Sunnyvale, California — With mobile search growing astronomically, it is no surprise that big search engines vying to monetize the traffic. Yahoo today announced that it has “fine-tuned” their sponsored search ads so they can now be served on iPhones, iPod Touch and Android mobile phones.
“With this tweak, standard Sponsored Search ads (40-character header, 70-character description, the host URL–you know the drill) will appear on these mobile devices, giving your ads wider appeal and more relevancy to people on the go — potential customers searching for your offerings, whether you are offering dry cleaning or a dry martini,” says Yahoo’s Search Marketing Team.
Advertisers do not have to do anything extra, adds will begin appearing immediately on these devices for relevant searches. They can still target mobile users specifically using Yahoo Mobile Sponsored Search, however.
So far, the standard Sponsored Search ads never appeared on these devices, but Yahoo believes there is money to be made in that area.
The servicing of “regular” ads on these mobile devices will not intervene with the Yahoo! Mobile Sponsored Search ads. Those are customized specifically for mobile phones, but iPhones (and iPods) and Android phones use different kind of browsers, which are closer to a web-browser than a mobile browser.
“You have probably noticed that for a lot of consumers, surfing the Web increasingly does not depend upon the PC,” says Yahoo.
One ad appears at the top of the search results and two ads appear at the bottom. Take a look:
The fact that mobile web use is growing so significantly across the board indicates the importance of mobile for marketers. That importance will not be declining anytime soon. However, noticeably missing from the announcement is the inclusion of Windows Mobile phones, a curious exclusion in the wake of the recently struck Microsoft-Yahoo! search deal.