Tag: mobile search

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.

An explosion of searches has revealed that people are using their devices to plan their supermarket trips.

According to search volume data that was collected during the second quarter of this year, consumers are looking to mobile technology on a rapidly increasing basis as they prepare their grocery shopping lists.

Among the searches that were performed over smartphones and tablets, recipes topped the ten leading grocery terms.

The largest sub-category search terms over mobile technology, according to the BRC-Google Online Retail Monitor were organic and natural foods. When all devices were taken into account, the searches conducted for grocery items rose by 22 percent when compared to the same quarter in 2013. The volume of searches conducted over smartphones greatly outpaced those of tablets. The data showed that there was a rate of growth of 94 percent over smartphones and 28 percent over tablets.

There was a tremendous spike in the number of searches conducted over mobile technology for organic and natural foods.

The growth rate in this category over smartphones was a tremendous 133 percent within that quarter. Among tablet users, the increase was recorded at 21 percent. Overall, when all devices were taken into account, there was a respectable growth of 23 percent.

It was the barbecue and grill category that brought about the largest search volume growth across all of the various devices, at 40 percent. Thirty seven percent more searches were conducted within the special and restricted diet foods category. Latin American cuisine saw a growth rate of 35 percent, while meat and poultry searches were up 34 percent and beer rose by 32 percent.

When it came to specific locations that used mobile technology the most for grocery related searches, it was London that scored the highest. Peter Fitzgerald, the retail director at Google, said that “the developments grocers have made in the region, for example the increase in delivery options becoming available.” The director general of BRC, Helen Dickinson went on to express that “In a change that will give particular cheer to grocery retailers, customers are increasingly turning to their tablet computers and smartphones for culinary guidance.”