As more and more people find themselves with sophisticated and powerful mobile devices, the nature of internet browsing continues to change. With billions of mobile devices on the planet, it shouldn’t be surprising that a hefty percentage of internet traffic comes from these devices (specifically, more than 55%).

As devices – and internet connections – continue to become more powerful, the types of content people enjoy are becoming more data-rich. Video browsing in particular is a powerful segment of search traffic these days, which is completely changing the content game for brands and businesses.

Let’s take a look at what you should know about mobile video search and browsing habits.

Most Videos Watched Are On Mobile

You’d be forgiven for thinking that – even in a world with massive mobile availability – most videos are watched via desktop and laptop computers. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Ever since mobile devices became effective portable computers, most videos are actually searched for and watched from these devices.

Roughly 80 percent of all videos watched are watched on mobile devices. Between direct clicks from search engine results and searches made on sites such as YouTube, brands that use videos as part of their content marketing strategies must be aware that pinging links to these videos are only as effective as their mobile content strategies.

People See Video Results Differently

Don’t expect to search for your video via Google from a desktop computer and see the particular SERP reflected the same way as it is on mobile. There are substantial differences in how video results are rendered, depending on which device you’re using to search.

Mobile video results do provide a carousel of options just like on desktop, but new features are being added and tweaked constantly. For example, some mobile users are beginning to see video previews directly from the results page. Likewise, most mobile devices will only show one video result on screen via the carousel at a time, meaning that if your video is ranked #2, it won’t be as noticeable on mobile as it would be on desktop.

Careful Attention Is Needed to Video Elements

Because 4 out of 5 video views is coming from a mobile device, those wishing to target users in search results must be more attentive to all video elements displayed in search results.

Titles are ground zero for optimization. In desktop results, title length isn’t a big deal, but when pinging links to videos in mobile search results, these longer titles often get cut off and truncated.

Previews and thumbnails are another big consideration. You obviously want to use aesthetically pleasing imagery to lure in the clicks, but with more mobile video preview options now arising in search results, those producing videos must consider how to best optimize specific segments of each video for maximum effect.

As mobile browsing continues to grow in popularity for every online task, those in the business of creating and promoting videos must take note. With these developments, it’s important to consider the impact of mobile devices and also how optimization impacts videos in these search results.