Mobile SEO

Mobile Web Europe – Mobile SEO

I had a great interview with mocospace so missed the majority of the panel at Mobile Web Europe on mobile standards. But as I walked in the room a large advertising agency was asking about Mobile SEO.

The man asked, “are there any standards for Mobile SEO, Mobile Search and where does Mobile SEO fit into mobile advertising”.

I instantly felt this was a question for me and looked longingly at the podium. I did have every intention of jumping over the tables to grab the moderator and steal the microphone. But thank god for endorsement in the mobile space..enter Bango (owners of wap.com and Mobile Search company MCN Mobile Content Networks) Anil Malhotra and Phyliss Reuther.

Two companies that are in the loop with visibility mobile services (and I hope I am not scooping myself or my own company here) by saying they will be involved in the MetaTXT working group on Mobile SEO (invitations to companies first, individuals following..more soon).

But anyway, Phyliss said that she was writing a paper on Mobile SEO for federated search which would be published in February (during Mobile World Congress).  They then both said that there was a mobile search expert and SEO person in the room (Me!) and pointed at me – which was fabulous endorsement. I have been doing a lot of networking lately and I hear that our CEO Paul Savage met with both Bango and MCN at CTIA a few weeks ago to build interest and momentum.

Which leads me on to another conversation I had with dotmobi’s Michael O’ Farrell about standards. All I can say is that there are a lot more interesting things to come.

But back to the point. Mobile SEO is definitely on the radar. I welcome brands and agencies and mobile advertising companies to connect with us. I also thank everyone that has expressed an interest to progress on this ... this is only the beginning!

Bena

Mobile Internet for Dummies - Book and Signing

I was at Mobile Web Europe last week and there was some very very hot discussion on Mobile SEO.  Before I get to it  - I bumped into Daniel Applequist from Vodafone/ W3C and he gave me a signed copy of the Mobile Internet for Dummies book. Book review to follow as I read it on the plane to Rome, already. More also at GoMo News.

MetaTXT White Paper Link

http://www.visibilitymobile.com/Whitepaper_On_MetaTXT.pdf

Sorry - here is the correct link to the White Paper on MetaTXT

CTO of visibility mobile Niall Cusack speaks on metaTXT and mobile seo

Hello World By Niall Cusack

That seemed to be the most appropriate way to introduce myself to the blogging space. My name is Niall Cusack, CTO of visibility mobile. It was great to see such a positive response and reception of metaTXT at CTIA last week. Thanks to everyone who took the time to listen and provide us with feedback.

With our Alpha launch done and dusted we have moved straight on to the Beta version of our metaTXT tool. Not only will we be improving the tool itself but we will be extending the metaTXT standard to include elements that we just didn’t get the time to include in the Alpha launch. 

With two planned product launches already in the pipeline, visibility mobile Towers is going to be a hive of activity in the upcoming months. While we’re working on those, why not take a look at our white paper

http://www.visibilitymobile.com/Whitepaper_On_MetaTXT.pdf

and generate a meta.txt file for your site here http://www.gomobileseo.com . 

Why should you do either? There are a number of benefits to adding a meta.txt file to your site. My favourite aspect of metaTXT is that metaTXT will give user agents multiple entry points to your suite of websites. Instead of users having to wait for “pc sites” (regular websites) to load and then be redirected to your mobile site, meta.txt will point browsers to the site most suited to the users viewing platform regardless of domain name extension. On top of that metaTXT currently supports exposure of meta information (site name, keywords, description), rss feeds and sitemaps as well as the geo-tagging of sites. 

If none of the above made sense then hopefully reading the whitepaper will clear some or all of it up for you.

Bena adds: Thank-you Niall. You forgot to mention that we have beaten all expectations for uptake of meta.txt files and when our first enterprise integration is complete in the next few months we will have near 80,000 users!

Mobile SEO links and things

Thank-you for interest in metatxt:

1. http://wapreview.com/blog/?p=1110

2. http://www.blog.talkndu.com/

Also flagging negative criticism of my "paper" on mobile SEO - which was loved by every woman, pr agent and brand agency executive that it was sent to in advance to. You can read the comment here -but remember this wasn't an edited paper and it was written by me for a specific audience in mind.  We are only in Alpha and I love the response - I can't wait for the next two planned product launches!

Seizing the Mobile Web Opportunity with Mobile SEO

The time is now to seize the mobile web opportunity.  The opportunity will enable brands to take part in an industry anticipated to be worth USD 3.8 billion by 2010 (eMarketer) or USD 12 billion by 2012 (Gartner).  The number and variety of mobile searches and multimedia search engines tripled in 2007 and 2009 is penned to be the year of mobile search.

In order to benefit from the mobile internet, prominent placement on the mobile Internet is vital. This paper will unveil visibility mobile’s guidelines for Mobile site optimisation.

These guidelines will assist any brand or  webmaster to successfully market mobile SEO services and embrace a new opportunity.

Introduction

Opinions are divided on mobile search and mobile search optimisation. Online SEO specialists are fighting to mirror traditional concepts of Page Rank and cross-linking. But these techniques are not relevant for mobile because of the nascence of the mobile Internet.  There is no Alexa ranking or comScore and hence no authority in mobile for popularity.
But all hope is not lost. There are still techniques that can be used to bolster the profile of mobile sites online. We will look specifically at the following three areas as they are core to our strategy at visibility mobile.
1. Online techniques vs mobile
2. Metatxt
3. Social Media Strategy

OK - so above is the intro on my Mobile SEO paper - download it here!

Download Seizing_the_Mobile_Web.pdf

MetaTXT – in words

by Sinead Quealy COO visibility mobile

MetaTXT was launched yesterday, September 9th 2008 by visibility mobile.  Here at visibility mobile Towers we are still collecting the empty Champagne bottles for recycling! (Did I mention our environmental code of ethics?!!)

So, what are we talking about? 

The MetaTXT file generator on www.gomobileseo.com walks you through four simple steps.  It is designed to allow a webmaster to enter various relevant URLs, some geographical information and the address of any RSS feeds, videos or podcasts to be found on their site.

The webmaster then receives an e-mail, human readable, that details how his site appears to crawlers.  Sometimes, this can be a shock to webmasters! They may not have realised that their site has thirty eight irrelavant keywords; or their site description is off the wall!

Once a webmaster recevies this file they have two options; firstly they can alter their site if they feel any of the information in the file could do with improvement – description, keywords, etc; if happy with the file, it can be sotred on the site’s root directory.

Why should anybody bother with it?

visibility mobile has agreement from a number of mobile search engines that they are going to support MetaTXT as a standard to aid mobile search.  Therefore, infuture, some search engines, and in time it is hoped all search engines, will crawl these MetaTXT files instead of having to crawl entire sites. 

Why is this good for Mobile Internet?

Included in the MetaTXT file is the mobile URL for a website (if it exists), so instead of returning PC websites, the search engine will being the user to a dedicated m., .mobi, wap, etc site.

Also included is geographical information – helping to deliver localised results.

Perhaps most impressive is that the file will tell browsers to deliver the content most suited to the device the user is operating, significantly improving the user experince.

visibility mobile will be adding to the functonality of the tool over time, this is the start of process with a working group dedicated to making the Mobile Internet a wonderful place to search!

Well done to Niall Cusack our CTO for enabling visibilty mobile to bring such a quality product to Alpha launch!

CTIA: Michael Libes Mobi SEO interview

visibility mobile - Rescuing the Mobile Internet

• visibility mobile, a mobile SEO technology company launches in Alpha • visibility mobile, a new pioneer in the Mobile Internet space for fast placement at the top of the mobile web

  visibility mobile
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Sep 09, 2008 – There are many unanswered questions in the Mobile Internet space about mobile site optimisation.  visibility mobile aims to answer these questions and hence create a more usable, and therefore more used, Mobile Internet.

visibility mobile is a start-up with three offerings to brands wishing to elevate their mobile search ranking.  Today we are delighted to launch two of these, including a free online file generator supporting the new metaTXT standard for mobile search optimisation.  MetaTXT aims to ensure that all sites regardless of their URL will be found by all search engines.  It is the result of collaboration with mobile search engines and technological research from the Waterford Institute of Technology.   

The file generator www.GoMobileSEO.com is available for all webmasters, to assist them in optimising their site for mobile search engines.

At CTIA visibility mobile will also launch a second offering, a consultancy arm geared towards larger brands.   By mixing our techniques with mobile advertising partners we can redefine the building vs buying optimisation argument and replace it with a stellar Social Media Optimisation and Marketing strategy, ensuring long-term results for larger brands.

To find out more please visit www.visibilitymobile.com
Sign up for metaTXT at www.gomobileseo.com
Or Call: Sinead Quealy on:  00 353 51 845697
# # #

visibilty mobile simplifies Mobile Search Engine Optimisation, through technology and strategy. It is a partnership between Bena Roberts of GoMoNews and the TSSG, the Research and Innovation wing of Waterford Institute of Technology.

Video of Mobile Search presentation at CTIA

The sound is OK - not brilliant but this is the visibility mobile presentation at CTIA yesterday.

CTIA Presentation by Bena Roberts and Medio’s CTO – Michael “Luni” Libes

Today at CTIA, Bena and Michael “Luni” Libes are presenting their view of Mobile Web Strategies.  Mobile search and all things Mobile Internet related are gaining a lot of attention these days – could it have something to do with the fact that in 2011 Mobile Search, it is estimated, will be worth $12 billion?

Bena and Michael will present the current state and value of Mobile Search, the various types of search and the future of Mobile Search.

There is plenty of advice available at the moment on Mobile Search Engine Optimisation, but the presentation will deliver the ultimate technological breakthrough for Mobile SEO.  Don’t say you haven’t been warned!!

There’ll be lots more here over the next few days, including a blog by the visibility mobile CTO, Niall Cusack, explaining why it’s so easy to optimise your site for mobile Internet using visibility mobile technology!

Promoting mobile web sites

http://blog.mjelly.com/2008/09/12-ways-to-promote-your-mobile-web-site.html

Great article from James.  I would add - for mobile try and make the URL relevant to the content.  It is sometimes not possible but it can help faster indexing if you are not submitting directly to ALL search engines.

I am also bursting with anticipation to tell you what we are doing at visibility mobile that needs to be added to this list -but I have to wait for Tuesday/ Wednesday.

Anyone in San Francisco come and see me talk on Mobile SEO and Mobile Search at 3.30 Mobile Web Strategies September 9. I am giving away a HUGE Mobile SEO secret - but hopefully we will capture that on video!

CTIA Next week

OK - so finally after several tests see (www.pushingthebarrier.typepad.com) I have managed to get my mobile software to post directly onto the Mobile SEO news blog (post above).

So next week when I am at CTIA - I will be trying to mobile blog as much as possible on Mobile SEO live to this blog. We are launching visibility mobile (softly) next week.

We are only in Alpha but our services are going to rock!  No seriously, it is an alpha tech start-up and I am excited but we need to build up the hype for next year when we go Gamma. This means that we might do press release but I will use this blog and gomo news primarily to hype us and not much else.

But I have some good news - I have finally finished my report on Mobile SEO - I have scaled down from a white paper to a report as I think that white papers are a bit tacky and does anyone really read them in great detail?

In true edgy style (AKA Bena Roberts style) I have used real examples to talk through ideas, concepts and the visibility mobile vision of mobile seo.  I will publish next week so get ready!

This has to work!

Ok have swapped my blogging software and created a typepad hack so please show up at mobile Seo news

Search Marketing Standard: Paid Search Article

I have an article in this months Mobile Search Marketing Magazine - I am so happy - if you would like a copy -let me know and I will post it to you!  More images and information on the article in GoMo News tomorrow.   

Bena

What is visibility mobile?

Over the past few weeks I received a number of emails about visibility mobile. Primarily interest is from mobile pioneers, mobile search companies and mobile advertising agencies.

But a couple of questions came from people that read GoMo News and know about BKI Media. So, I thought I would write a short clarification of what visibility mobile is and what it isn’t.

visibility mobile is a technology company. It will have a consultancy arm for big brands seeking to super charge optimisation of mobile sites. But research is not its primary offer. Visibility mobile’s backbone is algorithms and technology that will make mobile sites more visible on the Internet.

visibility mobile serves to improve the mobile Internet by offering free and paid optimisation tools. More on this will be revealed at Alpha launch at CTIA in San Francisco next week.

Mobile SEO is our business but we have written and proven case studies on how our services benefit brands. If you would like to know more – just ask!

But I have worked in mobile search since 2004 as a consultant and analyst and I basically had a cauldron of ideas that I was toying with. The TSSG embraced these ideas as it is a technology powerhouse and something great is about to be launched driven by the Waterford Institute of Technology.

And remember – drinks in London on me in September... and a new mobile advertising workshop will be announced soon – email me for an earlybird price.