Should I consider providing my web site with a mobile version?

Yesterday I’ve been in Google London’s offices to attend to one of the many training sessions organised by them.

The topic was around the importance of maintaining a Mobile presence and how. Of course the main intent of Google is to explain how the new market tendency can be combined with their up-to-date products (that is the “how” part of their presentation which I have of course omitted), but at the same time they do a great job to collate a number of insights that are definitely a must for whoever is working in the digital industry.

And yesterday it has been revealed (or confirmed for who already know this) that mobile is going to be a very important part of the search landscape. No matter if you are a web designer, a paid search man or an SEO. The imperative is now to take care about your mobile audience, and this can be further supported via the insights revealed:

2012 the year of the revenge

It has been said that in 2012 the mobile consumers will exceed the desktop one. To be honest with you, I was convinced that both iPhone 4 and the new iPad 2 release, plus the fact Apple recently become the second most important mobile device producer, already signed the 2011 as the “mobile year”.

I clearly anticipated the times, but not missed it completely as the Q1 2011 has been marked as the moment in which smartphone and tablet sales have overcome the sales of pc.

2013, £3.3bn transactions will be made using mobile

Countries like Uk and Us are generating quite a good slice of their GDP via Internet, so it is not difficult believing people will move their consuming habits from making purchase at home or once in the office to their mobile device while commuting to the office.

2014 $6.5 bn redemption of coupons / discounts via mobile

Pretty much the same of the previous point, with the additional factor that we need to consider mobile for what it really is: a portable device. That is when the concept of local shopping and local intent are becoming stronger, and not surprisingly is the fact that more and more companies are routing their interest to mobile apps and when site to keep their audience engaged while they are out and about.

2015 500-3.5b growth in mobile users

A particular growing rate has not really been provided in this specific circumstance, but it is an ongoing tendency for people to optimise their time as much as they can. That’s why I guesstimate at least one mobile device equipped with advanced browsing capabilities will be available for each family. I don’t remember where I read this, but it has been estimated that the percentage is about 35% at the moment, but if you have a better figure or a link, feel free to let me know this.

36% of mobile penetration in UK

According to ComScore, which I remember is a company who provides internet figures based on a set of panelists and surveys, the penetration of the mobile in UK has been estimated around the 36%, while the time spent on internet through these devices equals to 23%.

This is turn means every people who currently has a mobile device spend about half an hour a day using Internet while off the desk (and that’s where this article has been written, from Letchworth to King’s Cross).

15% of search queries from mobile

During 2011 Q1, Google registered 15% of their overall namer of queries coming from a mobile device. It would have been more helpful to have a breakdown for countries, but they haven’t provided this. Perhaps I will try to chase the presenter asking for this kind of data so to update this article in a later stage.

And finally the most important figure

90% of users are taking actions after having seen a mobile ad or used a mobile app. This should ultimately convince every player to re-consider their online presence, equipping their site with a mobile (simplified version) and whenever possible with a mobile app, ultimately leveraging the engagement that derives from the “local intent” to make online shopping.

Despite it has been noticed that more and more consumers are using their mobile device while shopping off-street to take their decisions, this could be the hard task as at the moment 79% of the sites don’t have an optimized mobile version.