The Changing Landscape of Mobile Search - LearnInbound Dublin - April 2016

Mobile has been an important channel for a while now, and given recent developments like app indexation and accelerated mobile pages as well as the addition of new types of devices like wearables and smart tech, understanding how this fits into the bigger search marketing picture is more crucial than ever! This session will take a look at the history of mobile search, how mobile search behaviour has impacted on desktop search, the growing significance of app content and developments such as AMP and app streaming within the search marketing landscape, and some thoughts on where the future of search could be heading.

1. A brief jaunt down memory lane

2. 2000-2012: total internet usage vs mobile data usage 12x Source

3. 2013’s big question: “What should my mobile strategy be?”

4. What does this mean for mobile search?

5. And sure enough, in 2016...

6. And sure enough, in 2016... Mobile has become the preferred way to browse the web.

7. We used to talk about mobile being used “on the go”, and desktop for “work” and “home”. Now we recognize that mobile is used in all different environments and contexts, and often simultaneously with other devices.

8. We used to talk about whether you needed an app, and how it was differentiated from your web content. Now we talk about app indexation.

9. We used to talk about whether you needed an app, and how it was differentiated from your web content. Now we talk about app indexation.

10. We used to talk about how to prevent showrooming. ...that ship has sailed.

11. welcome to...

12. The Changing Landscape of Mobile Search Bridget Randolph

13. Proof: the story from the stats. Ben Evans. It wasn’t always like th is.

14. 2015 2020 It’s because this happened 2008 Source

15. now, 52% of UK internet users say that mobile is their primary way to access the web.

16. up from only 24% in 2013.

17. Ben Evans, 2015 “It’s actually the PC that has the limited, basic, cut-down version of the internet...it only has the web.”

18. It can take photos

19. It knows where it is It can take photos

20. It knows where it is It knows who your friends are It can take photos

21. It knows if you are walking, running, etc It knows where it is It knows who your friends are It can take photos

22. It interacts with the world (beacons, pay, NFC)

23. It’s personal, signed-in, and taken everywhere It interacts with the world (beacons, pay, NFC)

24. It’s personal, signed-in, and taken everywhere It has natural multi- touch It interacts with the world (beacons, pay, NFC)

25. It has notifications It has natural multi- touch It’s personal, signed-in, and taken everywhere It interacts with the world (beacons, pay, NFC)

26. User Behaviour Technological Advances Ranking Factors (Google) Search Marketing The Adaption Waterfall

27. User Behaviour Technological Advances Ranking Factors (Google) Search Marketing Better UX The Adaption Waterfall

28. 4 key shifts Mobile Friendliness as a Ranking Factor Site Speed and Page Load Times App Integration with Web Search Mobile First Design of SERPs

29. #1 Mobile Friendliness as a Ranking Factor Site Speed and Page Load Times App Integration with Web Search Mobile First Design of SERPs

30. Mobile Friendliness (we have to do something about poorly optimized mobile experiences)

31. Google now provides all sorts of tools in Search Console and elsewhere to test mobile friendliness.

32. Some sites lost as much as 35% of top 3 rankings within the first month after the update . Source

33. 2 months on, 81%+ of the top 3 results are mobile friendly.

34. Google also announced a 5% increase in the number of mobile-friendly websites, within the 2 months between their announcement about the update and “Mobilegeddon”. Source

35. First step: make sure your site passes the basic mobile-friendliness tests. Mobile Friendly Testing Tool Search Console Reports Separate tab on the Pagespeed Insights tool Tool Tip: use URL Profiler to check URLs in bulk. TAKE ACTION

36. Mobile Friendliness as a Ranking Factor Site Speed and Page Load Times App Integration with Web Search Mobile First Design of SERPs #2

37. Mobile Site Speed and Page Load Times (we have to do something about on-page user experience)

38. Facebook Facebook Instant Articles Apple Apple Newsstand Native Apps

39. AMP is a set of rules for developing webpages which guarantees speed and forces distribution .

40. It’s basically skeleton HTML which allows the page to...

41. load really quickly be cached by Google and served directly in the SERP

42. www.wsj.com/article-headline www.wsj.com/amp/article-headline https://amp.gstatic.com/v/s/ www.wsj.com/amp/article-headline

43. First step: decide whether AMP is relevant to you. You should use AMP if: Google News is an important traffic source for you You make a lot of content, particularly editorial content You want wider distribution of your content You have a high proportion of mobile traffic TAKE ACTION

44. Mobile Friendliness as a Ranking Factor Site Speed and Page Load Times App Integration with Web Search Mobile First Design of SERPs #3

45. Making Desktop Search More Like Mobile Search (we have to do something about consistency of experience)

46. “Card” style format

47. The old “Google”

48. The new “Google”

49. No more sidebar ads

50. First step(s): Account for it in your reporting and tracking Consider creating more top-of-funnel landing pages TAKE ACTION

51. Mobile Friendliness as a Ranking Factor Site Speed and Page Load Times App Integration with Web Search Mobile First Design of SERPs #4

52. App Integration (we have to do something about “walled garden” app content)

53. Google needs to integrate app content with the rest of the web

54. (or they risk becoming irrelevant)

55. app indexation.

56. If you don’t have an app, you may not need one. Ask yourself: Would my app... Add convenience? Offer unique value? Provide social value? Offer incentives? Entertain? TAKE ACTION

57. First step: If you do have an app, make sure it supports http:// (web) links. And check out my blog post about how to set up an app for indexation by Google. TAKE ACTION

58. Must-have Avoid pitfalls Recommended Support deep-linking Use web URLs for app views where possible Register the app in your Search Console Allow appropriate URLs in robots.txt Ensure first click free in the app Add markup to pages or sitemaps Use app indexing API to: Index personal user content Add meta information to app views Enable activities such as voice actions Expose popularity of app views to Google Checklist for Android app indexing

59. Watch this space Avoid pitfalls Must-have Support Universal Links Add your domain(s) to associated-domains in app Add URLs handled by the app to apple-app-site-association on domain Use web URLs for app views where possible Add GoogleAppIndexing registration to your app Ensure first click free in the app Enable the back button Watch out for Google announcing an iOS app indexing API Enables indexing of personal content Allows usage information to be sent to Google Adds meta information Checklist for iOS app indexing (Google)

60. Endgame?

61. So where’s this all heading?

62. 2 key search trends specifically regarding mobile technology Implicit Query Signals Intelligent Personal Assistants

63. We’re moving towards a future of “queryless search” (and intelligent personal assistants and lots of other cool stuff)

64. “My vision when we started Google 15 years ago was that eventually you wouldn't have to have a search query at all.” Sergey Brin , TED , 2013

65. Implicit Query Signals Intelligent Personal Assistants #1

66. Implicit Query Signals (we want to anticipate your personal context)

67. NBED - WEARABLES IMPLICIT SIGNALS: WEARABLES

68. IMPLICIT SIGNALS: MODE OF TRANSPORT

69. NBED - PHYSICAL WEB IMPLICIT SIGNALS: HYPER-LOCAL (BEACONS)

70. Mockup: Jack Morgan IMPLICIT SIGNALS: READING SIGNS

71. First Step: ask yourself which implicit signals could impact searchers trying to find you? TAKE ACTION

72. Implicit Query Signals Intelligent Personal Assistants #2

73. Intelligent Personal Assistants (we want to anticipate your personal needs)

74. GOOGLE’S MISSION

75. Personal index + public index + app content = a single interface for all searches

76. NOT JUST GOOGLE

77. MICROSOFT CORTANA

78. PROACTIVE SIRI

79. FACEBOOK ‘M’

80. AMAZON ECHO

81. First Step: ask yourself how you can prepare to be the most useful source from a personal assistant app ’s point of view? TAKE ACTION

82. User Behaviour Technological Advances Ranking Factors (Google) Search Marketing

83. Source

84. Tim Allen , 2015 “We used to talk about whether or not we were in the year of mobile… but we are actually in the Age of Mobile .”

85. www.distilled.net/searchscape @ BridgetRandolph @ Distilled