MOBILE SEO: TO BE OR NOT TO BE

When will it be the year of the mobile? Media people have been asking this question for several years.

More importantly, from my perspective, will mobile SEO become a major part of my role within Search? With what seems like a major reluctance to commission small screen pages and/or a convergence of browser developers shoe-horning the desktop web on to my small screen; mobile SEO is fast becoming a speciality that was never required.

The alternative is stiring up some debate here at my agency. Apple’s iPhone, alongside the eagerly awaited Google G1 [running Android], both offer a new solution to usability – the application.

I was discussing with one of my clients, the emergence of iPhone traffic exposed by their web analytics and how best to realise this opportunity.

The solution, however, is not necessarily a simple web-based one. With a successful e-commerce business Domino’s will need to deliver the same, efficient user expereince across the mobile. And this is most probably where applications will win the day.

The user will have to discover the application from somewhere. No doubt – SEO will retain the same important role – driving visibility across Search to an audience thirsty for mobile convenience. Fortunately the client agrees.