Others: Mobile, Video/Multimedia Search

Mobile and video search are two areas experiencing rapid growth. Each has its own challenges and requires a unique approach.

Mobile Search

Mobile search is a dynamic and growing market. In June 24, 2011, group product manager for mobile ads at Google, Paul Feng, told Mashable, “Google has seen mobile search grow at an exponential rate; it’s increased five-fold worldwide in the past two years. That rate of growth is comparable to the early days of Google’s desktop search” (http://mashable.com/2011/07/12/mobile-search-trends-google-bing/). Rapid growth is expected to continue.

Mobile search queries focus more heavily on immediately decisions. Estimates suggest that 30% of mobile searches are to find an address or directions. Mobile search sites may therefore want to focus on driving foot traffic and offline conversions rather than trying to generate purchases online.

The iPhone helped drive the growth of this market, because of its intuitive user interface and larger screen size (when compared to feature phones). Figure 9-18 shows an example of a search result on an iPhone.

Search: different on mobile devices

Figure 9-18. Search: different on mobile devices

On September 1, 2011, Nielsen indicated that 40% of US mobile users are on smartphones (http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/40-percent-of-u-s-mobile-users-own-smartphones-40-percent-are-android/). The improved mobile ...

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