Optimizing for Mobile SearchCindy KrumFounder & CEO of Rank-Mobile

“The Web has become so pervasive, so ubiquitous that it is fading into the background. It is becoming invisible. It just powers everything that we do and it is almost completely transparent; In that we often don’t even realize that we’re getting data or information from the Web. It’s just how we do things. We just expect it to be there and work. Flawlessly, at all times.”

Jeremy Lockhorn

Director of Emerging Media & Video Innovation

Avenue A | Razorfish

• Different Technology– Simplified Rendering– Smaller Screen

• The Platform is Robust– More Personal– More Interactive– More Track-able– More Immediate

What is Different About the Mobile Web?

• On Deck– Carrier Search Engines: Usually White-Labels of JumpTap

or Medio– Rankings are Based on Submission, Payment & Algorithm

• Off Deck– Traditional Search Engines: Google, MSN & Yahoo– Rankings are Based on the Mobile Algorithm

• In Mobile Apps– Downloaded to the Phone– Frequently Topic Specific Search

Where Mobile Search Happens:

– Traditional & Local SEO Strategies

– Appropriate Site Architecture is Key

– To Rank Well You Must Render Well

– Clean Code is Key

Focus on Off-Deck Mobile SEO:

• Search Engines Look at Text & Code

• Write Good Meta Data

• Submit to Local Directories, Mobile Directories & Mobile Search Engines

• Provide Info Relevant to Mobile Users

• Give Bots Instructions

• Don’t Rely on:– Embedded Images– Objects– Scripts– Frames– Flash– Pop-up Windows– Mouse-Over Events

Traditional & Local SEO Strategies:

• dotMobi is Rarely Ideal Off-Deck Mobile Search

– Not Preferred in Mobile Search

– Cumbersome Development Standards

– Limited Useful Life

– Bad for SEO (Mobile & Traditional)

– Bad for Consumers

Appropriate Site Architecture is Key:

• Architecture Options that Don’t Require a Separate Site:– Mobile Only Pages

• Subdomain (www.m.mysite.com)• Subdirectory (www.mysite.com/m)

– Mobile/Traditional Hybrid Pages

– Dynamic Mobile Pages

Appropriate Site Architecture is Key:

• There are Hurdles in Mobile Rendering

– Lots of Browsers

– Many Different Handsets

– Inconsistent Coverage

To Rank Well You Must Render Well:

• Stuff at the Top is More Valuable than Stuff at the Bottom.

• Columns of your Site will be Stacked.

• JavaScript & AJAX will Display in Full.

To Rank Well You Must Render Well:

Clean Code is Key:• XHTML is Ideal

• Multiple External CSS– Screen Style Sheet– Handheld Style Sheet

• Better Crawl & Faster Download

Appendix

• 247mini: http://clieuk.co.uk/247mini/247mini.html • 4Info: http://wap.4info.net/listCategory.do • A1R for men: http://a1r.mobi/ • A1R for women: http://a1r.mobi/me/ • Alan’s Pocket Portal:

http://home.earthlink.net/~ag3/pocketpc/ • Ask Mobile: http://mobile.ask.com/ • Elghazi.com: http://www.elghazi.com/mobile/ • Evmo: http://www.evmo.com/Kevmo.aspx • Film-TV.com: http://film-tv.com/mobile.htm • Five-alive: http://pda.five-alive.com/ • HP iPAQ Mobile:

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/ipaqmobile/index.html

• iGloo: http://www.igloo.mobi • Juni’s Start Page:

http://www.kolumbus.fi/anders.ruohio/links/default.htm

• Locate It Online: http://www.locateitonline.com/mobile/ • MiniSphere: http://sphere.mobicosm.com/ • MobiDock:

http://www.mobidock.com/LinkExchange.aspx • MobiletopsoftPdaPortal: http://pda.mobiletopsoft.com/ • MyPocketStuff.com: http://www.mypocketstuff.com/

Netvibes: http://m.netvibes.com/login.php • News4Mobile: http://www.news4mobile.com/ • palmOne Portal: http://mobile.palmone.com/us/ • ymobile.com/

• PDA Home Page: http://pdahomepage.com/ • PDA Hotspots:

http://www.wacklepedia.com/pdahotspots/pda_hotspots.htm

• PDAMobileWeb: http://pdamobileweb.com/index.php

• PDATree.com: http://pdatree.com/ • PliNkIT: http://www.plinkit.com/ • Pocket PC Links: http://www.pocketpclinks.com/ • PocketOptimized.com:

http://www.pocketoptimized.com/pda/ • Purelymobile: http://www.purelymobile.co.uk/ • Skweezer: http://www.skweezer.net/ • Small Sites: http://209.221.153.18/smallsites/ • Tappity: http://www.tappity.com/ • The Casual Traveler:

http://www.thecasualtraveler.com/mini.htm • TranspoMan News Feeds:

http://transpoman.com/ppcrss/ • Twighlight: http://twilightwap.com/elite/ • WAMPAD: http://www.wampad.com/ • Yahoo Mobile: http://us.m.yahoo.com • YourCityMobile.Com: http://yourcit

Get Inbound Links from Mobile & Traditional Sites:

Have a Mobile Site Map & Mobile Robots.txt:

• Use Browser Detect & Redirection or Self Selection• Address Duplicate Content in the Robots.txt files.

– Subdomain: One Robots.txt in the Root for the Site to Block Mobile Bots, and one in the Root for the Subdirectory to block Traditional Bots

– Subdirectory: OneRobots.txt in the Root of the Site to address Mobile & Traditional Bots.

• Redirect the dotMobi to the Mobile Site on your Real Domain.

• Google:– Submit mobile & traditional site map through Google Webmaster Tools:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/dashboard – Use the old-school submission form at: www.google.com/addurl and put ‘mobile’ in the

comments field– Submit all addresses to Google Local: http://www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter

• Yahoo: http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/mobilesubmit – Submit all addresses to Yahoo Local: http://listings.local.yahoo.com/csubmit/index.php

• MSN/Windows Live: http://webmaster.live.com/ – Submit all addresses to Live Search Local:

https://ssl.search.live.com/listings/BusinessSearch.aspx • Nokia: http://europe.nokia.com/A4568518• JumpTap http://www.jumptap.com/content-publishers-submit-content • Medio http://medio.com/partners/addyourmobilesite/ • Bango http://www.bango.com • Taptu http://taptu.com/a/submit?ps=Q1A9b • Sprint https://developer.sprint.com/site/global/home/p_home.jsp • Crispy http://www.crispyweb.com/submitmobile.htm • Abphone http://www.abphone.com and http://m.abphone.com • Vtap http://www.vtap.com/index.html • AOL http://wap.aol.com • Mobiseer http://www.mobiseer.com (social bookmarking) • Dotmobi http://mtld.mobi/sitesubmit

Submit to Mobile Search Engines:

Have Good Meta Data for Mobile:

Mobile SEO Check List

1. Appropriate Site Architecture

2. Clean Code

3. Good Mobile Rendering & User Experience

4. Traditional & Local SEO Best Practices

5. Mobile Site Map & Bot Instructions

6. Appropriate Mobile Search Engine & Directory

Submissions

“So if you’re someone who happens to design things for the web, well, I think you can see that you can either start designing now with mobile viewing in mind — instead of designing exclusively for the un-mobile web — or you can play catch-up later, after you finally get hip.”

-Michael Smith, Oreillynet.com You're a Fool to Design only for the Un-Mobile Web, December 22, 2005.

Rank-MobileCindy Krum,

CEO &Founder

www.Rank-Mobile.com

Twitter: Suzzicks

Cindy.Krum@Rank-Mobile.com

Phone: 720-231-7277