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Search behavior is changing, opening new marketing channels that marketers should begin to leverage, says search engine optimization and marketing firm Oneupweb, which this week released its "Mobile Search and its Implications for Search Engine Marketing" white paper.

The study found that mobile users are increasingly turning to their portable devices to find web content, products and services - creating new and profitable marketing channels for online marketers.

"When you merge the power of the internet with the on-demand accessibility of a mobile device, you're creating a perfect storm for users and marketers alike," says Lisa Wehr, Oneupweb CEO. "From our standpoint, the questions become, How will these mobile users search? What factors - demographics, psychographics, technological, etc. - affect users in their searches and marketers in their messages? Finally, how can marketers overcome those issues and get results?"

To take advantage of mobile technology, and taking into account the physical limitations of small mobile devices, mobile users are adapting their search behavior - for example, they are more likely to enter shorter queries, less likely to scroll past the first few search results, both less able and less willing to access graphics-heavy web content.

Such changes mean that marketers will need to revise natural search engine optimization and paid search campaigns, in addition to redesigning websites for mobile usability and technical protocols specific to the mobile web, according to Oneupweb.

According to research cited in the paper, by 2005 about 200 million cell phones will be in use in the U.S., with the majority having web capabilities. More than 13 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers use their mobile devices to download ringtones, 7 percent send photos, 36 percent send or receive text messages, and 12 percent access news and information via browser.