Getting Dialed In to Mobile Search

Search Engine Watch has an interesting article today on mobile search. One of the main takeaways is that mobile search is much different from online search.

This was a pervasive theme in a mobile panel at ILM:06, and in the keynote address of MapQuest VP and featured speaker Jim Greiner. Not only do you have to develop different platforms that fit the form factor (smaller screen, etc.), but it also requires a whole new way of thinking about search.

Different platforms must be developed that fit the mobile use case. Search results must be filtered to include four results instead of 20, for example. And those four should be prioritized based on the speculated proclivities of someone who is mobile, rather than sitting in front of her PC.

There are also tactics required to make mobile search more user friendly and work toward mainstream adoption. Indeed, mobile search falls well within the categories of emerging technologies mentioned earlier, whose main adoption challenge will be to pass the “grandmother test.” A few of these tactics are outlined in the SEW article.

Related: The New York Times also reports today on banner ads that Verizon will integrate with its wireless service starting in ’07.