Mobile Search Optimisation Statistics: An Inside Look

Mobile search optimisation is definitely a trend on the rise, and with consumers on the web continue to embrace mobile technology with open arms as it plays an increasingly important part in their everyday lives it is important to examine the effect that mobile web browsing is having on all aspects of e-commerce.

The guys at Websalad recently ran a few reports and pulled up some interesting statistics pointing out the primary mediums of mobile traffic, as well as the response within different business niches.

Here are some of our findings – keeping in mind that analytics for mobile has only been around approx. 2 months:

The best identifiable response to mobile browsing came from the hotel and travel industries, with two of our clients delivering the following metrics:

Hotel and Travel – Client One

• Total number of mobile visits: 1,199
• % of total visits: 4.76
• iPhone: 852 visits
• iPad: 173 visits
• Blackberry: 30 visits

Hotel and Travel – Client Two

• Total number of mobile visits: 376
• % of total visits: 2.57
• iPhone: 251 visits
• iPad: 63 visits

Educational institutions, whilst harvesting a decent total amount of visits from mobile devices, did not appear to be as impressionable for mobile in their total percentage of visits as represented by one of our clients in this niche:

Educational – Client

• Total number of mobile visits: 1,238
• % of total visits: 1.78
• iPhone: 781 visits
• iPad: 162 visits
• Blackberry: 55 visits

As for B2B clients, the results for mobile use weren’t as promising – but the results make sense when you put things in perspective.

Mobile web users access websites on the fly because they’re seeking tidbits of information: directions, pricing, snap shots of your goods or services.

They want to be able to know how to get directly to the front door or your business in the shortest time possible, or buy products on the fly.

To reiterate the above, we can further demonstrate these points through a client in the automotive industry:

Automotive – Client One

• Total number of mobile visits: 139
• % of total visits: 4.78

While the total amount of traffic on the website wasn’t high, mobile search did have a much higher percentage share of total visits.

I would also envisage that websites with inherent forums or communities would also be popular via mobile, given the continuous streams of social activity – as seen above in the stats from the client in the Education niche.

It will certainly be interesting to see how mobile search evolves over time, particularly for B2B clients.

Aside from the odd referral from mobile sources, our B2B clients did not seem to boast a high popularity on mobile devices. Is this because they are only sought after during traditional business hours? Quite possibly.

With the popularity on devices like the Apple iPhone and iPad on the rise, we can only assume that mobile search will continue its surge upwards the total number of visits for websites continuing to shift favourably.