Suzzicks over at SEOmoz recently had some interesting insights into the crazy search results shown through mobile carriers. We’ve broken down the highlights for you here, below:

Universal Results are by far the most mobile friendly as they allow users to be totally interactive. For example, you can click on a phone number to call, a map to get directions or even listen to a simultaneously buy a song.

Though Universal results are interesting, they’re often fraught with trouble considering you never know what kind of result you’re going to get, depending on the phone you’re using. Along with Google’s algorithm changes, results vary week to week. For example, using an iPhone to look up “Britney Spears” a year ago produced vastly different results this year as the mobile carrier displayed results based on availability of adjoining apps.

The recent Verizon/Google net neutrality news has deepened the issue of mobile carrier/search relationships since SERP results could be affected by a potential deal, and neutrality may be threatened. As it stands now, carriers offer users three search options which is still at a level less than impartial.

Universal Triggers vary from phone to phone, and many of the carriers currently have deals with the phone companies to provide search engine services if their engine is the default search method on the phone. Many customers assume that when they search on Google.com on their phones they’re getting the same results they’d get searching Google.com on a PC, but this is incorrect as Google chooses search results based on the carrier, the type of phone, and the websites’ structure. As an example, T-Mobile sets a cookie so that users who search for mobile results one time will get the Universal Results displayed to them every time thereafter or until they clear their cookies.

Most people don’t take the time or even know how to change the Start default page on their mobile phones, or even their home computers for that matter. Universal Listing results are therefore having an effect on mobile SEO that SEOs and seo hosting companies have never had to deal with before, pushing traditional listings down and affecting rankings altogether.

This formatting makes it nearly impossible to determine rankings in a general sense and make an SEO’s job very difficult. As search engines and phone carriers are quiet about their connections it becomes even harder to determine who’s working with who, and exactly what kinds of deals are affecting “organic” search results.

Thanks to Heather Hendrick for the summary

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