Right now the top industries that are benefiting from mobile search are currently travel, business and entertainment industries. Although mobile search is in its infancy, major search engines realize the potential of this emerging new venue and revenue stream. Recently Nokia Mobile selected Yahoo! to provide search results to their subscribers. Microsoft is the default browser and search engine for all windows mobile PDAs and mobile devices.
A recent study conducted by the Mobile Marketing Association cites that of those surveyed, those who used mobile search most had an annual income of $50,000 to $75,000.
Mobile search technology is truly in its infancy and optimising pages now can put your site ahead of your competitors; providing an incredible edge. A though t to consider.
According to Nielsen, 46.1 mobile data users in the U.S. used mobile search functions in the third quarter of 2007. Out of that number, Nielsen estimates that:
The most popular form of mobile search among data users in Q3 2007 was 411 (18.1 million users), followed closely by SMS-based searching, which was used by 14.1 million users during the same period. Local listings were the leading search objective in terms of users (27.1 million), while 14.8 million said they searched for information such as sports scores, news or weather. Finally, nearly a quarter (11.3 million) said they searched for mobile content.
From a demographic perspective, Nielsen reports that among mobile data users:
Demographics vary by search method. 61% of 411 search users are female; while 60% of WAP (or mobile web) searches users are male.
SMS-based searching skews younger when compared to other methods of search. In fact, 33% of SMS searchers are under 25.
Within SMS search providers, Yahoo!, Yellow Pages SMS and Super Pages SMS all over-index for Hispanic users.
Therefore it is important to understand the power of optimising for mobile content and the benefits businesses will gain in implementing such a strategy
For further information regarding SEO for mobile content please contact Rotapix Interactive Media