We’ve said several times that mobile and sms search tools are rapidly gaining steam in the U.S. Today, Yahoo Mobile has introduced a few new services.
Yahoo has added local search, web search, and image search to their already large set of mobile services (news alerts, games, IM, etc.) delivered to your wireless web browser.
Yahoo Local is now available for mobile users. Results include ratings, maps, and directions. If you have a My Yahoo account, your saved locations are also available. You can also dial the phone number included in the result listing directly from the results page.
I wouldn’t be surprised that sometime soon Yahoo will begin working with wireless carriers to automatically detect the searchers location (at the time of the search) and base directions off of that data.
Today is also the debut of the Yahoo image and web databases on Yahoo Mobile. Your wireless web browser will need to be HTML capable.
Image results pages contain three images per page while web results contain five links per page.
Mobile searching is the perfect place to use search shortcuts and we’ve seen Yahoo introduce a number of them over the past several months. For example, entering weather [city name, Zip} will place the current temperature and conditions at the top of the results page. NOTE: At the moment not every Yahoo shortcut works on the mobile service. I tested several of them and found that these work:
+ weather
+ calculator
+ sports scores
+ stock quotes
+ dictionary definitions
Search results page accessed via Yahoo Mobile do NOT contain keyword or contextual advertising.
To access Yahoo Mobile on your wireless browser, go to:
http://mobile.yahoo.com
I’ve been using Yahoo’s mobile services for over a year (I’m a Treo guy) and the addition of these new services is great. Search is quickly becoming more than a desktop only service.
Related reading
How JavaScript impacts page loading speed on mobile
JavaScript is the second-largest contributor to page weight, behind images, which means it can play a major role in slowing down the speed of your mobile site. Here's how you can reduce your reliance on JS and reduce its impact on your site.
How to optimize images for mobile: Implementing light, responsive, correctly formatted images
The mobile web has a weight problem. Too many mobile sites are slow to load, and bloated with unnecessary bells and whistles, leading to a poor user experience. This column explains how to make sure that any images on your mobile site are light, device-responsive, and use the best format to combine speed and quality.
Progressive Web Apps versus Android Instant Apps: Which is better for marketers?
Much has been made of the fight between mobile apps and the mobile web. But the line between the two is no longer as clear-cut as it used to be with the introduction of Progressive Web Apps and Android Instant Apps.
The ultimate guide to mobile technical SEO
Mobile is destined to become the backbone of determining rankings on both the mobile and desktop version of your website - so it's vital to look at technical SEO from a mobile perspective.
