I have been working with a company that created a .mobi website to augment their existing website. One of my jobs was to submit their .mobi URL to mobile specific directories and search engines. At first I thought that would be an easy task. After about an hour at it, I changed my mind.

What I found was that the major search engines have a mobile version of their site but after that there is huge drop off in quality mobile search engines or directories. There are some out there but I had to search hard for them and I could not see many folks accessing them.  So my question is, should small business worry about mobile search?

Mobile search is growing but it’s not quite there yet. A recent press release from comScore: Mobile Internet Becoming A Daily Activity For Many showed that the daily mobile internet user population has more than doubled in one year! Accessing news and information was the top activity and then accessing social network or blogs was second.  So folks are using their mobile phones more, but the question is should you get a .mobi website?  In general I would say no. Now I will qualify my answer saying that some industries such as restaurants, hotels, movie theaters etc that really cater to those on the go should invest in mobile search.

Another great article I found recently, Getting Closer to Mobile Local Search’s Day by Mike Boland provides a nice overview of where mobile search is today and some forcasts for the future. Some points Mike makes:

• Mobile web users will grow to 95 million by 2013
• Changing device standards are bringing mobile search into the mainstream
• Smart phones are settling around $200, making the mobile Web a mass market opportunity for the first time

Again mobile search is growing but has not yet reached the level many have been expecting for some time.  With the growth of smart phones with full html browsers it does not seem necessary right now for the majority of small businesses to create a .mobi website or spend hours submitting the mobile search engines. If you optimize your website for local search and get listed in the major search engines, you should be just fine for right now in the emerging mobile search.

Larry Sullivan is a well known local search marketing expert. Larry provides online marketing assistance to small business across the country. He also runs a popular local search blog at Local Biz Bits. Email this author | See all posts by Larry Sullivan

Tags | .mobi, Local Search, mobile, Search