Mobile Devices Upend Google Search

"Mobile Devices Upend Google Search" is the name of an article that was published in the Wall Street Journal. The the main focus of the article is centered around search engine optimization, and how mobile devices are changing it. In 2010, Chimani Inc. launched a smart phone app that would help guide visitors to Maine's Acadia National Park. At the time, Google did not include apps in any search results, so Chimani had to build a website and sprinkle in phrases such as " Chimani: mobile apps for outdoors". They sprinkled these types of phrases in their website because they hoped that it would help their app get noticed. This strategy has shown how mobile devices are upending fifteen years of SEO tactics created to attract search engine sites such as Google, or Yahoo.  SEO is now more about opening apps up to Google's computers, and/or feeding the computers product information, prices, or photos.

Google's Understanding of Apps
Just like Chimani Inc. had to change their strategy, Google has had to change theirs too. On the web, Google is able to see and analyze all information. However, apps which are self-contained programs are the opposite. Google needs help from app developers in order to see and organize the material inside an app. Currently, Google does have organized information inside more than 1,000 apps such as Twitter, and Facebook, however that is only a small percentage of the more than one million apps in Google's Play Store. Google also needs help assessing content even when it can see inside an app. Google ranks websites based on how many other sites are to linked to them. However, apps are not websites so they do not have links which means that Google had to find a way to rank them differently. According to Mr. Cristo (director of SEO innovation at WPP Group), Google seems to rank apps on the number of users, and how much time they spend in the app. So it seems that the best way to boost an app's SEO is to encourage product users to write reviews, give ratings, and share content because that is what Google seems to value the most.

Best Mobile SEO
According to Marty Weintraub (founder of digital marketing agency aimClear), writing a check to Google is the best mobile SEO these days. Google offers advertising that can be placed near certain search results. The Google product ads can have pictures, prices, and availability. These ads rely on continual data that is fed from the retailers who are creating the ads. It is also important to make sure that the data feed on the product ads are at least 95% correct. Correct data feed is described to be just as important as the keywords being used in the product ads. According to PMG and Kenshoo (marketing agencies) the product codes have to start with a numeral and product descriptions can't be in all capital letters.

The topics I discussed above are what I found to be most important in the article. If you would like to read the full article, you can visit the following link: http://www.wsj.com/articles/mobile-devices-upend-google-search-1456396202