Mobile search is up and web search is down

Search and social conversion agency Tamar has published a new white paper on mobile search and it’s found that we’re all moving to mobile search from webs search.

Tamar’s Mobile 2010 White Paper shows that UK consumers are dumping web search and moving to mobile search with mobile search engine traffic increasing by 247% in the past year.

Equally significant is the year-on-year drop of 15% in desktop/laptop search and a big increase in users who accessed websites directly via mobile. This figure more than doubled from 2009-10.

Tanya Goodin Tamar’s CEO’ said “I believe that the move to ‘Being Mobile’ means that brands will have to reshape their online strategies over the next six months to meet the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities this presents.”

Google UK and Ireland CEO Matt Brittin says that the company designs everything first for mobile, and then other platforms. His view is: “If you think the internet revolution is big, the mobile revolution is going to be bigger and much more widespread and faster.”

Tamar thinks that the trend to mobile search is irreversible and warns brands to plan agile, responsive engagement with their consumers and to address not only the migration of users to mobile search but also the continual evolution of the search engines.

The report recommends that mobile designers will need new skills to make the most of the mobile opportunity, and includes a Ten-step Guide for Best-practice Usability and Accessibility that’s well worth a look if you’re considering building a mobile site for yourself.

While the overall mobile base usage is currently small, at 3% of total traffic, the data shows that the balance between mobile and fixed/laptop device is shifting.

Tamar believes that mobile search will soon be the dominant way that consumers find information online and we don’t disagree with that.

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