A WebmasterWorld thread points to recent research on mobile search in a document entitled Deciphering Trends in Mobile Search (PDF link).
The Google team (a Ph.D student and senior staff researcher) analyzed data on over 1 million page views from Google logs and found the following:
- The average mobile query was 2.56 words.
- The most popular searches are listed in the chart below:
- Mobile queries are less homogeneous which may be attributed to the diversity of mobile users.
- More users are clicking on search results in comparison to 2005.
- There is a reduction in the amount of time it took to enter a query, possibly due to better keyboards or greater experience with mobile devices.
Some of these results come as a shock to users, especially since local searches are not as heavily emphasized as originally thought.
There are some surprises in this research for me - in fact, some of it has me scratching my head in bewilderment. I've always assumed that mobile search would be HEAVILY about Local Search.
But the data may not be completely accurate, as administrator Brett Tabke notes:
As it stands today (just checked) they are not properly detecting several browsers and a mobile browser variations on google.com. This was one of the main topics I talked about down at the mobile conference in Orlando last week. The fact that Google misidentifies Opera, Netfront, BlackBerry/RIM, and Thunderhawk.
Regardless, the findings are interesting and are worth a read if you're interested in mobile search.
Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.
