Mobile Search Trends and Best Practices- Dec. 2011

Mobile Search Trends: Dec. 2011

The Mobile Revolution

The wireless market is dramatically changing

Weekly launches of new devices, new features and new technologies are
providing participants with choices they’ve never had to face

Since Q1 2011:
Global smartphone & tablet shipments have outpaced desktops & laptops

Source: Morgan Stanley Research (2011)

2010-2015: Smartphone Sales Will Quadruple

Tablets are the Fastest-Selling Consumer Device in History

• Tablet sales surpassed netbook sales in Q2 2011

• Global tablet sales will rise 260% YoY to $63 million in 2011
o iPad accounts for 73%

• And tablet users will double between 2011 and 2012

Sources: Gartner (2011) , comScore, (2011), ABI (2011)

• Tablets continue
to cannibalize e-
readers &
netbooks/laptops
in 2011
• Despite owning
tablets, people
continue to buy
gaming
devices, MP3
players &
smartphones

Resolve Market Research (July 2011)

Always Present, Always On
• 74 million people in the U.S. already shop
from their mobile devices

• Nearly half of people have accessed
customer reviews and product info while
using a mobile device in-store

• Nearly17% of mobile users have shown a
store clerk a picture of a product on their
mobile phone

InMobi (2011); Shop.org & comScore (2011); Chadwick Martin Bailey (2011); Briabe Media (2011)

Mobile Brings in Big Bucks
• U.S. m-commerce sales to
grow 91% to $6.7 billion in 2011
• By 2015, m-commerce sales will
be $31 billion

A Very Mobile Black Friday 2011
• Black Friday shoppers embraced mobile as a research tool for
finding in-store & online bargains:
• Mobile traffic to online sites tripled YoY (14.3% on Black Friday
2011 vs. 5.6% in 2010)
• Mobile sales were 9.8% of total sales vs. 3.2% in 2010
• The iPhone (5.4%) & iPad (4.8%) accounted for 10.2% of all
online retail traffic
• Conversion rates for iPads were 4.6% vs. 2.8% for mobile overall

IBM Coremetrics (Nov. 2011)

Mobile Cyber Monday
• 10.8% of people used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site, up
from 3.9 percent in 2010;
• iPhone and iPad ranked 1 and 2 for mobile device retail traffic
• 4.1% and 3.3% respectively
• Shoppers using the iPad drove more retail purchases than any
other device with conversion rates reaching 5.2% compared to
4.6% for the iPhone

IBM Coremetrics (Dec. 2011)

The Popularity of
Android, iPhone & iPad have
skyrocketed mobile search…

Mobile Search Influences Mobile Shopping

63% of people have changed the way they gather information

75% say mobile search makes their lives easier

32% say they use mobile search more than desktop search

49% of mobile searchers made a mobile purchase in past 6 months

Performics & ROI Research 2011 Mobile Insights Study (March 2011)

Attribution: Mobile Search Critical to Driving
In-store Traffic and Initiating Leads

40% of mobile searches are local

After looking up a business on a smart phone:

61% of users call the business
59% visit the location
Google; Performics & ROI Research 2011 Mobile Insights Study (March 2011)

Advertisers have seen tremendous
increases in mobile paid search
impressions & clicks in 2011, especially
leading to holiday . . .

Clicks & Impressions Continue to Rise Leading to
holiday, mobile
clicks skyrocketed
• Mobile paid search clicks have steadily risen to 18% of all clicks
(desktop + mobile) in Nov. 2011

All-time highs for holiday:
• All-time mobile clicks &
impressions peaked on
Black Friday
• Black Friday mobile clicks
were up almost 400% YoY
• Black Friday clickshare
(i.e. desktop + mobile) was
23% on Black Friday 2011
vs. 10% on Black Friday 2010

* Based on Performics’ aggregate client base; Google AdWords (Content & Search Partners excluded) (Dec. 2011)

We predict that mobile will make up
28.7% of all paid search clicks in Dec.
2011


Brands that tailor advertising to support
tablets will achieve a first-mover advantage
Tablets Now as tablets increase in popularity
Drive 34% of
Total Mobile
Search
Impressions
• For some Performics clients, this number is actually
approaching 50%


Mobile Ad Spending Primed to Explode
• U.S. marketers will invest almost $4.4 billion in mobile
advertising by 2015

• Mobile search will comprise nearly 22% of ad spend in 2012

* eMarketer (Nov. 2011)

But Mobile Paid Search Is Still a Bargain
• Smartphone CPCs
remain about 40% less
than desktop CPCs
• In Nov., tablet CPCs
surpassed desktop
CPCs, peaking at 20%
higher than desktop

* Based on Performics’ aggregate client base; Google AdWords (Content & Search Partners excluded) (Nov. 2011)

“Mobile volumes and CTR are
growing, while PPC prices are below
desktop levels. This suggests a buying
opportunity.”
SearchEngineLand (July 2011)

Advertisers can also increase visibility
through mobile organic search,
but face some challenges . . .

Organic Mobile Search is Splintered
• Searchers are tapping through GOOGLE GOOGLE
SERPs and dedicated maps platforms SERP MAPS APP

• Using succinct queries
(40% with local intent)

• Across different platforms

• Yielding a blend of traditional
results and highly localized results

And the Local Ecosystem Itself is No Cake…

So What Are We Going to Do About It?

Provide you with 7 essential steps to ensure
your mobile search campaign is connecting
to and engaging your participant

Seven Steps

Paid Search:
Paid Search:
Separate Paid Search: Paid/Organic:
Focus on
Desktop, Mobile, & Distinctively Optimize Govern the small
Location, Location, L
Tablets Into Unique Tablet Campaigns SERP
ocation!
Campaigns

Paid Search:
SEO: SEO:
Build & Optimize
Integrate SEO and Build & Optimize SEO
Mobile Landing
Local Landing Pages
Pages

Desktop, Mobile, & Tablets = Unique Campaigns

• Separate campaigns guarantee stronger results
o Mobile-only campaigns perform 11.5% better on average than hybrid
desktop-mobile campaigns (per Google (2011))
• Create tightly themed ad groups per device

1 2 3

Distinctively Optimize PS Tablet Campaigns

• Bid
o Because tablet users can scroll with a gesture, they’re
more likely to peruse search results and click further down the page
o Adjust bid strategy accordingly
• Copy
o Gear copy & sitelinks to tablet users (i.e. “purchase now from your tablet”)
• Landing Pages
o Tablet screen size & browsers are more like desktops than smartphones
o Drive tablet traffic to desktop or tablet-specific landing pages
o Avoid Flash (iPad doesn’t render Flash)

Create Big Opportunities on a Small SERP
• The small mobile SERP is much
easier to dominate than desktop

5 Steps to Dominance:
1. Bid for positions 1 or 2
2. Take up nearly ¼ of page
by adding sitelinks
1. Location extensions, hyper local
formats or offers
2. Click-to-call/click to download
3. Optimize for natural search

Location, Location, Location in Paid Search

• Mobile-User Nuances:
o Looking for a store location, phone #
o Product review or comparison while shopping
o Social recommendations & deals, geo check-ins and click to call

Google’s Location Insertion:
1. Create ads that have the location inserted in the
description (i.e. Get The Best Deals On X in {city}).
2. Ensure default city name works logically in copy
3. Keep copy below max character length to allow
for cities with long names

Build & Optimize Mobile Paid Landing Pages
• People are 51% more likely to
purchase from retailers that have
mobile-specific websites

• Web retailers could increase
• Simplicity engagement by 85% with a mobile-
o Keep site layout simple specific website
o Use minimalistic, clean code
o Keep images scarce
o Simplify conversion path
• Usability
o Optimize navigation with touch-friendly elements
o Limit scrolling to one direction
o Avoid pop-ups
o Avoid Flash and javascript
o Avoid redirects

Mobile Shopper Session at NRF 2011

Integrate Mobile & Local SEO
• Optimize mobile site
hierarchy & user
experience to guide
conversions
• Leverage traditional site
SEO efforts to increase SEO
visibility across platforms
• Generate new, qualified
traffic from mobile and
local keywords
• Deliver relevant local
results across organic
search and map listings

Create “SEO On-the-Go” Landing Pages
1. Build a mobile version of your site or use CSS to feed mobile
content to users
2. Leverage your native site’s current search visibility by way
of either CSS or canonical tags plus user agent redirection
3. Keep mobile pages succinct, lean, and fast
4. Ensure local information is readily and easily available
unique mobile features like location detection and filtration
5. Avoid using pixel and absolute rendering; use percentage
or relative instead
6. Provide users an opt-out of the mobile experience to
access your full native site
7. Use an easy, fast payment system to secure conversions

Mobile Search Trends and Best Practices- Dec. 2011

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Editor's Notes