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Another One Bites the Dust: Google SMS Search Shuts Down Without Warning

May 13, 2013 at 11:42am ET by Amy Gesenhues

After trying to perform searches via Google SMS Search last week, many users discovered that the mobile search service had been discontinued. In the Google Web Search Help forum, a Google spokesperson wrote, "Closing products always involves tough choices, but we do think very hard about each decision and its implications for our users. Streamlining our services enables us to focus on creating beautiful technology that will improve people's lives." Google SMS Search let users send search queries and receive results via a text to Google. Beginning last week, users received the following no [...]

7 Takeaways From The Local Search Association Annual Conference

May 1, 2013 at 8:30am ET by Neg Norton

Earlier this month, local search marketing leaders from the U.S., Canada and 12 other countries gathered in Las Vegas for the Local Search Association’s 2013 annual conference, "Search Starts Here." Over several days, attendees engaged in informative discussions about the numerous opportunities and challenges facing our industry, ranging from the growing importance of original digital content to the rise of mobile and social media. In this month’s column, I will highlight my key takeaways from the LSA conference, which are focused on both the strides I believe local marketers should [...]

Top 5 Mobile SEO Tips For M-commerce & Retail

Apr 29, 2013 at 10:20am ET by Bryson Meunier

Clearly I've broken my own resolution when it comes to not talking about responsive Web design, as I've done so for the past two months. This month, I'm taking a break so I can focus on resolution #1: giving more tactical advice on how to do mobile SEO well. Today's column will focus on mobile SEO tips for m-commerce and retail -- the topic of a webinar I’m doing this month for Mobile Commerce Daily. Tip #1: Make Pages Accessible To Mobile Searchers This tip may seem like a no-brainer in a world where at least 25% of all search traffic comes from mobile devices and 90% of consumers use [...]

Searching For Mobile Apps May Be In The Cards

Apr 15, 2013 at 9:45am ET by Michael Martin

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] Twitter Cards Image from Marketing Land[/caption] Mobile Application Search in both Apple's App Store and Google Play is frustratingly similar to general online search in the early 2000s -- and the tactics used to make them visible in search resuls also closely mirror the SEO best practices from that era. Searching for and discovering the right apps is a concern for both developers and mobile users, which may recently have been dealt a helping hand from Twitter with its App Cards. How Do Twitter App Cards Work? Currently, you need special [...]

How Common Are SEO Problems With Responsive Web Design?

Apr 1, 2013 at 2:14pm ET by Bryson Meunier

It seems people have strong feelings for or against responsive Web design. My thanks to those with open minds who responded to last month’s column on SEO problems with responsive Web design with either praise or reasonable criticism. While I answered the most common criticisms already, one recent comment from Google’s John Mueller stood out to me. When he posted Luke Wroblewski’s results of sites that have seen success with responsive Web design to Google+ with the caption #rwd #ftw, I wanted to remind Google and other responsive Web design advocates that responsive Web design, whil [...]

4 Mobile Search Trends Tackled At SMX West 2013

Mar 18, 2013 at 1:15pm ET by Michael Martin

The 2013 SMX West conference could have easily be confused as the first SMX Authorship show with extensive interest in and questions surrounding Google's use of authorship and the prominence of those articles associated with verified authors. However, it was mobile that led the way with one of the first sessions of the conference being Trends in Mobile Search. The Trends in Mobile Search session was moderated by Search Engine Land's Greg Sterling and included Raj Kapoor of Microsoft, Jason Lehmbeck of DataPop, Bryson Meunier of Resolution Media, and myself. Raj and Jason [...]

When Responsive Web Design Is Bad For SEO

Mar 4, 2013 at 10:46am ET by Bryson Meunier

In my January column I resolved not to discuss the responsive Web design issue anymore, as the One URL versus multiple URL issue is moot now that Google has announced a way to consolidate link equity for equivalent mobile URLs. Unfortunately, the rest of the SEO community isn’t following suit, as responsive Web design still seems to have the undeserved reputation for being the best option for SEO. In reality, mobile URLs could be the best option for SEO, depending on your circumstances. The Madness Of Crowds For example, though I praised her in my last column for sharing her mobile SEO [...]

Mobile App API As A Future Ranking Factor In Mobile Search Results

Feb 18, 2013 at 2:48pm ET by Michael Martin

[caption id="attachment_136436" align="alignright" width="230"] Google's mobile search crystal ball with Chrome[/caption] Toward the end of 2012, I read an interesting article theorizing that Google will be crawling APIs instead of mobile websites in the future. API means Application Programming Interface which allows software, including websites and mobile apps, to provide direct integration based on functions permitted by the API. Websites and mobile apps use APIs predominantly to share content including photos and videos from one site to another, for example, posting a Flickr ph [...]

Survey: Half Of Small Businesses Never Update Their Listings Online

Feb 5, 2013 at 9:43am ET by Greg Sterling

ConstantContact's SinglePlatform division has released the results of a new survey of small businesses (SMBs). The "headline" finding is that nearly half (49 percent) say they've never updated their listings online. The survey polled "more than 350" SMBs. Most small businesses are overwhelmed and confused by even basic online marketing. This is reflected in some of the seemingly contradictory findings of the survey: 50 percent of SMBs have seen listings for their business that are not accurate 70 percent of SMBs say they don’t have the time to manage listings on all of the sites t [...]

How To Do Mobile Keyword Research In 2013

Feb 4, 2013 at 11:45am ET by Bryson Meunier

As promised last month, I’ll be sharing more information about how to do mobile SEO specifically and less about why to do mobile SEO. This month, I’m going to go through how to do mobile keyword research. First, though, a brief explanation of why to do mobile keyword research. Mobile Keyword Research Then & Now One of the primary reasons for doing mobile keyword research is that you could be missing out on keywords that your audience uses on mobile that they don’t use on desktop (e.g., [keyword + “nearby”]). There are some categories, such as restaurants, where upwards of 30 [...]

Comparing Mobile Blog Designs: What Works Best?

Jan 28, 2013 at 12:27pm ET by Sherwood Stranieri

One area of mobile site design that is particularly important for mobile SEO is the blog. Blogs get special treatment in search engines, as sources of fresh content and easily-digested RSS feeds. In the mobile space, blogs are also one of the few areas where users expect to find lengthy text -- so, the pressure to abbreviate content for a small screen gets dialed back, making blogs even more useful for mobile SEO. Cobblers’ Shoes To take a closer look at the different approaches available to mobile marketers, I decided to look at the blogs of mobile phone manufacturers. As a writer cove [...]

My 3 Mobile SEO Resolutions For 2013

Jan 7, 2013 at 11:47am ET by Bryson Meunier

It seems everyone has resolutions for the New Year, and mobile SEOs should be no exception. Last year, I focused my first column of the year on predicting trends for the New Year, rather than making resolutions on mobile search. And while those minor predictions have stood up pretty well, this year I want to focus on something that all of us can more easily control: three resolutions for mobile search and SEO in 2013. 1. Give More Tactical Advice On How To Do Mobile SEO Well OK, you get it: you should be doing something to account for mobile searchers. You’re not one of the misinform [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Mobile | Mobile Search | SEO: Mobile Search

Stats On Mobile Content & Impact On Google Rankings

Jan 7, 2013 at 8:18am ET by Barry Schwartz

Bryson Meunier from Resolution Media posted an update on his personal blog about the correlation between mobile content and ranking in Google. The study came out with three findings: (1) Having mobile optimized and rendered content is still highly correlated with getting organic traffic from Google. The study showed that 89% of the sites in the study that rank, all have either mobile URLs, dynamic serving, responsive web design, or some hybrid. But 89% of the sites that rank well, have some form of mobile rendered web site available to mobile users. (2) [...]

eBay Offers A Mobile Search Shortcut For Online Stores

Dec 31, 2012 at 11:52am ET by Sherwood Stranieri

Last month, I touched on several ways that businesses could use apps as an alternate channel to reach mobile searchers. Online retailers have a couple opportunities to use apps in this way, by tapping into the eBay and Amazon marketplaces. Let's take a closer look at eBay, and some strategies for using it to extend the reach of your existing catalog. Starting At The Desktop Before mobile was part of the equation, there was a well-established practice for leveraging eBay for online retail. Of course, it goes without saying that many retailers use eBay as their sole storefront, taking advantag [...]

Mobile Search After The Final Mayan B’ak’tun

Dec 24, 2012 at 12:13pm ET by Michael Martin

[caption id="attachment_142761" align="alignright" width="209"] Google Nexus 4 / Mayan Calendar from Peta-de-aztlan, Creative Commons[/caption] If you are reading this Search Engine Land column, then you survived the "final day" of the Mayan Calendar as the 13th B'ak'tun resets to 0 like an odometer after 1,872,000 days, and with it, the start of the 5th world, according to Mayan culture. This 5th world is said to be one of enlightenment, higher consciousness, and great transformation, which in my view, could only mean a concerted focus on mobile...for those that remain. Perhaps th [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Google Offers Tips For A Search Engine Friendly Tablet Experience (Not Recommendations)

Nov 12, 2012 at 9:22am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google posted some tips for building a search engine friendly mobile tablet experience for users and search engines. Google is clear to point out these tips are NOT specific "recommendations for building search engine friendly tablet-optimized websites." Google does not have guidelines or official recommendations for tablet-optimized web sites but they did want to offer some tips based off their official smart phone recommendations. The tablet-optimized tips include: (1) Unless you offer tablet-optimized content, users expect to see your desktop site rather than your site’s smartpho [...]

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 [...]

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