SEO News

Michael Boland

Michael Boland

Senior Analyst

BIA/Kelsey

Michael Boland is analyst and program director of BIA/Kelsey's Mobile Local Media program. Mike is a frequent speaker and organizer at top industry conferences, including Search Engine Strategies and BIA/Kelsey events. Prior to joining BIA/Kelsey, Boland spent several years as a technology journalist.

Articles by Michael Boland

  1. Mobile Forecast: Local Dominates Ad Spend

    Location targeted ads represent under half of mobile ad dollars, growing to almost 2/3 by 2016. This measures mobile ads shown based on location, geo-modified search term, or those who have geographically relevant ad copy or calls to action.

  2. Local Mobile Ad Revenues Forecast: $5 Billion by 2016

    Mobile local ad revenues will grow to $5.01 billion in 2016. Meanwhile, mobile local search volume will intersect desktop local searches in 2015. Further boosting search's share of mobile local ad revenue: location-targeted mobile search ads.

  3. Customers Are Mobile, Now Retail Must Follow

    The online-offline gap has long been a challenge for Internet marketers. Now it appears that the previous paradigm – researching online for real-world purchasing – is beginning to flip the other way, with the rise of "showrooming".

  4. Trover: Local Search and Discovery Through Images

    Trover is a new mobile local discovery app built around geotagged images. Trover’s CEO discusses possible futures for crowdsourced location-based search directories and the potential these new platforms to deliver more relevant, personalized ads.

  5. Google's Battle for the Mobile Web

    Google and optimized mobile websites win by way of more traffic and searches. The latter slowly happens with the reinforcement of the quality of the mobile web. As more mobile sites are built, guess who will want to index and make sense of it all.

  6. From Search to Cash Register: eBay Connects the Dots

    While search is good at commercial intent, I'm not convinced that social media and commerce have chocolate and peanut butter love. But if there is a killer app, it will be found by the developers to which eBay is handing the keys to the kingdom.

  7. Local Deals: The Platypus of the Post PC Era

    Is the deals space imploding? Evidence of an impending fatality has been over exaggerated and in some cases misreported. The daily deals space will look a lot different in two years, but it won't be dead. Here's what's really going to happen.

  8. Mobile, Local, Barcodes, and Bathroom Stalls

    A perfect storm is brewing for mobile advertising in search, display, and SMS; and across mobile web and native apps. But what does it all mean for mobile local advertising and search? Here are some QR code marketing dos and don'ts.

  9. Mobile, Deals & Payments: Closing the Local Loop

    Since the Google Wallet/Offers combo punch, we’ve seen a few other examples of mobile, deals and payments coming together to close the local loop. It’s the Holy Grail of local (and search), and it’s only just beginning to take form.

  10. Will Local Make up 70% of Mobile Ad Spending?

    The local portion of the total mobile ad market is forecast to grow from $404 million to $2.8 billion, increasing its share from 51 percent to 70 percent by 2015. This is why local will command such a large share of overall mobile ad spending.

  11. Discovering the Right SoLoMo Formula

    The mobile discovery trend is taking on new forms with growing smartphone penetration, and a Groupon-fueled hunger for the deals infused with apps carrying the social, local, mobile (SoLoMo) banner.

  12. Will Search Drive Mobile Ad Revenues?

    With increasing search volume, combined with higher CTRs and CPCs than desktop search, it becomes a matter of arithmetic to plot a fairly healthy roadmap for mobile search ad revenue.

  13. Reselling SEM: Google Walks the Line

    Google reaches out to a skeptical reseller community that helps sell search marketing to the massive but elusive small business segment, trying to repair the damage done by shutting down the Authorized Reseller Program.