Channel mobile

Over the past couple of years, Google has shown a strong focus on user experience on mobile devices. They have developed their algorithms to address customer experience and usability and to encourage organizations to meet certain standards. For instance, Mobilegeddon looked not only at the responsiveness of a mobile site, but how truly mobile-friendly a site was with photos, font sizes and more. Google AMP pushed an open-source design structure, created by Google to make the user experience on mobile faster and more efficient. The announcement of Google’s latest algorithm, which penalizes sites that use mobile pop-up ads, is consistent with the heart of the changes they’ve been making lately. According to Google’s Webmaster Central Blog, Google plans to make two major changes: In 2014, Google introduced the mobile-friendly label, which indicated that the site being shown in the search results was specifically optimized for mobile. This label was applied to sites … [Read more...] about The death of mobile pop-ups and what you can do instead

While mobile ad spending is expected to increase by 50 percent, desktop advertising budgets driven by PPM, PPC and CTR are still often used to plan and measure mobile ad success. While those metrics are not entirely obsolete, mobile search should be analyzed with methods that take advantage of its strengths. One of those mobile metrics is calls. Click-to-call and call extensions make generating calls to SMBs a seamless one-touch action driven by mobile ads — unlike the much more deliberate and separate function of moving from desktop screen to dialing a phone number. As a result, analysts expect a sizable boost in call volumes to local businesses. Mobile search in particular will eclipse other sources and drive 65 billion calls to businesses by 2016, a volume that will grow at a 43 percent compound annual growth rate. Credit: DialogTech, “The Click-To-Call Playbook For Paid Search” The lift in call leads from mobile search is good news to SMBs, as calls are the most … [Read more...] about 6 Strategies To Help Drive Mobile Calls

We’re at a turning point in mobile paid search. The fact is, most paid search practitioners were trained in a desktop-first world, but many are now spending nearly half (or more) of their budgets on mobile search. As it often does, consumer behavior has outpaced marketer reaction, so we’re left with a situation in which yesterday’s thinking is largely being applied to today’s challenges. Mobile is the biggest change in paid search since its inception, and thus we have to push the discussion forward in order to truly unlock the potential of this channel. Those who are quick to adapt and evolve will reap the benefits in this “bubble” until the rest of us catch up. But what will the next evolution of mobile paid search marketing look like? Once thing we know is that very soon, nearly every search user will also be a mobile search user. As we look to relevant examples of how other digital channels have evolved — including the early days of SEM, … [Read more...] about Are You Ready For Mobile Paid Search v2.0?

Yahoo has unveiled a new mobile search experience today with richer content that aims — and this will remind you of Bing’s messaging — to help users “take action right away.” It’s an important update for Yahoo, with mobile search activity continuing to grow. (Remember Google’s recent announcement that there are more mobile searches than desktop searches in the U.S. and at least nine other countries.) In today’s announcement, Yahoo’s Andrew Poon says the idea behind the new search results is to go beyond a list of links to an experience “that connects you immediately to the people, places and things you care about.” We know when you’re on the go, you’re often searching for a specific piece of information. So rather than delivering endless links for you to sift through on a small screen, we beautifully assemble the most relevant information in a way that allows you to take action right away. The new mobile … [Read more...] about Yahoo’s New Mobile Browser Search Results Are Better Than Its App

Conversational search on Google’s mobile apps got an upgrade today, as the company announced a few new voice commands that are specific to travel planning. Basically, the app is smarter about knowing where you are (at a hotel, for example), letting you complete actions by voice (i.e., making reservations via OpenTable), getting directions as part of the ongoing conversation you’re having with the app and getting reminders. Here’s how Google’s blog post explains the new features: Step 1 — Find a spot for dinner. Just say, “Ok Google, show me restaurants near my hotel” — et voilà, you’ll get a selection to choose from. (You don’t even need to remember your hotel name, as long as your hotel reservation is saved in your Gmail, so Google has something to work with.) Is your date dessert crazy? Quickly make sure the restaurant has a good selection by just asking “Ok Google, show me the menu for the first one.” … [Read more...] about Google Upgrades Conversational Search On Its Mobile Apps