Mobile search will "explode" over the next few years, meaning businesses have to ensure they rank highly, an expert has commented.

Julia Hyde, founder of digital marketing agency Creative Search Media, made her comments as her organization launched its new mobile search engine optimization service.

She said that an increasing number of people will use their mobiles to source information.

"If a company website doesn’t show up in the mobile search results, you can bet their competitors’ websites will," Ms Hyde warned.

Firms which choose early on to optimize their websites for mobiles could have an advantage over their competitors, she suggested.

Recently, a report published by Juniper Research suggested that almost 1.3 billion mobile users will use their handsets to access local search services by the year 2013.

It suggested that Western Europe and North America are the regions best equipped to supply good local information digitally.

The research organization also predicted that the quality of content available will be a major driving factor in take-up.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.