Google mobile keyword optimisation

[danwhitehouse]

HI all,
I'm trying to figure out something.. With this day and age that's all about mobile, is there a difference between optimising for a keyword and a mobile keyword? I understand that we need to alter the targeting on site, but is it possible that a link to page X on a site will appear higher / lower in SERPs for Y keyword(s) depending on device?

Thanks!

[Andy Langton]

I guess there are two questions here:

Do searchers behave differently when on a mobile device? Or put another way, do they use different keywords?

I would say that it depends. The two big differences that I know of are a slight propensity to favour shorter keywords or auto completions when on devices that make typing more difficult. The other is the geographic/local element, whereby mobile devices can be located in realtime, and in a meaningful way.

The latter ties in with the second question - does the results order change for mobile devices. In terms of ranking order, I would say that this happens less than you might think. But it does happen, and most obviously when that local element comes into play.