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According to a new Juniper Research report, 1.3 billion mobile users are expected to use local mobile search services by 2013. While the trends bode well for for the mobile search industry (agencies and marketers alike) the report goes on to caution that these numbers are based on good a user experience.

When you say “Local Market Strategy”, most people think of local as at the city level. In search that means Google Local, using Geographic delimiters in keywords, Local Directories, etc.

But for large enterprise sized clients, a local strategy is one for a particular country. Multi nationals typically are faced with the decision:

Are they going to have one overriding strategy for all markets

or

Are they going to have a local strategy (including different products, pricing, etc) for each market (country) that they play in.

and how this question is answered has a HUGE impact on your Search Strategy (at least it should).

Did you know that Google played favourites (Canadian spelling eh?) for a long time?

Its true! For the longest time, American companies were not really given a fair shake in the search results. It wasn’t intentional, rather was just the byproduct of legacy infrastructure, and competing priorities. And don’t get me wrong, this is in no way Google bashing. I certainly understand the problems associated with their dilemma, and why it took so long to rectify.

Let me explain. Being Canadian, we’re obviously very aware of our neighbours (yes I spelled that with a ‘u’, eh) to the south. Until very recently, we understood that there were 3 different sets of Google search results applicable to us:

So I was snooping aroiund YouTube to see what information I could find about Windows 7, when I came across this video of Construction Mike managing his day to day with a myriad of various informational and communication devices, all apparently loaded up with Windows 7.

 While I found most of the devices to be soooooo cool and I want them, I have difficulty actually imagining people from most industries, let alone the construction industry, investing in the number of gadgets per employee that Mike had the good fortune to use in his daily routine.

The Scenario:

What will ultimately replace search engines?

This is a question I am asked frequently, and therefore have given considerable thought to. Ultimately, whatever it is, it has to compensate for the weaknesses of search though right? So, what are the weaknesses of search relative to the ideal search solution (he says knowing that we’ll never stop searching for things we need, so search itself will never die, only transform into something more efficient)?

According to Borrell Associates, estimated local advertisers spent $7.5 billion on the Web in 2007, up 31 percent from 2006. This year’s outlook is even brighter with a projected increase of 48 percent to $12.6 billion. Local search is the key driver of that spending.

“About a year ago, we were thinking 2008 would see 20 to 25 percent growth,” said Borrell Associates CEO Gordon Borrell. “Now we are saying this thing is not slowing down. It’s erupting again. Something very dramatic is happening that has gone beyond anything anybody expected in terms of Internet advertising.”

Credit: MirkoGarufi

Although Search Engine People has a fair share of Canadian based clientele, we also service the needs of many firms that are located overseas, and often more than half way across the globe. With Local SEO becoming more and more prominent, it’s imperative that we track SERP rankings not only on Google (dot) Com but also on regional Google search engines. Obtaining reporting on natural search results across different geographies can be tedious and time consuming, especially when a particular client receives a significant portion of referral traffic from different regional Google search engines. However where there is a will, there is a way and with so many bright minds in the Search Marketing industry, a solution to ‘optimize’ the quandary couldn’t have been far away.

While most of us were at Pubcon last week, Google put on a by invitation only Local Symposium. This meeting was to go over Google’s rules and best practices, and to discuss some of its ongoing efforts with call reporting, mobile ads, printable coupons and website analytics.

Peter Krasilovsky reported that while it was “not very revealing”, it was “pretty helpful”. He went on to provide the best synopsis of the event I could find:

“… it’s really not a matter IF the mobile phone will become the dominant internet platform any more but WHEN…” - Yahoo! analyst Russell Beattie

With 15 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers accessing news and information via the mobile browser, mobile search represents a huge growth opportunity for SEO’s. The Kelsey Group recently revealed that nearly half of mobile users will be looking for a mobile phone with better Internet capability when they make their next mobile phone purchase.

This battle is a lot closer than most of you can imagine. I’m constantly hearing about how the Yellow Pages are dying and there’s no value in them. While most may say that I’m biased because of the number of years I spent in the industry, the same cannot be said for Google Analytics.

Google Analytics cannot lie, it has no biases and, thank goodness for the Yellow Pages, paints a much different picture than many so called experts. You just have to know what to look for.