Mobile search - getting your mobile site in shape

Ross Dunn at The SEO Blog has a good roundup of what it takes to make your site mobile-friendly.

...there just happens to be a piece of the Internet that I bet you haven't made the leap to yet and it is going to be BIG. This new space is mobile search and mobile Internet surfing, says Dunn.

Dunn then explains the current state of affairs, introduces .mobi, and gives a list of references for building mobile sites.  If you're new to this it is worth a read.

Pity that he left off one of our own favourite mobile site building services - Scott Rafer's WINKsite - here you can build a powerful mobile website for free, just like the one that hosts Goobile (down on the lower left column).

Is there a mobile search item that you think we should feature? Email tips@goobile.com. Thanks!

Subscribe to Goobile

Sponsored Links & Partner Sites: > TelecomWeb: Global Business News, Market Research and Competitive Analysis. > Wireless Business Forecast: Bridging Wireless Technology, Media And Your Business. > > msearchblog: pushing the barrier on mobile search, advertising, recommendation, social networking and communities. > Mobile Gambling Summit: London 22-23rd January, secure register quote "I Mode" for savings.

---

Call, for strategy, business and partnering advice. | | Email Walter Adamson | Call (Australia) .

Comments

[Charles Knight]

Could someone please help me to understand the difference between "www.Century21.mobi" or "www.m.ask.com" or "www.mobile.century21.com" why all the variations? Thanks!
Charles

[Scott Rafer]

Thanks for the flattery. Let us know what else we can do to help.

[Walter Adamson]

Charles, there is no difference, each of your examples and the many more just point to a web resource at different levels of resolution.

For example, dot mobi is trying to reduce the variations just by being there, but it has no intrinsic value in itself as a web resource address. If the instances of websites which resolve to a .mobi address render better across a wide range of mobile devices then it will serve a purpose, if they don't then .mobi will be no more value than any other URL as a reference to a mobile webpage or entry to a set of web pages.

How do you pick what convention to use? Follow a big guy like Google or someone else whose convention might catch on.

The cleanest solution is to use the current URLs without any artificial additions and have a site capable of recognising the calling device/browser and rendering itself appropriately. This is how the WWW is supposed to work - transparently - but the dot mobi owners (remember .mobi is just another commercial venture) have trashed universal simplicity in favour of their own vested interests.

That said a lot of people favour .mobi precisely because it provides at face value a simplistic (and misleading) answer to your question.

Regards, Walter