When talking about search engine optimization, one immediately associates the practices are leveraged toward the traditional realms of web search. Many are predicting, however, that the “next big thing” in search may be the acknowledgment that users are spending less time in front of PCs, and are instead utilizing mobile devices to search and surf the web.
There are estimates floating around that put mobile users somewhere around the neighborhood of 300 million by 2010, give or take a year or two. While the prediction-based statistics may not be necessarily exact, the rising trend in mobile usage is impossible to deny.
So, as mobile users begin to depend on their devices for search, the onus then shifts squarely to webmasters and SEOs to not only gear online content to not only rank well within the sphere of traditional web search, but also to focus on streamlining page design to rank in mobile search as well.
Mobile SEO, however, may look a little different than current practices. While engines like Google have spiders that crawl the web in order to browse content, sites optimized for mobile still have to submit their pages to the engines to be included within the index.
There is also a stylistic element to consider when optimizing a site for mobile browsing. First of all, not all mobile devices employ the same browser software, so it then becomes imperative to stick to the basics of XHTML, CSS, and SEO best practices in order to ensure the cleanest viewing experience for the mobile user.
Incidentally, WebProNews had the chance to interview Cindy Krum, an SEO analyst from Blue Moon Works. She had a lot of interesting insights on mobile SEO and what the future holds for the platform, as well as elaborating a bit further on the importance of back end design practices.
Looking around, I see more and more of my friends making use of text messaging, mobile e-mail applications, and web browsers on their telephones. This trend is only going to continue, and as it does, optimizing sites for both traditional and mobile search is going to become a top priority.
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January 26th, 2007 at 2:44 am
Thank you, very informative. I do not design sites for mobile devices (yet) but this is certainly the way to go.
January 29th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
I agree - very interesting. We are starting to move to XHTML, CSS but I am not sure that clients are ready to pay for a second, mobile device version, of their site. We have enough trouble persuading some of them that we need to cater for all browsers and screen res. We fail miserably on that score sometimes.
It is interesting to note that Blue Moons site is still table based.
May 10th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Totally agree! Mobile SEO is on the way up, but how long will it be before it can be sold to clients as an extra feature. dotmobi and some other groups now provide a free mobile site builder, a great tool but will this type of software give company owners the idea that they can build their own mobile site and they do not have to pay for it?? It may become similar to the early days of web 1 when everybody thought they could build a amazing site with word.
October 16th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
It does concern me with all my work on SEO that trends change and my past efforts will go to waste.
October 30th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Great video, it did surprise me however that mobile search is taking off at a slower pace here in the U.S. than overseas. I do however appreciate the tips presented here for embracing mobile search in the future.
October 30th, 2007 at 10:49 am
I agree with Cindy on the local search merging with mobile search. I am curious how using multiple style sheets will work on a DotNetNuke platform.