Mobile Searches: Finally Overtaking Desktop Searches In Number

Amit Singhal, search chief at Google, has revealed that during this year’s summer, more Google searches were done using mobile devices than desktop computers. As explained by Singhal, this marks the first time that mobile searches have surpassed desktop searches in number, offering further proof that more and more people nowadays are really going mobile in browsing the Internet.

According to Singhal, Google processes over 100 billion searches completed on mobile on a monthly basis. This figure is especially significant because it only refers to searches down on devices with display screens with less than 6 inches in size. This means that searches completed on most tablet devices are not taken into account. 

During an interview at Code/Mobile, Singhal shared some insights about the future of Google’s search related services. It should be noted that while Google still remains the undisputed leader when it comes to searches done on desktop computers, it is a different story when it comes to mobile. The company now has to compete with Apple and Facebook in terms of Internet surfing done through mobile devices. 

Also, even though Google has made much money via its advertising online, monetizing on mobile has proven to be a different challenge for the search giant. This is partly because user behavior on mobile is different compared to that of desktop -- people often do not use Google but instead bypass it to shop directly from Amazon, most likely via its own mobile app. 

Still, Google has made huge leaps in progress when it comes to searching on mobile. For example, its Google Now personal assistant has vastly improved the search process on mobile devices, especially those updated with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and later Android versions. But the problem is, Google Now is hardly a unique service out there. There is also Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana personal assistants. 

But lest we forget, Google has just unveiled its Accelerated Mobile Pages Project. The AMP Project is an initiative to bring about the faster and easier loading of web pages on mobile devices. Some industry watchers are actually saying that this Google initiative is a competitor to Facebook’s Instant Articles, although Google has insisted that the AMP Project will not only be limited to articles from various news publications on the web. Google is reportedly already working with partners such as Twitter, The Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Vox Media, and La Stampa in bringing this project to life.