Tag: mobile search

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Holiday Search Trends on Desktop vs Mobile

The key online holiday shopping days have been similar since the Internet went mainstream in the 90’s. What I find particularly interesting is the influence of mobile devices on retail search trends. Google recently released some interesting search data from last year’s (2011) holiday season:

  • Searches on Mobile devices peak on Thanksgiving with Black Friday a close second
  • Searches on desktops peak on Cyber Monday and show strong preference for Mondays after that until Christmas

Other interesting Holiday 2011 shopping factoids released at the same time include:

  • 82% of those surveyed said online influenced which stores they chose to visit
  • 25% used more than one device to shop during Holiday 2011
  • Google predicts 85% will begin shopping on one device and complete the purchase on another during Holiday 2012

See the full Holiday Quick Guide at Think with Google.

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Smartphones, Tablets Account for 1 in 8 Visits

Excerpts from my latest article at Practical eCommerce: “Smartphones, Tablets Account for 1 in 8 Visits.”

One in eight pages accessed on the Internet in the U.S. today are viewed on mobile devices, according to a report by comScore. Mobile phones account for 9 percent of Internet visits and tablets make up another 4 percent. It begs the question: What sort of experience are those mobile users being served?

Mobile users are a demanding group. They want information tailored to their small screens that they can actually read and transact with, and they want it now. Strangeloop Networks provides optimization and web performance services for mainly enterprise-level companies. Its CEO, Jonathan Bixby, said, “The latest mobile user surveys tell us that two out of three mobile shoppers expect sites to load in four seconds or less.” Tablet users expect even greater load speed at three seconds per page.

Interestingly, when Strangeloop conducted a test of 200 leading ecommerce sites, not only did mobile load times over 4G networks fall short of expectations, but desktop load times did as well. In fact, desktop load times tested were a mere one second faster than Android smartphone load times over the same networks….

Read the article in full at Practical eCommerce »

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Originally posted on Web PieRat.

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Smartphone Searching Means Money

Excerpts from my latest article at NBC Chicago’s Inc. Well: “Why Mobile Search is the New Frontier”

Cutting edge new smartphones are launching left and right, from Apple’s iPhone 5 to Nokia’s Windows Mobile-based Lumix series to Samsung’s 5.5-inch tablet. While the consumer tech industry abuzz with smartphone news, marketers are salivating over the inevitable increase in mobile search.

Already some 62 million Americans search daily on their smartphones. A surprising 66 percent of Americans with smartphones access the Internet on their devices every day and most won’t leave home without them. In fact, a third would rather give up their televisions than their smartphones.

The most exciting area of overlap between mobile devices and search marketing, however, is local search. Nearly everyone, 94 percent, seeks local information on their smartphones. Even better, 90% have actually acted on that information by shopping, be it making a reservation at a restaurant or calling the store.

Speaking of shopping, smartphone users also pull out their phones when the impulse to shop strikes them. It seems that our phones may even encourage that impulsivity, with 81 percent of purchases on a smartphone reported as spontaneous. Even when in the store, consumers use their phones to research purchases. They consider their phones as a shopping tool, with 35 percent comparing prices in-store and 32 percent starting their research on their phones and completing their purchase offline in a store.

So how do we make sure our businesses are the ones in front of those impulsive, searching, mobile consumers? Read on to find out more.

Read the full article at NBC 5 Chicago’s Inc. Well >>

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Originally posted on Web PieRat.

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47% Smartphone Penetration, Better Start Mobile Search Optimization

Excerpts from my latest article at NBC Chicago’s Inc. Well: “How to Ride the Mobile Search Wave.”

With smartphone penetration in the U.S. at 47 percent as of Q2 2012, more Americans have smartphones than feature phones according to comScore. Smarter phones with their always-on connections enable quicker access to information, which is what mobile search is all about.

With more than 110 million smartphones in hand, many of the searches conducted are increasingly local. Advertising experts firm BIA/Kelsey estimates that while searches today are three times as likely to happen on a desktop computer as a mobile device, mobile devices will dominate local search by 2015.

That’s good news for businesses with optimal mobile presences, and an opportunity for those still thinking about setting up a mobile site. Already, Pew Internet reports that 74 percent of smartphone owners use their phone to get real-time location-based information, and 30 percent use their phone to decide whether to visit a business. So how can you ride this surging tide of mobile searches? Here’s how:

  • Mobile Site Structure
  • Mobile Keyword Research
  • Mobile Optimization

Read the full article with all the details at NBC Chicago’s Inc. Well >>

Image courtesy of SurferToday.

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Originally posted on Web PieRat.