SEO & Mobile searches

[MktgRob]

According to comScore, the number of people who accessed local content from mobile devices increased was up 51% in March 2009 as compared to March 2008, with the most popular search items being maps, restaurants and movie listings. And as Apple and Palm bring out new mobile devices and their competitors not far behind, optimizing content for mobile devices is growing importance. I am just starting to explore SEO for mobile devices and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for a novice.

[InsightsDigital]

I found some relevant articles on SEO Round Table's archive.

[almostbob]

I use php script to determine mobile browsers, and redirect to a mobile version of the site, very small icons instead of images, mostly containing directions to the properties, with links to the full pages as an option.

Hits to the mobile pages are up 500% since January
get email from the webmail links on those pages every day
so I think the use of mobile browsers is way up.
Not sure how to go about optimising for seo to mobile

Fragment

<?php $mobile = "http://mobile.mysite.com/";
if(preg_match('/Windows CE/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}
elseif(preg_match('/Blackberry/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}
elseif(preg_match('/PalmOS/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}
elseif(preg_match('/PalmSource/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}
elseif(preg_match('/SymbianOS/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}
elseif(preg_match('/Opera Mini/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}
elseif(preg_match('/Nokia/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}
elseif(preg_match('/Samsung/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}
elseif(preg_match('/vodaphone/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}
elseif(preg_match('/Jphone/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}
elseif(preg_match('/AvantGo/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}
elseif(preg_match('/DoCoMo/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}
elseif(preg_match('/DDIPOCKET/i',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) { header("location: $mobile");}

[ArvindSharma]

Hi,

I think as the mobile search engine is still immature so the seo and smo technique

But the basic of seo is helpful in the mobile seo too ..

You have to follow following on page technique for that:

Use 100% valid XHTML 1.0 code

Follow accessibility best practices
create a mobile site map
beside it following resources may help you:

http://www.seoprinciple.com/building-mobile-friendly-websites/07/#more-252

[MktgRob]

There are also some companies out there that are offering a service by which you sign up and provide them with your url and when someone searched on a mobile device they site is reformated to fit that screen. As these services grow in popularity and as they refine their technology then mobile searches will take off.

[ArvindSharma]

There are also some companies out there that are offering a service by which you sign up and provide them with your url and when someone searched on a mobile device they site is reformated to fit that screen. As these services grow in popularity and as they refine their technology then mobile searches will take off.

yeah I have heard about this thing too..

but the point is "is these services are seo friendly? "
I would prefer to do the thing on my server site rather than hiring a third party services

[MktgRob]

yeah I have heard about this thing too..

but the point is "is these services are seo friendly? "
I would prefer to do the thing on my server site rather than hiring a third party services

The one that I saw at a presentation of Ultra-light start-ups in NYC a few weeks back provided only pass through service and did not affect any of the SEO efforts that you already have in place or any that you might put if for mobile searches. They provided a code snippet that you put in your overall code and when someone accesses your website from a mobile device there is some sort of code transmission that identifies the device being used. Their code snippet recognizes the fact that the search is coming from a mobile device and identifies the device in use. It then shows the searcher a mobil version of the site scaled to fit their screen. As the service can identify over 2,000 different mobile devices, this would be one that I would gladly let the service provider handle.