Google’s mobile search gets more powerful in Australia

By Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 27 February 2008 08:41

Opinion and Analysis

Seeking to entrench its hold on the mobile search market, Google has launched a new, ‘more powerful’ version of its existing mobile search tool better customised for the Australian market.

Claiming a faster and more intuitive search interface for mobile phones, Google clearly wants its mobile search tool to dominate on mobile phones just as it does on the desktop.

Although mobile Google search has been available on phones for some time, Google promises that ‘more relevant’ results that are ‘just a click or two away’, and that Australians “will get results that best fit what they're looking for”.

Just as we’ve seen from mobile search services like Yahoo Go or Windows Live, Google says they combine “search results from different bodies of information, so users don't need to sift through both mobile and regular web results, or specify their search type. Instead, Google searches through the whole web, mobile web, news articles, local business listings, and image index to get the information needed and then provides the most relevant results”.

As an example, Google notes that a search for “surfing” provides links to images of surfing as well as web pages.

This means that the search has become more intelligent, something that’s handy when you’re in such a rush to find something online it definitely won’t wait until you get home to your desktop. It also means Google can expect a growing number of users to start searching – or keep searching – on their mobile phones.

Additionally we can expect to see Google do even more work in the mobile advertising space, although its press release did not mention this.

Google are also further taking on Yellow Pages, True Local, Yahoo 7 and other providers of local search content, with Google specifically making note that its “new mobile search also improves the local search experience”.

So, what does that mean, exactly – and what’s the web address for the new mobile search service? Please read onto page 2.