mobile SEO on too many “let’s stop talking about this next year” lists, and I think that’s a shame. To illustrate why, here are eight of the most popular reasons given for mobile SEO’s nonexistence, refuted: 1. Mobile Search Behavior The Same As Desk [...]

Nokia Partners With Xyo To Power “Replacement App” Search For Windows Phones

Dec 6, 2012 at 1:33pm ET by Greg Sterling

One of the persistent criticisms of Windows tablets and Windows Phones is that they just don't have the app selection of Android or iOS. Microsoft says however that Windows Phones currently have access to 120,000 apps. Nokia adds,"Of the top 50 apps available for iPhone and Android, 46 of them are available" on the Windows Phone platform. In an interesting and creative move Nokia has partnered with app search engine Xyo to help you discover "replacement apps" for Windows Phones if particular iOS or Android apps aren't available (yet) for Windows Phones. The site is directed at iPhon [...]

KickVox Takes Aim At “10 Blue Links” With New Visual Mobile Search App

Dec 5, 2012 at 8:08am ET by Greg Sterling

A few years ago VCs and entrepreneurs believed that there was an opportunity to disrupt online search, to offer a more compelling or next-generation experience. Companies like Powerset, which was sold to Microsoft, were among a class of search insurgents that spoke broadly about the opportunity to go beyond what Google was doing. That battle for the hearts and minds of users on the PC was essentially lost. The fight has now shifted to mobile with the advent of Siri, "personal assistants," ambient discovery and predictive search. Google is evolving along these lines as well with enhanced v [...]

Mobile Search Beyond Google: In App Search Tools

Dec 3, 2012 at 2:49pm ET by Sherwood Stranieri

A couple months back, I covered the rise of a new generation of Windows Phones, and how they will slowly bring more mobile search market share to Bing. But, there's more to mobile search than just Google and Bing. The app stores for iOS, Android and Windows offer countless of downloadable apps that offer built-in search engines. Some of these apps are from major players in their respective verticals and may have a more direct impact on your business than the general search engines. Let's look at a few business types and the apps that provide good search opportunities. [caption id="att [...]

Auto Industry Benefiting From Growth In Mobile Search

Nov 26, 2012 at 3:59pm ET by Michael Martin

Approximately one-third of all search traffic for auto industry related terms comes from mobile devices. This underscores why it is critical for auto manufacturers, local dealerships, reviewers and local automotive resources to render their sites properly for nearly half of their current traffic, but to also be at the forefront of getting higher visibility for an ever-increasing share of mobile searchers. Automotive Mobile Search Data Just before Thanksgiving, in partnership with Nielsen data, Telemetrics released an insightful study on car-related mobile searching. The study revealed [...]

Nokia’s HERE Maps For iOS A Disappointment

Nov 21, 2012 at 12:55pm ET by Greg Sterling

Nokia has many fans around the world who believe that its mapping service is the best one out there. And in selected ways it might be. Nokia offered "offline" maps well before Google. The company is also the go-to mapping provider for third parties, such as Yahoo and Yandex. In addition, Nokia plays an increasingly important role on the back end for Bing Maps both on Windows Phone 8 devices and on the PC. Nokia subsidiary Navteq was once one of the primary data providers for Google Maps until Nokia acquired the company for roughly $8 billion in 2007. All this suggests that Nokia's spl [...]

Does Mobile Search Matter In A Multiscreen World?

Nov 12, 2012 at 9:14am ET by Bryson Meunier

This is my 25th mobile search column and my 30th post for Search Engine Land in almost four years. Mobile search has evolved quite a bit since I started writing this column in 2009, and even more since the iPhone turned everything on its head in 2007. In my first column, I argued that the iPhone didn’t kill mobile SEO, saying that it instead made mobile searching mainstream, and ushered in a whole new type of searching that Google and SEOs would have to account for at some point. I still believe this is true today, almost four years after that first article; but, there are many still w [...]

Last Minute Tips To Use Mobile Search To Ramp-Up Holiday Sales & Beyond

Nov 5, 2012 at 12:53pm ET by Sherwood Stranieri

This holiday shopping season is predicted to the the biggest ever for mobile commerce. A new survey from Deloitte expects that holiday sales from mobile devices will hit $36 billion this year, accounting for 5.1% of the $925 billion online total. Your Holiday To Do List So, if you have a mobile store up and running, you'll want to make sure your mobile store is ready to attract, inform, and convert incoming shoppers. Here are some great tips from past columns that should be part of your to-do list: If you have a responsive design mobile site, you'll want to take a second look at the Tune [...]

The Most Popular App Store Keywords From Chomp & Google Play

Oct 15, 2012 at 12:03pm ET by Bryson Meunier

SEOs focusing on Web search may have had a Panda update and an EMD update at the beginning of October, but SEOs focusing on mobile and app search have had their own share of turmoil in the last few months. In February, there was a major spam crackdown by Apple which resulted in many developers being banned from the app store for things like auto reviews. At the end of June, there was a small ranking change which weighed keywords less heavily and focused on ratings and downloads. Last month, there was iOS 6, which transformed the app store rankings into a horizontal scrolling card di [...]

Foursquare Takes On Yelp With New Homepage Search Box

Oct 15, 2012 at 9:12am ET by Greg Sterling

Perhaps it was always inevitable that Foursquare would shift its emphasis from location-based social networking to local search. Indeed, the site has been moving in this direction for quite some time, and very self-consciously for the better part of the past year. This afternoon the company is rolling out a new PC homepage for users who aren't logged in: it prominently features a search box. In doing so Foursquare takes aim at Yelp as its chief rival in the local space. And in some ways the move completes Foursquare's evolution from a more narrow and novelty oriented friend finder, game and [...]

How Location & Small Screen Size Impact Search Behavior On Mobile Devices

Sep 26, 2012 at 4:13pm ET by Paras Chopra

It is no news that mobile devices are rapidly taking over the Web! Latest estimates peg the share of mobile traffic from 10% to 20% of the total Web traffic. Popular websites like Quora and Facebook are claiming that about one quarter of their traffic comes from mobile devices (including tablets). With more and more people having their primary Web experience on mobile devices, this platform cannot be ignored. In fact, companies that innovate specifically for mobile devices are the ones who will have an early lead for the next couple of years. Eventually, every company will have to have a [...]

iPhone 5 Won’t Change Mobile Search, But Can Nokia?

Sep 24, 2012 at 1:30pm ET by Sherwood Stranieri

With the launch of the iPhone 5, perhaps the most eagerly awaited electronics launch ever, speculation has been rampant on the impact it'll have on the mobile phone market, on Apple's future as an innovator post-Steve Jobs, and on the coolness of the next gadget to get dropped into your pocket. But from a mobile search perspective, iPhone 5 is pretty much more of the same. A more effective version of Siri will be standard in the new phone's iOS 6 - but that was a game changer from the iPhone 4s. iPhone 5 has certainly caused a sales storm, pushing more smartphones into more pockets. B [...]

Apple App Search Shows Only One Result At A Time

Sep 20, 2012 at 10:23am ET by Barry Schwartz

iOS 6 was released yesterday and the new App Store and App Store search results are now in the hand of many iOS users. With that, Apple has changed the search results to display only one search result at a time. Yes, when you use the App Store to search for apps on your iOS device, Apple will show a new user interface that only shows you one search result at a time. Developers and users are calling this broken because many iOS users won't bother to look beyond the first result to find the best possible app. Here are screen shots of the new search results interface on iOS 6 on an iPhone 4 [...]

Report: Highest Mobile CTRs Where User 1-2 Miles From Business

Sep 14, 2012 at 11:15am ET by Greg Sterling

Local search provider and ad network YP (formerly the advertising and directory services division of AT&T) released search and activity data collected from consumers and advertisers on its network in a Q3 Local Insights Report. The report contains findings drawn from its online, mobile and IPTV properties. The YP Local Ad Network represents "573 million searches and 10 billion impressions." The following are the top 10 overall local search categories: Restaurants Financial Services Beauty Services Auto Repair and Services Real estate Physicians & Surgeons Auto Par [...]

Pew: 50 Percent Have Cleared Smartphone Search History

Sep 5, 2012 at 1:57pm ET by Greg Sterling

There's a cat and mouse game going on between developers, publishers and mobile users. The former group is often trying to "connect the dots" and gather as much data and information on user behavior and, in some cases, individual activity as possible. By contrast, mobile phone owners (especially smartphone owners) are often trying to thwart or very selectively allow that data collection. The Pew Internet Project just released survey data revealing that mobile users may be a great deal more sensitive to privacy issues than most developers and publishers think. The survey was conducted in Mar [...]

New iOS 6 App Store Search Results Look Like Chomp

Aug 31, 2012 at 11:21am ET by Greg Sterling

Earlier this year Apple acquired Chomp a site and app dedicated to app search and discovery. That purchase was a signal that Apple was going to revamp its app store. That overhaul has apparently happened in iOS 6, which will become available to the public later this year. Some developers are now seeing new-look app search results (see video below) that essentially mirror the "card" layout of Chomp, which is still operating as a stand-alone site and app. However, since the Apple acquisition, Chomp is no longer supporting Android. Here's a current screenshot from Chomp: Here's a scr [...]

Study Suggests Search Engines Not As Popular On Mobile Devices

Aug 8, 2012 at 11:07am ET by Greg Sterling

Google is seeing huge mobile search growth and search engines are widely used by mobile device owners. However a new study confirms that search is not the center of the mobile universe, as it is online. I discuss many of the top-line findings of the study, conducted by Nielsen and commissioned by Telmetrics and xAd, in my post at Marketing Land: Study: 50 Percent Of Mobile Queries In Travel, Restaurants, Autos Result In A Purchase. In a finding I didn't talk about in that post, the data reflect that tablet and smartphone users (in Travel, Autos and Restaurants) tend to go directly to websit [...]

Google: Nearly 50 Percent Of Olympics-Related Searches Coming From Mobile Devices

Aug 7, 2012 at 5:51pm ET by Greg Sterling

Even though large sporting events such as the Super Bowl have seen their share of mobile traffic, the current Olympic Games are the first truly multi-platform global sporting event. During the first two days of the Olympics, smartphone and tablet searches approached 50 percent of overall search query volume according to Google. In one case, Japan, it exceeded it (55 percent). Australia, the UK and US all saw mobile (tablet + smartphones) query volumes reaching into the high 40s: 45 percent, 46 percent and 47 percent respectively of total search queries. Google said, "at some moments [...]

Recce Offers Winning Take On 3D Mapping

Aug 3, 2012 at 11:47am ET by Greg Sterling

The most interesting development in digital maps may not in fact be the forthcoming introduction of Apple maps in iOS 6. It may instead be the recent launch of mapping app Recce (pronounced "rekki," which is short for reconnaissance). The company was previously called Mapply, but a trademark conflict motivated the company to change its name. Recce creates 3D maps through automated rendering. It layers in data from multiple sources. However it's only available for iOS right now. The difference between what Recce is doing and Google Maps/Earth or Apple's new 3D mapping is that the maps hav [...]

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