Google just launched a new website called Micro-Moments aimed at providing insights (both qualitative and quantitative) for marketers to better help them understand consumer behavior and its implications as mobile usage continues to grow and change how people interact with businesses online.

Google says it has seen a 20% increase in mobile’s share of online sessions across the web in the past year. This revelation comes after Google recently said that it sees more searches on mobile than on desktop in ten countries, including the U.S. and Japan. Also in the past year, Google says it has seen an 18% decrease in time spent per visit across the web. Sessions are getting shorter as mobile accounts for more sessions, it says. Meanwhile, mobile conversion rates have increased by a reported 29%.

“In essence, we no longer research purchases in long dedicated sessions on a laptop or desktop,” says Matt Lawson, Director of Performance Ads Marketing at Google. “Instead, we reach for our devices in the moment, we access information faster than ever before, and as a result we make more informed decisions… more quickly. In fact, 60% of online consumers say they are making purchase decisions more quickly because of online research now compared to a few years ago.”

“For example, have you ever stopped in the middle of a conversation to look something up about what you just heard?” he adds. “Sixty percent of smartphone users report having done the same thing. And 66% of smartphone users turn to their smartphones to learn more about something they saw in a TV commercial. Overall, 65% of online users say they are looking up information online more now compared to a few years ago.”

A micro-moment, by Google’s definition, is an intent-rich moment when a user wants to learn, find, do, or buy something, and take and then takes immediate action. As the evidence shows, this is increasingly happening on our phones.

So the idea behind this new Micro-Moments site of Google’s is that marketers can turn to it to get a better understanding of these types of “micro-moments”.

The site consists of four main sections: Overview, Real Moments, Take Action, and More Insights. The overview basically explains the point and what Google has learned about user behavior, which includes taking immediate action, and demanding relevance.

The site includes several videos to help get its points across.

The Take Action section is the part that marketers are likely to find most helpful. It lists five steps for “what you can do.” These include making a “moments map,” understanding the customer needs in the moment, using context to deliver the right experience, optimizing across the journey, and measuring every moment that matters.

To create the map, Google suggests identifying a set of moments you specifically want to win or “can’t afford to lose,” and examining all phases of the customer journey. The advice and recommendations continue on from there.

According to Google there are four “new moments every marketer should know,” which they’ve included in a nice little infographic:

Google also talks more about mobile trends and micro-moments on the Inside Adwords blog here.

Images via Google