Mobile has, without doubt, reached maturity as far as becoming a viable marketing channel is concerned. Let’s look at the evidence. In 2009, more internet-enabled phones were sold than laptops. Smartphone  ownership is set to rise to 1.63bn worldwide by 2013 (Morgan Stanley mobile internet report Dec 2009). So consumers definitely have the tools.  So what does all this mean for search marketing. What is the lay of the land for mobile PPC (pay-per-click) and mobile SEO (search engine optimisation)?

Well, it gets better. eMarketer’s latest report on mobile states that by 2011, the number of people searching on mobile is set to rise to 900m worldwide. So consumers are now using their phones in the way they were intended. New technology has speeded things along, and searching the web using mobile is now simple, fast, effective and convenient.

As a result, by 2011, mobile search ad revenue is set to rise to over $500m (£315m) worldwide. No small beer by any standards. You’d think, therefore, that we’re all geared up to grab our share in the UK. In reality, however, this is far from being the case.

Dark art
Mobile SEO still seems a darker art than ‘traditional’ SEO, which is probably why no one is really doing it. Cast your minds back to the ‘90s and how the web was operating, and you’ll see it’s happening all over again with mobile.  Brands are building mobile sites, which is a great start, but they are not considering how people will find them. The digital industry moves at such a pace that six months is a long time in this business. The ‘90s, therefore, seems like the dark ages to most of us.

When creating a mobile site, you need to optimise the on-page factors just as with a regular website. Good coding and content relevance is still very important. You need to ensure a link from your main .com site is put in place to pass on some link juice. You’ll then need to set up a traditional link-building campaign – but from other mobile sites, mobile directories, social networks etc.

It’s not happening because there is a real lack of tools available in the marketplace to research keywords for popularity. For now, the AdWords tool is the best place to find keyword volumes to prepare your mobile SEO programme. Another option is to first set up a mobile PPC campaign, testing for highest clickthrough rates and volumes, and then use the results to influence your SEO.

Forget the long tail (for now). People use less words when searching on mobiles (with more spelling mistakes). Yes it’s just like the ‘90s – the big keywords are ‘Free’ and ‘Download’ all over again!

Mobile PPC has some interesting new actions like ‘click-to-call’. Ad formats can also be different, having less characters in text ads, but as on the traditional Google content network, banner ads can be served on a CPC (cost-per-click) basis. You can target specific mobile networks and specific devices with your ad formats and messages. In the US, you can download an app with one click.
Again the long tail isn’t as pertinent in PPC – bidding on broad terms with a robust negative list is the best approach. Interestingly, mobile web activity increases as people leave the office and at night, compared to PC-based activity, so when running a PPC campaign across both channels, make sure you up your mobile spend after 8pm.

Huge opportunities
There are ways to approach mobile search and implement a successful campaign, and there are huge opportunities here. One in three organisations globally are currently incorporating mobile into their ad strategies (Morgan Stanley). It’s time we realized how big this is. Without doubt, it’s going to get a lot bigger. Visibility across mobile is crucial to success. Businesses are ready to spend their hard earned marketing budgets on mobile search, but the lack of tools and apparent expertise in the marketplace is making it hard to justify. Quite simply, we must do better, and fast!

Nick Beck is managing director of search engine marketing agency Tug