Google recently announced a new feature called Google Now on Tap; the feature will be available in the latest version of the Android operating system and will allow smart phone users to get additional information from within apps.
Up until recently you would be taken out of the app you were in when requesting information from Google but with Google Now on Tap tapping and holding the home button will allow you to ask for, and receive, additional information without leaving the app that you are currently in.
As an example of where this might come in useful, if you were in the middle of texting a friend and they mentioned something of interest – like a new movie – you could tap the home button and get a snippet of information about that new movie without leaving the SMS app.
Along with the announcement of this new service Google also announced that they would be indexing content within other apps in order to provide rich information. This announcement is a very important one because it marks the beginning of SEO for apps. Now that Google are starting to index app content and also to rank apps based on various metrics it means that this is another avenue where businesses must invest money into marketing and SEO strategies and those that don’t may well be missing out on traffic and falling behind their more ambitious competitors.
Some may see this as another pothole in the road for small businesses and companies that can’t necessarily afford to adopt all of these new platforms let alone spend money on advertising and SEO services for them. The reality though is that Google are doing this for a reason – they can see that users are using mobile phones to carry out far more tasks and there is a definite shift away from computer use and towards exclusive mobile use when it comes to browsing the internet and looking for information, products and services.
The more refined the mobile experience is for the user the better seeing as we are always ultimately striving for convenience and speed – two things that mobile phones most definitely bring.
Google have really seen the importance of mobile technology and how apps are taking over in all areas of the marketplace – we should really be thanking Google for the heads up because regardless of whether they are indexing in app content or not the user is definitely moving towards the exclusive use of apps and businesses of all sizes should be responding to that shift as quickly and efficiently as possible otherwise those with just a web presence will soon not have any customers to cater for regardless of whether they appear in Google search results or not.
As the shift towards mobile and app use continues no doubt the services that relate to these areas such as mobile app development and mobile SEO will become more and more expensive in line with the increased demand so perhaps now is the time to avail of these services before the prices start to rise.