Yahoo AMPs Up The Mobile Web

Yahoo now supports sites using accelerated mobile project (AMP), Twitter integration, and image search updates. One analyst calls this a clear stab at luring mobile users back to the Web rather than apps. At stake are billions of dollars in annual search revenue.

News in Yahoo Search on mobile Web is now compatible with the mobile Web standard for AMP, an architecture designed for pages to load super fast on mobile devices. News pages published with AMP would automatically direct users to the experience on Yahoo Search.

IHS Senior Analyst Eleni Marouli tells Search Marketing Daily that search companies will need to diversify in 2016. That means bringing people back to the mobile Web, rather than in apps.

Google, Bing and Yahoo want more people to consume content on the mobile Web, rather than the app, Marouli says. Slow load times have been the main frustration and those not tailored to mobile.

"It's not clear if it's too late for the efforts to bring us back to the Web, because we are already used to consuming content in apps," Marouli says.  

On mobile, most people spend most of their time in 27 apps, and 80% of the time in three apps, she says, pointing to Facebook and Instagram as being the top two apps.

Facebook is "killing it in mobile" and Yahoo's announcement shows it's very much on board for an anti-Facebook alliance.

Google will try to compete with Facebook through the AMP Project by forming partnerships similar to the one with Twitter to support an online measurement initiative, and expanding services through the AdMob platform to attract new advertisers, per Marouli.

Yahoo Mobile also now integrates with Twitter, adding top tweets and relevant tweets from Twitter in the mobile search results.

And an updated image search on mobile searches now makes it easier to find images of favorite celebrities. Users can find photos of celebrities, than explore additional photo sets based on trending content that other users have engaged with.

 

 

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