SEO Agency: Will Mobile SEO become important to customers?

People have been saying the mobile will be the next big thing in media for years. But with poor battery life and expensive roaming tariffs being barriers to entry this year might actually be the year when the mobile gets its place in the digital marketing mix.

The mobile phenomenon is heavily spurred on by the iPhone as the other handset makers strive to keep up. But will mobile sites take off to the extent that website owners will want their SEO agency to perform mobile SEO?

I am inclined to say yes. Mobile usage will only increase and if you want your site to be found you will need to consider mobile seo. The clever thing with mobile search is that technology enables the user to see truly local results with listings being shown based on the users location.

Mobile search engine algorithms do differ from the regular Google algorithm. As SEO is a mixture of on and off site activity is essential your mobile web pages are built with SEO in mind. I am certain mobile search is going to become increasingly popular, to ignore it could be damaging. Comscore shows that mobile search increased 68% from 2007 to 2008 in the US. The UK is slightly behind with a 30% increase but as with most things we will catch up.

Mobile SEO is important as mobile searchers are in a different search mode to PC based searches. Mobile searchers are looking for something here and now. Most people won't be researching products such as credit cards or loans. They want to know where there's a local restaurant.

If you want to show up on the first screen when a user searches for something on their mobile, you need to make sure that your site is optimised for local type searches. There are a number of ways in which you can optimise your site for local seo. These are:

• Make sure your site is included in Google's Local Business Center.
• Get your website mentioned with its address in as many places as possible
• Try and get local links from local sources
• Make sure your address and phone number appears on your site
• List the locations where your business can be found and consider adding a map

By following local SEO rules your site will appear higher up the mobile SEO rankings.

Check out this video which was taken at SES London earlier this year.