A class of mobile “help” or “answer engines” has arisen as an alternative to traditional search engines. They hold out the promise more efficient, relevant or direct responses to queries than search engines can provide on the small screen. In several cases they involve the use of live human agents or a community of users to answer questions. Examples include Aardvark, ChaCha and kgb Answers. This “community answers” capability is also nascent within Facebook and Twitter.

Also in this category is the yet to launch “personal assistant” Siri, which taps artificial intelligence rather that real people and is starting on the iPhone but will extend to the PC as well.

ChaCha, which is free and ad supported, can accept text or voice queries and provides a text response back. It uses part-time human agents to answer questions. ChaCha began life as a “social search engine” on the PC and morphed into text-based mobile answers service. More recently the company launched mobile and online coupons to diversify its revenues.

Competitor kgb is also text-based but today launched iPhone and Android apps that offer a game-like experience around the core answers offering. Its model requires consumers to pay $0.99 per question and it doesn’t have ads. However the iPhone and Android apps provide access to a range of features and content for free.

Peer-to-peer help or answer engine Aardvark, which now is calling itself a social search engine, has multiple entry points: Web, Twitter, IM and the iPhone.

Mosio was also an early entrant in this segment but has shifted its focus somewhat to the enterprise market. It still maintains a mobile answer community however.

There are and have been many “Q&A” sites on the PC, exemplified by Yahoo Answers. There are also numerous “social search engines.” They’ve had varying degrees of success but are not widely regarded as true alternatives to Google, Yahoo or Bing. However on a mobile device, where there is less screen space and less patience, there is an opportunity to develop a differentiated offering. Accordingly, these mobile answers services are more directly — or by default — positioned as alternatives to search engines. And consumers may be willing to consider them.

I recently did an informal comparison of a number of these services and Google and found that there was no clear winner; each had strengths but none emerged as a clear victor. Yet these mobile,  human-powered competitors must provide a richer, faster or more engaging experience than conventional search engines more generally if they hope to succeed over the long term.

SEMPO yesterday released a “POV” white paper that seeks to orient search marketers to the growing mobile market, mobile SEO and mobile paid search in particular. It cites the dramatic growth of mobile web usage and anticipated future growth in arguing that search marketers now need to take mobile seriously. Developed by SEMPO’s Emerging Technologies Committee, the report asks (and seeks to answer) several key questions:

• What mobile channels are available to search marketers and which show the most promise?
• What are the prospects for search, particularly local search, on mobile devices, and how is the landscape changing?
• What steps can marketers take to effectively target and reach consumers using mobile?

The report generally advises:

• Create usable content designed around the specific wants, needs, and usage patterns of mobile consumers.
• Redirect users to that content via SEO and paid search efforts calibrated to the smaller screen real estate available on mobile devices.
• Location, location, location: remember that mobile is about location, specifically where the mobile user is at any given moment.  Take into account  the specific behaviors and needs that accompany on-the-go Internet access when crafting advertising messages.
• Brands that value their site stickiness and hard-earned search equity should create versions of their desktop Web content synthesized specifically for the wants and needs of the mobile user.
• Marketers need to segment the market by demographics and mobile device traffic.  Mobile is not a one-size-fits-all proposition.

Overall it’s a very helpful primer on mobile marketing and search marketing to mobile device users, for those just starting to think about it. The report provides concrete best practices advice, identifies challenges and differences between mobile and PC SEO and paid search. It also segments the audience by device and demographics.

Earlier this year, SEMPO released its annual findings on the State of Search Marketing, based on data collected in December, 2008. It found that just under half of survey respondents were interested in mobile search marketing. There was also a mixed picture in terms of location targeting on mobile devices. I suspect these numbers would be much higher just nine months later.

At SMX East there will be several panels directly or indirectly addressing mobile, with one directly about mobile search marketing.

This morning mobile search provider and ad network JumpTap launched “tapMatch” a new PPC marketplace for mobile phones. It accommodates both display and text ads — including both search and contextual advertising — across major carriers and a range of partner sites in the US and Europe. According to the company it offers the most advanced targeting capabilities of any mobile ad marketplace currently available. One can target by a wide range of parameters that include content, keywords, demographics, handset type, carrier, location and publishers.

The following video illustrates the creation of a mobile banner campaign:

JumpTap began its existence in 2005 as a white label search provider to help carriers better compete against Google and Yahoo. While it still offers white label search in the US and Europe, the company has adapted to a changed marketplace and become an ad network with publisher partners such as NBC, Fox Mobile, AOL, Ask, E Online and numerous others.

By contrast, Google Mobile AdWords allows targeting by language, location, publisher/placement and to a limited degree smartphones (iPhone/Android) vs. non-smartphones.

Metrics firm comScore released mobile internet usage data earlier today. It indicates significant growth in the numbers of people accessing the internet from their mobile phones vs. a year ago. The company says that today there are just over 63 million mobile web users in the US and 35 percent of them are online via their handset daily.

The daily mobile internet user population has more than doubled in one year:

I’ve written up the findings in some detail on my LocalMobileSearch blog.

While the highest frequency users are on smartphones and the iPhone in particular, comScore says that 70 percent of the traffic is coming from so-called feature phones (conventional cellphones).

The fastest growing, high-volume daily mobile internet activities, according to comScore are the following:

1. Access news and information
2. Access social network or blog
3. Financial information
4. Movies
5. Business directories
6. Entertainment news

In terms of search, here’s what comScore told me about mobile search volumes (left column is 1/08 and right is 1/09):

Source: comScore (3/09)

If we were to cross reference the above data we’d probably see that these frequency numbers are tied directly to the type of handset that people own: more frequency for smartphones and the iPhone, less for more conventional cellphones. Nonetheless, these numbers are impressive and should get the attention of marketers everywhere. We should also continue to see dramatic growth in both mobile web access and search query volumes in the next several years as more and more people use mobile devices to get to the internet.

There’s more discussion on Techmeme.

If you’ve been thinking about what’s in store for 2009, join the crowd. The start of a new year always brings out the proverbial crystal ball, but perhaps this year more than most, online marketers are trying to figure out what’s around the corner.

To that end, here’s a big list of articles and blog posts where writers have shared their forecasts, predictions, and/or resolutions for the new year. A couple are (an attempt at being) humorous, some are completely serious. Either way, this might help you focus your own thinking on what’s in store for 2009.

Search Marketing

• Find Resolution: 2009 Predictions for Search Marketing
• E-Power Marketing: Where is SEM Headed in 2009?
• Search Engine Watch: What Will 2009 Bring Us?
• Michael Streko: Streko’s 2009 SEO Predictions
• Website Magazine: 2009 Web Predictions
• Search Engine Watch: Search Shifts and Predictions for 2009

Online Marketing

• Marketing Magic: 12 Marketing Resolutions for 2009
• eMarketer: eMarketer’s Predictions for 2009
• MediaTrust: The MediaTrust Crystal Ball – 2009 Predictions
• ClickZ: Digital Marketing Opportunities in 2009
• Adotas: New Year’s Resolutions for Digital Marketers
• ClickZ: ClickZ: Ten Reasons to Be Optimistic About Online in 2009
• HubSpot: Online Marketing: 2009 Predictions
• eMarketer: Seven Predictions for 2009

Social Media

• Peter Kim: Social Media Predictions 2009
• Junta42: 42+ Social Media and Content Marketing Predictions for 2009
• TwiTip: Why Twitter Will Go Mainstream in 2009
• WebMetricsGuru: 2009 Trends in Social Media
• Network Solutions: My Horrible Predictions for Social Media in 2009
• Social Media Today: 7 Social Media & Web Analytics Predictions for 2009
• Social Media Explorer: Social Media Target Strategies For A Better 2009
• Copyblogger: Blog Money: The Income Outlook for 2009
• Beyond Banner: Ten Social Resolutions for Marketers in 2009

Local/Mobile

• Greg Sterling: Prediction: Much More Mobile in 2009
• Kelsey Group: Kelsey Group Analysts Identify Key 2009 Trends to Watch in Local Media
• Web Analytics World: Predictions for Mobile in 2009
• Local Search News: Local Search in ‘09: Going Mobile
• Local SEO Guide: Local SEO Predictions 2009

Small Business

• Small Business Labs: 2009 Top 10 Small Business Trends
• Wall Street Journal: Predictions for Entrepreneurship in 2009
• Noobpreneur.com: 2009 Top 10 Small Business Ideas
• Wall Street Journal: 2009 Resolutions: Cutting Back, Taking Control

Trends

• Trendwatching: Half a Dozen Consumer Trends for 2009 (PDF)
• Tad Chef: 30 Web Trends for 2009
• MediaPost: MediaPost: Search Trends To Watch In 2009
• Compassion in Politics: Top Seven Social Media, Online Marketing, and Internet Trends for 2009
• Escalate Media: Women Online in 2009: 9 Trends to Watch in a Down Economy

Miscellaneous

• Greg Sterling: Another Prediction: Internet on TV
• Anita Campbell: Must Have Tech Tools for 2009
• John Battelle: Predictions 2009
• Louis Gray: 10 Predictions for 2009 In the World of Tech
• HubSpot: Our Resolutions for a New Year of Blogging
• Search Engine Journal: New Year’s Resolutions 2009: Business and Life Goals
• The Guardian: 100 Top Sites for the Year Ahead

Feel free to add any I missed in the comments!

Google has announced new mobile advertising options to target the iPhone, G1, and other mobile devices with full HTML web browsers.

Advertisers can now create separate campaigns that are targeted specifically toward mobile searchers with smart phones. You can write mobile-specific ads and get performance data separate from your other AdWords campaigns.

This new mobile targeting is turned on by default for current AdWords advertisers. To throttle it on or off, look for the “Device Platform” option of the “Networks and bidding” section on the “Campaign Settings” page in your account (shown above). A checkbox lets you turn this mobile targeting option on or off. Barry Schwartz reported on this about 10 days ago on Search Engine Roundtable, when some advertisers began seeing the new option in their AdWords accounts.

Maps and directions are (so far) the “killer app” for mobile, and yesterday comScore reported that mobile mapping usage is on the increase: “8 percent of American mobile subscribers and 3 percent of European subscribers accessing maps from the mobile phone in the three-month period ending May 2008. This represents a growth rate of 82 percent and 49 percent in the number of users, respectively.”

Most subscribers in the US and Europe are using mobile mapping for driving directions. And most are apparently doing so via WAP browsers rather than the rich mapping clients from all the major search engines: 73 percent of mobile subscribers accessing maps are doing so via the browser in the U.S., and in Europe, 57 percent. Less than a third of Americans and Europeans are using a downloaded application, which allows even feature phones, with less computing power and often smaller screens, to better render graphic-rich maps and directions. Despite the ubiquity of SMS usage in Europe, the penetration of consumers accessing maps and directions via SMS is 24 percent; only one percentage point higher than it is in the United States.

Yet WAP-based mapping is a relatively poor experience vs mapping client applications. But mobile downloads represent a barrier to consumer adoption. Not surprisingly, the iPhone is the leading mobile mapping access device in the US, while Nokia N Series phones are the leading handsets in Europe. Nokia recently completed the acquisition of mapping data provider Navteq.

On the “Local-Mobile Search Landscape” panel yesterday comScore reported that Google Maps was the top mobile mapping service in the US market. And reflecting that mobile has indeed “arrived,” search marketing firm Outrider has also just launched a specialized mobile practice.

What does mobile computing, that online all the time phenom of the future, look like, and how soon will we have ubiquitous mobile search? Apple Chairman Steve Jobs offered some serious clues in his keynote address here in San Francisco at MacWorld this morning.

Everybody seems to agree that the future of mobile computing will look something like the iPhone. I posited here that something as functional as the iPhone would be ubiquitous in 4-5 years. Greg Sterling has frequently noted the iPhone as the direction the industry needs to take for increased adoption, Google has often mentioned its success with the iPhone, and the NY Times reported the Christmas surge that the iPhone and its browser brought.

Jobs highlighted a number of announcements that affect the future of mobile computing, and an iPhone upgrade was but one of them. According to Jobs “…we have sold 4 million iPhones to date,” a leading 19% of the smartphone market. He demonstrated the many updates to the iPhone, including Google’s new software.

The iPhone is not Apple’s only foray into mobile computing. The Apple iPod Touch has become one of its big sellers. The iPod touch is being upgraded to include a number of mobile internet apps, including “Mail, maps, stocks, notes, and weather!” and the ability to determine location by using nearby WiFi network signals.

The new Macbook Air provides a full functioning computer as a mobile device. “So thin it fits inside a yellow manila envelope!,” but with built-in iSight, full-size keyboard, and a full-size 13.3″ wide screen display. It ships with Core 2 Duo, 1.6 and 1.8GHz options, ships with 80GB standard, optional 64GB solid state disk “a little pricey but fast!” With 5 hours of battery life, it should be a mobile beast even if it is $3100 with SSD hard drive.

While nobody really knows what the future hardware for mobile computing will look like, Apple seems to be taking us there faster than anybody, and they are hedging their bets in both form factor and function with a multi-prong approach to the mobile internet: the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and the new Macbook Air.

Whether Apple products will ultimately dominate the various forms of mobile computing or whether they will just define them is to be seen. They are, however, moving on multiple fronts toward the future where local search is in your pocket or briefcase 24/7. Thanks to ArsTechnica and Engadget for their real time reporting—more coverage on Techmeme.

Mike Blumenthal is a student of life, political economy and local search. He writes the blog Understanding Google Maps and Yahoo Local Search and is a partner in a small web design company in upstate NY.

Gary Price at ResourceShelf points us to an intriguing article appearing in the IEEE Computer Society’s Computer Magazine about mobile search at Google. In the piece, two researchers at Google dissect and mine mobile query logs from WAP-based searches coming through a single (unnamed) U.S. carrier. One million “page view requests” from one month earlier in 2007 were analyzed. In the study, Google looked at queries from traditional cell phones, as well as smartphones.

The headline is that users are typing in longer query strings and clicking on more results than two years ago when Google performed a similar analysis. The data appear to contradict some other studies about mobile user interests and behavior already in the market from iCrossing, AOL, and Ingenio. These findings should be considered in the larger context and totality of all the available information.

Here are the top-level takeaways: –The average mobile query was 2.56 words and 16.8 characters. Smartphone query strings were 2.64 words. (By contrast, PC search strings are roughly 2.5 words.)

–The number of queries per session has increased more than 25 percent from 2005.

Here are some tables from the article:

The one about local content doesn’t ring entirely accurate to me. The categories in the Google table are undefined so it’s hard to know what sites are behind these categories, much less the user intent motivating the searches. Previously, iCrossing’s study showed that local content was the highest in demand among mobile users:

Source: iCrossing (4/07)

One caveat about the above chart is that it’s self-reported information vs. the Google data, which is based on actual queries. Yet the Google data are imperfect as well. But regardless, the information is interesting and helpful in assessing the outlook for mobile search and mobile advertising. As the article’s subhead says, “understanding the needs of mobile search will help improve the user experience and increase the service’s usage.”

Postscript: I’ve discovered from iCrossing that “adult content” was not offered as an option in asking users to rank the content areas reflected in the chart above. So it’s safe to say that beyond adult content, local is highest in demand for mobile users.

The SMX Local & Mobile conference is over now. It took place in Denver over the past two days. In case you were unable to attend, there has been a lot of coverage of the conference. Below are links to the various session notes, pictures, and overall write-ups on the first-ever SMX Local & Mobile:

• Pictures From an Exhibition: SMX Local Mobile Day 1, AIM Clear Blog
• Escape the Walled Garden: Managing Local/Mobile Search Marketing Campaigns for Maximum Reach, AIM Clear Blog
• Giddy Up at SMX Local & Mobile Expo!, AIM Clear Blog
• SMXLOMO – Day 2 – Introducing the Mobile Search Engines, David Dalka
• What’s It Like to Be Here? Video POV: SMX Local, AIM Clear Blog
• SMX Conference Series Adds 2008 New York City Event At The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Search Marketing Expo Blog
• The World’s Information in Geographical Context, the Michael Jones SMX Keynote, AIM Clear Blog
• 3 Jam Packed Sessions – 13 key takeaways for Local, Search Marketing Standard
• Michael Jones Keynote at SMX Local-Mobile, Screenwerk
• SMX Local & Mobile Search Conference, Denver Day 1, Reality SEO
• SMXLOMO 2007 – Search Marketing on Maps, David Dalka
• "Dumb Pipes" Are Dead. Meet the Mobile Search Engines, AIM Clear Blog
• 03:50 SMX-Minutes with Greg Sterling: Consummate SEM Journalist, AIM Clear Blog
• SMX Local & Mobile Conference Keynote with Michael Jones of Google, Marketing Pilgrim
• SMX Local / Mobile – Putting Local Search on the Map, Scott Clark
• SMX Local / Mobile – Show me the money!, Scott Clark
• SMX Local / Mobile – The Ultimate Local Ad Model, Scott Clark
• SMX Local Search SEO Best Practices – SMXLoMo – Denver, Scott Clark
• SMX LoMo – Managing a Local/Mobile Search Marketing Campaign, Marketing Pilgrim
• SMX Mobile / Local – Pay Per Call Advertising – Living up to the Hype?, Scott Clark
• SMXlomo – Early Photos (SMX Local / Mobile), Scott Clark
• SMXlomo – SMX Local/Mobile – Managing a Local/Mobile Campaign, Scott Clark
• The LoMo Search Fulcrum: SMX Wrap Up, AIM Clear Blog

The special tag for this conference is SMXLoMo. You can search throughout the web to find documents, images, videos, and more based on that tag. Here is a link to Flickr images for SMXLoMo.

If I missed any, please comment below. I will try to add to this tomorrow.