The search engine has now officially launched labels that indicate which results are mobile-friendly.
Google has now completed many months of testing in creating a mobile web option that reveals whether or not a site that is presented within its search results is actually tablet and smartphone friendly.
The snippet beneath the URL in search results will now label sites that are “mobile-friendly”.
This effort was made to help to improve the experience for people using the mobile web, as it will give them the information that they need to know whether or not a site will be optimized to be used with their smartphone or tablet. Google has added this new text label beneath the URL within the snippet, showing when a site is “mobile-friendly”.
Google has explained that the mobile web should not be a frustrating experience, so it is adding this feature to help.
Google revealed that using the world wide web can be a “frustrating experience for our mobile searchers,” when those users can’t tell whether or not a website is mobile friendly. Therefore, they have chosen to add the feature to their search results so that this information can be shared with the searcher and will mean that the user won’t have to actually click the link to the URL and load the site to find out whether or not it is friendly for navigating and viewing over mobile devices.
Google is also adding another component to its mobile web experience through a new ranking algorithm. It is currently experimenting with the algorithm for websites that are mobile optimized.
In order to be able to qualify for a label of being friendly to mobile devices, Google requires the following to be detected by its GoogleBot:
• Software uncommon on mobile devices – such as flash – is not used
• Text is readable without having to zoom in
• Content is automatically sized to the screen so that users don’t need to zoom or scroll horizontally
• Links are far enough apart on each mobile web page that it’s easy to select the right one with a fingertip tap.
That said, QR codes are still holding a respectable place in the opinion of study respondents.
According to the results of a poll that was recently conducted by Mobile Commerce Press, there are forms of mobile marketing that consumers feel are the most effective, and others in which they have yet to see very much value.
That said, overall, it is clear that consumers do see the value of some types of mobile ads.
The survey was conducted over the first half of November and has indicated that consumers have definite preferences in the way that they want to be reached over their devices such as smartphones and tablets, when it comes to the mobile marketing strategies of their favorite companies.
Some of the top options were those that were on the very cutting edge of mobile technology and that brought to mind images of certain blockbuster science fiction films that were set in the future. This suggests that consumers are becoming quite open minded about the use of mobile commerce and in being reached by companies by way of their favorite connected devices.
Among the key findings that resulted from this mobile marketing study were the following:
• Over 30 percent of respondents felt that geolocation and location based marketing techniques were the most effective.
• More than 30 percent felt that mobile apps with a loyalty program had the greatest effectiveness.
• QR codes continued to hold a respectable position as 24.5 percent of the respondents still felt that they were the most effective form of mobile advertising technique.
• Augmented reality (such as virtual dressing rooms and print ads that “come to life” with digital media when viewed through a mobile device) was thought to be most effective by 7.5 percent of the respondents.
• The categories of SMS mobile marketing, mobile coupons, Hipcricket, and NFC technology were each valued the highest by under 2 percent of the survey respondents.
It was interesting to note the value that was placed on some of the more cutting edge technologies such as geolocation and augmented reality, which are not yet nearly as commonplace as QR codes in today’s mainstream marketplace.
This suggests that it may not be too long before the experience of the character John Anderton (played by Tom Cruise) in the blockbuster movie Minority Report, when he walked through a mall and into a Gap store, may not be too far off. Though that technology involved the use of retina scans in order to identify him and present him with personalized advertising and customer service, a similar type of experience would not be out of realm of possibility for future mobile marketing. Smartphones, tablets, or even wearable technology could be used to identify the individual through geolocation tech, in order to use augmented reality for a personalized advertising and shopping experience.
