Mobile SEO Optimization in layman terms, is to ensure that sites appear great and function well on mobile devices. When you undergo this process, you are thriving to guarantee a wholesome surfing experience for your site visitors regardless of the devices they are using. This can be achieved by applying mobile SEO strategy.
The use of mobile devices has skyrocketed at an exponential rate. A recent research done for Amazon discloses that 76% of buyers are prone to shop on mobile devices, and this number is expected to rise due to the increased accessibility of smart devices.
Many marketers turn a blind eye on the essentiality of a mobile-friendly site. What they have not come to terms with is that such negligence can actually jeopardise their SEO, and the audience’s perception of their brand. 52% of buyers are less likely to engage with companies due to subpar mobile experience.
To attain excellent mobile experiences, it is paramount to optimise your site with effective mobile SEO strategy.
The Great Importance of Mobile SEO Optimization
(source : DM Guru)
With the right mobile SEO strategy applied, be prepared for the reward of a lifetime and here is why :
70% of the Majority’s Internet Time is Spent on Mobile
With this proven statistic, you have no business leaving your site visitors to a bad mobile experience unless you couldn’t care less. Your unwillingness to adapt may risk your site losing ample leads that are useful for your business.
74% of Users are More Prone to Return to a Mobile-Friendly Website
It is only practical if users return to your page after a positive mobile experience, never the other way around. Returning to your site indicates a higher possibility of becoming your business leads.
67% of Buyers Prefer Shopping with a Mobile-Friendly Business
Being mobile-first benefits from a higher conversion rate. If your site appears great on smartphones, visitors are more likely to make a purchase. It earns you more conversions.
You Stand a Chance to be on Google’s Priority List
Due to the increased use of smartphones in internet browsing, Google begins to prioritise mobile sites when crawling and indexing, namely a “mobile-first index.” Having a not mobile-friendly site can hurt your SERP results, causing fewer traffic, leads, and a depleted revenue for your business.
Petrified? Worry not, we have gathered a list of effective practises for you to kickstart on. Read through.
10 Best Mobile SEO Strategy According to Specialists
a) Opt for Mobile-Friendly Configuration
(source : Google Developers)
The first ever mobile SEO strategy, decide which website configuration to apply. Suppose your site already has a mobile version with similar markups and content as the desktop version, you are all set. Proceed with skipping to the upcoming steps where you will discover tips on scrutinising mobile friendliness, content & design, keyword research & competitors, and the pertinent tools.
b) Ensure that Your Web Design is Responsive
(source : Search Engine Journal)
Users can benefit from consistency when surfing on responsive websites. The layout automatically adapts to a browser window size. It appropriates all assets for the screen yet everything on the page remains, including the HTML code and URL.
Websites with a responsive design are easy to maintain and update as they require minimal additional configuration for search engines. Even Google deemed this approach as desirable. Yet, it is not the only way.
Implementing a responsive design necessitates rebuilding of the site for it to look equally great on both mobile and desktop. It can be time and cost-consuming if your site is big though. To minimise the resources used, apply the responsive design incrementally; begin with pages with the highest mobile traffic.
c) Pick a Dynamic Design
(source : OSO Web Studio)
Vary across businesses, you may want to offer specific experiences designed for your mobile site. This includes showcasing various content, or optimising for various search queries, which are doable with a dynamic design.
Such design allows you to diversify the versions of a single page on a single URL, where the particular HTML intertwines with the user agent device. With several different versions of your website, you stand a chance to offer better customised experience whilst catering to different niches. While you need not perform a full site redesign, expect an increase of workload in maintenance and updating.
A Vary HTTP Header comes in handy for this mobile SEO strategy to help correctly detect user agent devices, and informs the crawler on the existence of an alternative mobile page.
d) Create a Separate URL for the Mobile Version
(source : Google Developers)
You’re right. This mobile SEO strategy is all about creating a brand new mobile-friendly page that exists on a different URL. Typically, it stays on subdomain like “m.example.com” If you follow this route, it is ideal to keep this URL structure paralleled with the desktop version of your site.
In terms of dynamic serving, having two individual sites may risk facing complex maintenance. No doubt it gives you the opportunity to cultivate a better mobile experience, but it also gives rise to technical issues. User agent detection has its flaws, hence recommended to provide users with the ability to switch between versions.
Google will not automatically set the mobile page apart from the version of the desktop’s, you need to add rel=”alternate”, and rel=”canonical” tags based on the indicated correspondent pages to avoid the content from duplicating. This mobile seo strategy allows you to keep the backlink weight of an associated desktop page. Bear in mind that you need to have all the redirects in place, but kept to a minimum, so it doesn’t affect your page speed.
e) Go for the Desktop-Only Version
(source : Music Publishing Podcast)
No matter what you think, having the desktop-only version is still an option in today’s mobile-first society. Having said that, it is not advisable because you will not benefit from a mobile friendliness boost and risk losing a huge chunk of clientele. Nevertheless, it is still better to have a well-functioning desktop-only website, than a poorly implemented mobile site that is barely even working. Worry not because your site remains searchable on mobile regardless.
f) Make the Most of Your Effort
(source : Price2Spy)
Whichever mobile seo strategy you opt for, it is advisable to check if your website is crawlable and if everything is in good hands. Double or triple check if there exists any technical issues that warrant a solution, such as broken links & images, duplicated content & meta descriptions, redirect chains, you name it.
Run a mobile-friendly test to determine if Google considers your page fitting. It list out all of the possible mobile usability issues you might encounter and a picture of your page on a mobile device.
g) Conduct a Mobile Keyword Research
(source : Pinterest)
Never underestimate the significance of keyword research. This is one crucial mobile seo strategy you need not overlook. Whichever path you are on to finding the right keywords, remember that you are competing on mobile and desktop, simultaneously. Who knows one day you might work towards a complete shift to mobile. This needs to be done differently for both fronts, and for each location you are optimising for as well. Assuming you are new to mobile SEO, start looking into mobile keyword research promptly, because chances are that your competitors are already a step further.
h) Optimise Content for Mobile Devices
(source : Solutions Review)
The mobile-first approach helps you prioritise and create content that is actually rewarding. A good piece of content is structured, informative, scannable, and has an awesome click-worthy headline. A long-form content is often more valuable than its shorter counterparts from an SEO viewpoint; however, there isn’t any consensus on mobile thus far.
Shorter content on mobile seems rather practical because small screens can display less information, but is not necessarily beneficial. Especially if there is an imbalance of content detected between your desktop and mobile versions, it might invite bigger problems.
This mobile seo strategy prompts you to be more concise. This involves using shorter titles, URLs, as well as meta descriptions. Break up your content into comprehensible segments using shorter paragraphs with a consistent pattern. Curate useful and engaging material, and put it above everything else so it loads first.
i) Narrow Down Your Niche
(source : RingCentral)
Put yourself in your audience’s shoes to get a better understanding of their behaviour. This way, you can better manage your content. This mobile seo strategy suggests that you pay attention to what your audience are up to and pinpoint the type of content you need to create. Bear in mind that mobile users are often easily distracted. Thrive to captivate their eyes with information that is easy to read.
Without beating around the bush, allow your users to navigate through your content sections and skip those that they find less relevant. An expandable content is ideal to hold all information in place without overwhelming the page.
j) Enhance Your Content
(source : HR Cloud)
Utilise an SEO Checker and set your target device to “phone”. Tools like these offer great ideas for optimization based on your top 10 rivals from Google’s SERP. It also recommends solutions to improve your page’s content, semantics, user experience, and technical problems. The data helps you pinpoint the right set of keywords that can best boost your search rankings, whether you need to add more, or you have crammed in too much.
How to Check if Your Site is Mobile-Friendly
Now, check if you’ve maximised your efforts with the suggested mobile SEO strategy. Head over to Google’s mobile page testing tool, enter your website’s URL and click “Test URL.”, it should give you the answer you long for.
Taking a Step Forward
Mobile SEO is vital if you wish to grow your business online. To grow through SEO, you must take into account the users who search for your business through their respective mobile devices. The right mobile SEO strategy will accelerate your footsteps to reach business leads. If you aren’t entirely sure how to embark on this, our team of experts are born ready to help you. Put your mind at ease knowing that your SEO is in our good hands. Click here for more insights.