Mobile search comes to the fore as the major search engines chase a £16bn market. Gareth Jones reports.
Using your mobile to search the internet for everything from ringtones to restaurants is becoming a lot easier thanks to a new war between the search giants. As the Mobile Data Association (MDA) estimates that more than 40 million UK consumers now access the web on the move, Google, Yahoo and MSN are racing to extend their search services to wireless devices.
Their motivation is clear. According to the IAB, the UK search market is worth nearly £1 billion. In comparison, the mobile marketing sector was valued at less than £50m in 2006. With WAP-enabled handsets becoming more popular, mobile search is a potentially huge new revenue stream for search engines.
With a whopping 78 per cent share of all UK internet searches (Hitwise), it is no surprise that Google was the first to establish a meaningful mobile presence. It has invested heavily in optimising thousands of web sites for the mobile internet. Search agency Neutralize reckons Google is responsible for 99.4 per cent of all WAP content currently available in the UK.
"Mobile search is an absolutely vital area of investment for us," says Google director of wireless partnerships Jim Holden. "Mobile users currently outnumber PC users by two to one."
10 years behind
Google is expanding the number of WAP sites on offer in an effort to improve user experience. Experts estimate the mobile web is about 0.56 per cent of the size of the conventional internet, placing it more than 10 years behind in terms of development. A search for 'property' on the internet returns more than 4.4bn results compared to just over one million on the mobile web. Google is also keen to drive revenue from mobile search and extended its AdWords paid-search model to wireless devices in July 2006. Although the service is still officially in beta testing, advertisers can now bid their way to the top of the search results page on mobile phones.
However, Google is not expected to generate any significant revenue from mobile search this year. It is focusing on building interest among consumers rather than advertisers, with personalisation the key. "We're working on embedding intelligence into the search process to pre-empt what users want to look for," says Holden. "The whole process needs to be as intuitive as possible if it is to succeed."
Yahoo and MSN have been trying, so far unsuccessfully, to loosen Google's grip on the internet search market. The emerging mobile search sector offers them the chance to reassert themselves on a level playing field.
Yahoo is channelling all its energy into becoming the dominant force in the mobile sector. "We believe that, in the long term, mobile will become the most effective advertising platform the world has ever seen," says Geraldine Wilson, VP of connected life at Yahoo Europe. "Mobile search is, unquestionably, our main strategic focus for 2007."
In January, Yahoo announced the launch of OneSearch, a mobile search product that allows users to search the entire internet from their mobile, rather than just sites that have been optimised for WAP usage. Like Google, Yahoo is also helping media owners to overhaul their sites so that they can be viewed on mobiles. "If we relied on online media owners to optimise their own sites it simply wouldn't happen," adds Wilson.
OneSearch allows users to search around vertical sectors, including weather, news, sport and city guides, and provides them with a single page of summarised search results. Plans are afoot to add GPS functionality later this year, which will enable users to search for the nearest restaurant or bar when they are out, access reviews of their food or drink, and request directions. Yahoo is also working on business models that will allow it to monetise OneSearch through sponsored links and display ads on Yahoo WAP sites. "Our OneSearch product is significantly ahead of anything our competitors are capable of launching at the moment," claims Wilson. "The battle for dominance of the fledgling mobile search market is only just beginning, but we're convinced that we have the advantage."
Same functionality
Meanwhile, MSN has been somewhat preoccupied with the launch of its AdCenter web search-marketing offer, but it has not taken its eye off the mobile ball. In an effort to outdo both Google and Yahoo, MSN recently unveiled a strategy to launch mobile versions of its Windows Live services, including Search and Live Mail. Tailored to wireless devices, these services offer similar functionality as the PC versions.
MSN is transcoding internet sites so that users will be able to search the entire web on their mobile. It also plans to index made-for-mobile sites in an effort to provide a full range of content. "There's no question that mobile is crucial to the future of our entire search strategy," says Joel Brazil, head of mobile at Microsoft. "We have an ambitious and compelling road map for growth during 2007."
MSN is to extend AdCenter to mobile, so advertisers can target paid search not just by keyword but by demographic too. However, Brazil admits that MSN's top priority is to get the mobile search experience right for consumers. "There will be plenty of time to monetise mobile search once consumers realise the power of having a search engine in their pocket."
But, it isn't just the major search players that are eyeing the market. Smaller engines such as Ask UK are also staking a claim. Ask plans to launch a mobile product this year that lets consumers find what they are looking for in just one search. Instead of providing a search box, the Ask service will allow mobile users to focus their search around 10 categories, including postcodes, weather and currency conversion. "We want to enable users to find what they're looking for with a single click," explains Gary Price, director of online information resources at Ask.com. "Our strategy is about delivering quality resources in a short space of time."
The search giants could also have a fight on their hands with the network operators that have staked their future on mobile content. As search will be the main way in which this content is navigated, the likes of Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone are keen to keep their branding at the front of the search process.
This is where the smaller, white-label search providers come in - these technology-driven companies believe the traditional internet search model will not work on mobile phones. "The online search engines simply do not understand mobile search," says Andy Walker, managing director of m-spatial, a mobile search firm that provides white-label services to Vodafone, Orange and O2. "They don't have the interface or the technical ability to search unstructured mobile data effectively, but, more than that, they don't understand the mobile consumer."
Understanding nuances
Mobile users have to rely on a keypad rather than a keyboard, which restricts the searches they can do, while the small screen limits the amount of information they can receive. Smaller mobile search specialists, such as m-spatial and mobilePeople, believe that understanding the nuances between internet and mobile search is crucial to the medium's success.
They are partnering network operators to develop a 'push' rather than a 'pull' model, based around the concept of 'search and discovery'. Basically, this means that, instead of being offered access to the entire internet, mobile users are given a limited amount of information through which they can drill down to find what they're looking for.
Despite heavy investment from search engines and network operators, and positive predictions of growth in the UK market, IAB chief executive Guy Phillipson says there is a long way to go before mobile search becomes a viable platform for advertisers. He thinks network operators need to make the mobile web free to access and easier to use to attract consumers first.
There is also a lack of awareness among brand owners. "Advertisers are keen to learn about mobile search, but none of the big search engines are prepared to educate them," says Jim Brigden, managing director of SearchWorks. Digital agency i-level is trialling several mobile search campaigns for clients, including the COI. However, the number of paid-for mobile search listings is limited, meaning that they are likely to be sold at a premium, which, in turn, makes mobile less cost-effective than conventional internet keyword search.
"Mobile search is gradually gaining momentum, but it is difficult to see it experiencing the overnight success enjoyed by pay-per-click on the web," says Amanda Jones, head of search at i-level.
Growth may be slow, but, as Phillipson says, the potential exists for search on handsets to be much bigger than search on the internet. "Your mobile is usually on, it's pretty reliable and, most importantly, it's always to hand," he says.
WHERE THE BIG PLAYERS ARE TAKING MOBILE
- GOOGLE extended its AdWords paid-search model to mobile in July 2006, allowing advertisers to bid their way to the top of search results on wireless devices. It has agreed either to add its search software or feature its search box on handsets manufactured by Motorola, Sony Ericsson and BenQ-Siemens. It has struck mobile search partnerships with T-Mobile, Vodafone and Telefonica Moviles Espana, and it has a global deal with Samsung in the pipeline.
- YAHOO extended its partnership with 3 to launch Yahoo Go For Mobile 2.0 to customers in the UK, Italy, Sweden and Denmark. This includes the OneSearch mobile search product, which Yahoo is monetising via sponsored links and display ads on its WAP sites. The original Yahoo Go For Mobile package is available on high- and mid-end Motorola devices in the US, Europe and Asia. Nokia and RIM (Research In Motion) include Yahoo services on their handsets, while Yahoo Mail, instant messaging and search are available in the US via AT&T, Cingular Rogers and Sprint.
- MICROSOFT has been launching mobile versions of its Windows Live services. Each offer is tailored to mobile, but offers similarly functionality to that available on PCs. MSN also offers a direct-to-consumer mobile service, which is accessible via WAP site Mobile.live.com. As well as sponsored listings on its mobile portal and plans to extend adCenter to wire-less devices, MSN offers location-based advertising in conjunction with Orange, O2 and T-Mobile.
HOW THE EXPERTS THINK MOBILE SEARCH WILL DIFFER FROM WEB
1. Mobile users are typically restricted to the keypad on their handset, so they tend to use shorter, more succinct search terms. The predictive text facility means that queries relating to specific brands or services are often substituted for generic searches.
2. Location is a major factor in mobile search. Most users will be looking for something close to where they are at the time. Through the integration of search with their network provider, mobile users can receive ads automatically targeted to their location.
3. The information that is returned to someone using a mobile will be much more limited than what can be received online. Search results will have to be shorter and more focused on a mobile to be effective.
4. The position of ads and sponsored links is even more important on a mobile results page. The screen is smaller, so fewer ads are shown to the user, who is far less likely to scroll through them.
5. Brand owners will have to think more carefully about where they direct users who click through from a mobile ad or sponsored link. They will have to invest in optimising their web site for viewing on a wireless device and contain all relevant details on one page.