Mobile is hot, hotter, hottest. Everybody wants to be on mobile devices. And numbers show us why. Not just the ‘apps’ on smartphones like the iPhone or Android are booming, mobile search also is. I also find myself using mobile search more often these days. When discussing something at a dinner party and wanting to find out something quickly I often take out my phone and do a quick search. And I am not the only one, if we can believe the whitepaper which was conducted by research firm YouGov for the annual Tamar Search Attitudes report.
The whitepaper shows us there has been an increase of no less than 246% in mobile search traffic in the UK in the past year. According to the researchers the rise has a lot to do with the quick growing number of handsets using Android.
The mobile search is combined with a drop in desktop searches. Last year there were 15% less desktop searches going around than the year before.
Tanya Goodin, CEO of Tamar, told New Media Age: “Brands will need to revisit their search strategies to implement responsive engagement with their consumers that addresses not only the continual evolution of the search engines but also the migration of users to mobile search.”
Google UK and Ireland CEO Matt Brittin (who first said Google designs everything for mobile first, then for other platforms) believes the mobile growth will not stop: “If you think the internet revolution is big, the mobile revolution is going to be bigger and much more widespread and faster.”
The research also shows some interesting opinions (not facts!) on Google Instant. They claim that if Google gets Instant to work properly on mobile devices that will mean a lot of changes:
1. Users will need fewer keystrokes to find what they need on the web
2. Typing on mobile is still much more difficult than on a full-sized keyboard
3. It can deliver different results to users based on their mobile handset
4. Search engine crawlers can ‘spoof’ handset models to check how sites display
5. Google can then deliver results that render best
The whitepaper can be downloaded here and gives you a nice insight in the possibilities.
