This week in mobile we’ve got Heather Sears answering your burning questions about mobile location technology, Bryson Meunier getting to the bottom of Google’s desktop/mobile search discrepancies, and Apigee exposing the real reasons people love shopping on mobile.

Let’s dive in, shall we?

Monday, August 20th

16 Differences Between Google Mobile & Desktop Search Results in 2012 by Bryson Meunier for Search Engine Land

Quotable
“Long gone are the days of the ten blue links, and rapidly diminishing are the days when you can afford to ignore mobile nuances if you want to get traffic from mobile search.”

Following up on his popular article from last May, wherein Meunier listed 14 ways Google’s desktop search results differed from its mobile results, this time around we see even more ways the search giant is far from “device agnostic.” Among the noticeable differences are the prevalence of local results in search, new interactive results in mobile, Google’s knowledge graph taking front stage (versus off to the side in desktop SERPs), and smartphone icons that indicate smartphone-friendly content. If you’re looking to brush up on your Mobile SEO, this article isn’t to be missed.

Tuesday, August 21st

5 questions about mobile location technology you want to ask by Heather Sears for Mobile Marketer

Quotable
“Does location make a difference for campaign results? Yes. Companies using ring-fencing may experience double-digit lift over controls and those using place retargeting up to a four-time lift.”

Does the term “ring-fencing” ring a bell? If not, we highly suggest you check out Sears’ article, which will give you a ton of useful information on how location targeting works, and what it can do for your business. Plus, you’ve been looking for some new cocktail conversation topics anyway, right?

Wednesday, August 22nd

Opera Q2: Sales up 32% to $52.1M; Mobile Surges, Desktop Flat, Google Deal Stays Put by Ingrid Lunden for TechCrunch

Quotable
“Opera says it now has 200 million people using its mobile browser, a rise of 47% compared to Q2 a year ago.”

Opera is yet another interesting case study of a company being forced by the market to throw more of its resources into mobile. While its mobile browser saw big growth year-over-year (it’s now in third place behind Android Chrome and iOS Safari), its desktop browser growth was absolutely flat and has less than 2% of desktop browser share. It will be interesting to see whether Opera puts all its money on mobile moving forward.

Thursday, August 23rd

INFOGRAPHIC: Apigee Explores What Smartphone Users Are Buying Via Mobile by Michael Essany for Mobile Marketing Watch

Quotable
“On Thursday, the team at Apigee published new research showing that mobile phones are increasingly being used to buy almost everything – including no shortage of items considered to be ‘embarrassing.’”

Among some of the “popular attributes” of mobile shopping outlined in this amusing infographic: “Secretly shopping without a spouse/significant other knowing,” “Buy embarrassing or personal items without using a work computer,” and “Sneak shopping time in a work.” We’re noticing a trend here…

Friday, August 24th

How to create an effective mobile, social campaign by Rimma Kats for Mobile Marketer

Quotable
“‘Social networking is great for engaging with your customers, and mobile devices have the benefit of being with people all the time,” [Tallya Rabinovich, CEO of IzzoNet] said. ‘For the greatest effect, always try and combine these two strengths into your marketing campaign.’”

Beyond simply preaching that the Mobile/Social trend is more than just a trend, Kats offers some helpful tips for marketers to get started hybridizing their mobile and social strategies. Understanding consumer behavior, promoting using a variety of social networks, and tracking results are just a few of the recommendations covered in this article.

Happy Friday, everyone! And don’t forget to add your favorite article from this week in the comments section below.