Tag: mobile search

Mobile search trending topics being quietly tested by Google

| April 15, 2016

This could allow trending search topics to be identified from within the query bar similar to top social networks.

Several reports have been appearing throughout media outlets that have indicated that Google may be quietly testing some trending topics options for mobile search that would let those popular stories be displayed within the search bar.

This concept is quite similar to what has already become commonplace over Facebook and Twitter.

The trending topics have become a regular experience through social media and now seems to be appearing on Google through mobile browsers such as Safari on iOS. After starting to type into the mobile search bar, the dropdown menu appears for the user and trending searches is one of the available options. This allows users to see what other people have been looking for during the last recent while.

Choosing one of the trending mobile search topics brings the user to an array of news articles on that subject.

Mobile Search - GoogleThat said, while some users are able to access this new trending topic feature over mobile, others are not. This looks as though it could be that Google is testing out the service but that it is making it available only to a group of a certain size as opposed to rolling it out across all users. Moreover, some people who have used it have also discovered that the option has been taken away and that they no longer have access to it.

By the time of the writing of this article, Google had yet to release an official statement about this trending topics option for mobile searches and it had not responded to request for a comment. There have been many speculations that this feature had been made available to only a limited pool of users and even that was for a small amount of time.

That said, if it is true that Google is testing out a trending mobile search option, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise for many users. This type of service already exists over social media platforms and has proven successful for keeping device users engaged. As one of Google’s specialties is obviously search, providing an option for what is trending may be considered a natural fit.

Mobile search is changing the way we buy vehicles

| August 6, 2015

The internet has already altered the car shopping experience and smartphones have gone a step further.

A recent study conducted by Autoshopper has revealed that more than one in every three people who use the internet to shop for vehicles such as cars, SUVs and trucks, have conducted a mobile search on a smartphone or tablet while actually standing in a dealership.

That represents an increase of a massive 29 percent over the number of people who were doing it in 2013.

Considering the trend toward mobile search, that really doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. After all, earlier in 2015, searches over smartphones and tablets surpassed those that took place over PCs, according to statistics released by Google. It was that trend that brought about the massive wave nicknamed “mobilegeddon” in which Google – and then later, Bing – changed their algorithms in order to favor websites that were mobile friendly, when a search was conducted over mobile devices.

Now, dealerships are paying close attention to mobile search, as it is having a considerable impact on sales.

Mobile Search - SmartphoneSince Google results now favor mobile friendly websites, dealerships have discovered that if they want to be able to stand out to their customers, then this is the type of experience that they are going to have to provide. After all, the last thing that they want to do is have a potential customer standing on their showroom floor while discovering the offerings of a competitor on their smartphones because that rival had a mobile friendly website and therefore received better search results.

Of course, the experience goes far beyond search. As dealerships battle over customers, they are now trying to create a far more seamless experience between the device and shopping in person, so that the two will work together.

Not only are most dealership websites already highly optimized for mobile search, they are also designed to provide a much broader experience that will allow consumers to be able to view additional resources that will help them to make their decisions and to learn what they want to know about the vehicles that they are considering.