In a move that could be only described as a dis, T-Mobile told Yahoo, the previous default server for the wireless network, “thanks but no thanks”. T-Mobile has instead signed with Google to serve as the network’s primary search engine as well as the default server as reported on Monday. Yahoo will continue to server in messenger and mail capacity for the phone company while Google will be doing the majority of the company’s heavy lifting including powering T-Mobile’s central portal. This search engine tug of war picked up steam when Yahoo snagged an exclusive with AT&T just a few days ago.  But really, why is there such a steadfast marking of territories and really, does any of this matter?
You bet your sweet iPhone it does. SEO experts have slowly been diverting their eyes to the phones in your pocket for quite some time. Mobile searches and SEO marketing tailored to mobile users are the next frontier in search engine optimization. Exclusive deals with Google and Yahoo mean that it will be easier then ever to monitor what we search for and what we click on while using our smart-phones. Mainly, these deals are relying on cell phone users to be lazy and not go to the trouble of lifting a finger to go find another search engine when there’s already one right at their fingertips.
From a marketing standpoint, exclusive deals like the one with Google and T-Mobile can only be beneficial. If your company, for example, is using Google’s Adsense to pop up in searches, you have automatically gained clicks in this deal by appearing on millions of smart-phones. Default search engines are seen by some as a waste of time because if you prefer another search engine then you’ll go ahead and type that in your browser. Fair enough. But then again, we’re lazy and if our fancy phone already comes saddled with our preferred method of finding stuff then we’ll most likely rely on that.
On the SEO and mobile marketing fronts, deals like these can only be good news. The bridge between SEO and mobile marketing is slowly being built and deals like this could help eliminate the guess work from the process.
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