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
Online Techniques vs Mobile
Mobile sites do not cross link. Page Rank doesn’t work. This means that the mobile web is back where the online web was ten years ago. The mobile web is going through a learning curve and more often than not OneWeb standards are implemented to direct users to the right mobile site or page. This means that HTML codes are inserted into sites that tell mobile search engines to redirect the page.
<link> rel=”mobile”
This is insufficient. Moreover, it is a lengthy process where search engines are often redirected to the online site only to be forwarded to the mobile site.
Linking is another rabbit that is often pulled out of the SEO hat as being a definitive way of persuading and educating search engines. This is not the case in mobile as yet as there are too few sites with too few link associations. Once there are more sites linking will have a stronger value, but this is not the case today.
What does that leave us with?
It leaves us with Meta Tags. The major way in which mobile sites were discovered in the early days of online was by the use of Meta Tags. This is where we are now in mobile search. Meta Tags, when placed in the right part of the mobile site can influence mobile search engines and encourage higher placement on the mobile web.
What are Meta Tags?
<meta name="keywords" content="wikipedia,encyclopedia" />
The above is an example of a meta tag. A tag that is inserted into the “head” of the mobile or online site and provides a keyword overview of the sites information.
Indeed, nowadays the use of meta tags has decreased with companies such as Google saying that Meta Tags are often over populated with the wrong keywords to trick or misguide users. But this does not mean that Google does not use Meta Tags in its search analysis. If used correctly and not-overpopulated with illicit or incorrect words – it remains an effective way of gathering relevant site information.
In mobile where sites are usually scaled down versions of online sites due to the limitations of the small screen and for effective usability – manipulating the text with keywords can be tricky. So once again Meta Data is an ideal way in which to ensure that the main focus of the site is highlighted.
Metatxt is a new standard in mobile search engine optimisation. It is a simple text file that when inserted into your mobile site root directory will assist discoverability on the Mobile Internet.
What does the metatxt file do?
visibility mobile creates a simple text file that describes your site. The information contained in our metatxt file will assist search engines to find the right mobile content or multimedia.
Whatever the site, whatever the URL – the implementation of metatxt will assist your mobile optimisation efforts.
Metatxt will be launched on September 10 2008. But a brief overview is below.
How to metatxt?
In four simple steps GoMobileSEO website takes you through the metatxt process.
- Go to http://www.metatxt.org
- Type in your URL and enter your e-mail address
- Enter any additional URL’s you wish us to search and click Generate
- An e-mail will be sent to you containing your site’s metatxt file. Add this file to you server’s root directory. (Partnerships with all major mobile website and blogging companies are being formed).
Social Media
In the world of mobile, viral thinking is vital. visibility mobile believes that viral thinking is more important than link building for mobile SEO. Using out own special in house techniques we have proven results of how our Mobile SEO techniques make a strong impact.
For example earlier this year we undertook an ambitious project to use our Mobile SEO techniques to deliver different results on a mobile search engines. We wanted to see or determine which strategies were effective for which mobile search engines and if we could influence Google (web) to also index our dot mobi site higher or at the very top of the a Google search engine.
Using building vs buying techniques we optimised two mobile sites with different specifications. I created these sites myself with mobile site creation tools. Then they were submitted to mobile search engines – after a 4 week wait we started this analysis. The analysis below is a synopsis of the results only. Our techniques remain proprietary to our visibility mobile brand.
The first was bkimedia.zinadoo.mobi and the second was gomonews.mobi. The challenges and parameters for optimising the site was as follows.
Strategy |
BKI Media |
GoMo News |
Building |
With BKI Media our aim was not to build a mobile site that was optimised for mobile. Our strategy was to buy. |
With GoMo News our strategy was to build a site using our social media techniques that would manipulate placement on multimedia search engines. |
Buying |
We set up a series of buying campaigns with mobile advertising networks globally. Each campaign had a minimum daily spend of USD 10. |
We did not spend any money on a mobile advertising campaign for gomonews.mobi |
What did we do?
We then ran both campaigns simultaneously. We submitted the sites to only ten different mobile only search engines.
Our mission was:
Bkimedia.zinadoo.mobi |
Gomonews.mobi |
Our aim was to make BKI Media a success in traditional search engines (Yahoo! Google) and also to get into the five of all mobi related search engines and directories. |
Our aims was to be found at the top of multimedia search engines such as Taptu; onsearch.mobi and on viral online searches as well. |
Please See original for images (they do not appear below).
The results
BKI Media Placement (bkimedia.zinadoo.mobi)
Search Engine |
Start Placement |
Results (after 12 weeks) |
Final Position |
Web |
0 |
Position 3 | |
Find. mobi |
0 |
Position 1, 2 and 3 | |
Mobiseer |
0 |
Position 1 |
GoMo News (gomonews.mobi)
Search Engine |
Start Placement |
Results (after 12 weeks) |
Final Position |
Taptu |
0 |
Position 1 and 2 | |
Yahoo Web |
0 |
Position 12 | |
Yahoo oneSearch |
0 |
Position 11 |
The results above indicate that we succeeded in our manipulation of mobile search engines and online search engines using only building or buying techniques. Indeed, we are convinced that a mixture of both techniques would guarantee exceptional placement on the web. But in this illustration it is vital to show how marketing can be magnified using mobile search techniques. These SEO concepts serve to bolster any existing mobile advertising campaign as well.
In about six weeks using our techniques for social media we managed to achieve our placement goals on pure mobile and online search engines. The buying technique was essential for the online space but manipulation of a pure mobile only environment was achievable without any additional buying campaign.
Guidelines
Following on from the above here are our simple rules for mobile site optimisation that will assist any additional mobile SEO or mobile advertising campaign.
1. Think Mobile
2. Keep the mobile site very simple - only two pages
3. Avoid frames
4. Use metatxt
5. Design from scratch with xhtml for the design or if you have a WAP site use metatxt to send search engines to the right pages
6. Think about your titles carefully and ensure they express what your website does
7. Seed each page with at least two keywords that are also within the metatxt
Conclusion
Mobile is the message and is the most important medium. Seize this opportunity to accelerate mobile presence, campaigns, traffic and visibility of your brand.
visibility mobile ensures that mobile brands dominate the mobile web.
Our aim is to provide the best mobile search engine optimisation services possible. Regardless of whether your site is a wap, m., .mobi or .com we can optimise it for mobile.
We are a technology provider offering optimisation tools to brands, search engines and mobile agencies.
The visibility mobile approach ensures mobile brands gain prime placement on the mobile web. This approach combines proven White Hat SEO measures and a suite of proprietary techniques we have developed in-house.
Bena Roberts has fifteen years experience in mobile and has been proactive in mobile search since 2004. She has used her insight into mobile search to conceive and develop early stage Mobile SEO techniques that work. As well as being the President of visibility mobile Bena is also the Editor of GoMo News.
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