Mobile use on Google continues to explode. This means the user experience associated with Mobile browsing is increasingly important for Google. A better user experience will keep users on-site longer, clicking ads, and improving their bottom line. How does Google eliminate spam, and incentivise webmasters and advertisers to improve their mobile sites and the mobile experience? By introducing Quality Score for Mobile Website Optimisation to Mobile Ads.

Smartphones Are Like Another Limb

At the end of April, Google conducted a webinar which discussed findings on mobile usage of the internet and mobile advertising. The source: “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users,” a study conducted by Ipsos OTX, an independent market research firm, among 5,013 US adult smartphone Internet users at the end of 2010.

General Smartphone Usage: Consumers use smartphones as an extension of their desktop computers and use it as they multi-task and consume other media.

• 81% browse the Internet, 77% search, 68% use an app, and 48% watch videos on their smartphone.
• 72% use their smartphones while consuming other media, with a third while watching TV.
• 93% of smartphone owners use their smartphones while at home.

Action-Oriented Searchers: Mobile search is heavily used to answer questions, find information and take action.

• Search engine websites are the most visited websites with 77%, followed by social networking, retail and video sharing websites.
• Nine out of ten smartphone searches results in an action (purchasing, visiting a business, etc.).
• 24% recommended a brand or product to others as a result of a smartphone search.

Local Information Seekers: Looking for local information is done by virtually all smartphone users and consumers are ready to act on the information they find.

• 95% of smartphone users have looked for local information.
• 88% of these users take action within a day, indicating these are immediate information needs.
• 77% have contacted a business, with 61% calling and 59% visiting the local business.

Shopping From Mobile: Smartphones have become an indispensable shopping tool and are used across channels and throughout the research and decision-making process.

• 79% of smartphone consumers use their phones to help with shopping, from comparing prices, finding more product info to locating a retailer.
• 74% of smartphone shoppers make a purchase, whether online, in-store, or on their phones.
• 70% use their smartphones while in the store, reflecting varied purchase paths that often begin online or on their phones and brings consumers to the store.

Mobile Advertising Effectiveness: Cross-media exposure influences smartphone user behavior and a majority notice mobile ads which leads to taking action on it.

• 71% search on their phones because of an ad exposure, whether from traditional media (68%) to online ads (18%) to mobile ads (27%)
• 82% notice mobile ads, especially mobile display ads and a third notice mobile search ads.
• Half of those who see a mobile ad take action, with 35% visiting a website and 49% making a purchase.

Mobile Quality Score

In AdWords, advertisers who provide a better user experience are rewarded with higher quality scores. The same will soon apply to Mobile Ads. This change was declared imminent after Google’s Webinar “From Why To How” held on the 21st September, 2011.

Advertisers with higher quality scores get a lower cost per click and better ad placement. And who doesn’t want more traffic at a lower cost? But that should not be the only reason to optimise your site for mobile. You don’t want to be driving away potential customers by having a website that is inaccessible or unusable by the platform they choose to browse to it from.

Mobile Landing Page Optimisation

With the introduction of Quality Score to Mobile Ads, mobile landing page optimisation will become a vital facet of your mobile campaigns. Google has offered a few broad suggestions to get started with mobile optimisation:

• Keep your layout simple.
• Design for thumb navigation, not traditional methods.
• Prioritize content.
• Use uniquely mobile features (click to call, etc).
• Make it ever so easy to convert.

Also, the Google Webmaster Blog posted an article on making websites mobile friendly back in February.

We will post further updates as more information becomes available on mobile website optimisation and the impact on mobile ad quality score.

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