Mobile SEO Tips
For better or for worse, mobile is here to stay. This days, approximately half of the entire world’s web traffic came from mobile devices. Gone are the days when business owners simply needed a working website and some SEO tactics up their sleeves. Knowing how to do SEO for mobile websites is even more crucial in these mobile-enabled times.
But how does mobile SEO exactly work?
Do its strategies mirror that of regular search engine optimization?
Before we venture into the five helpful ways you can do SEO for your mobile website, let’s take a closer look at what mobile SEO is.
What is Mobile SEO?
Mobile SEO or mobile search engine optimization are sets of activities which you can undertake to ensure that anyone who accesses your site from a mobile device is assured of the best, most optimized experience.
Although website design is often associated with mobile visibility, mobile SEO involves other factors which include, but are not limited tospeed, content, and images.
The importance of mobile SEO became even more pronounced when Google first announced plans to use a mobile-first indexing system in 2016.
Recently, in March 2020, the search engine giant announced a major pivot to mobile-first indexing for all websites.
What does this mean?
It simply points to Google’s intent at looking into the performance of a site’s mobile versionfirst, specifically for indexing and ranking purposes.
And while the desktop version of the site will still factor into rankings, the mobile-first index means the mobile site will be given first priority by Google as ranking benchmark.
How to do SEO for mobile website? Here are 5 useful tips
Some of the crucial factors for mobile SEO involve site or page loading speed, content optimization, AMP or schema markups, employing a responsive site design, and prioritizing light, well-formatted images.
Each of these crucial factors on how to do SEO for mobile websites are briefly discussed below:
#1. Speed
Site speed is one of the elements that determine theefficiency of a mobile website. This is crucial for two reasons; one being that mobile users expect browsing ease when accessing a site or app; another is that speed has beenconsidered a factor for ranking by Google since July 2018.
In a 2019 report from Think with Google, almost 40% of smartphone users were found to prefer browsing a brand’s mobile site or app due to its ease of browsing and making a purchase.
In terms of ranking and web traffic, thus, page loading speed is a non-negotiable.
#2. AMP Markup and Schema Markup
AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, and this markup allows you to pack a lot of punches into how your mobile site is showing up in the SERPs or search engine results pages.
Not only will the AMP markup allow your site to show up better on the mobile search results, it can also maximize visible content on the SERPs through its AMP content carousel feature.
With the carousel format, users will have more glimpses of your content and what they can expect on your website or blog. This is crucial for mobile search where the screen size can be smaller and users are easily distractible.
The schema markup, on the other hand, helps to improve mobile browsing experience by giving specific answers to specific questions, in real time,on the search results page itself.
#3. Content Brevity and Wit
Because Google has already implemented the mobile-first indexing, content on a mobile site should be optimized for viewing on much smaller screens compared to desktop or laptop screens. This means shorter paragraphs, more bullet points and listicles, and straightforward copy.
With mobile SEO, it’s best to ditch long intros and long-winded writing. If possible, write attention-grabbing headlines. Tailor your content for local search, if possible.
And don’t forget your meta titles and meta descriptions — these are indispensable for mobile SERPs and SEO as well.
#4. Mobile Web Design
The design of your website on mobile plays a crucial role in mobile SEO. In fact, it is also one of the factors which Google looks into for ranking purposes. Ideally, and if you really want to be ahead of the Google SEO game, you will need to invest in a responsive design for your mobile site.
Site design responsiveness basically means that the website adjusts itself automatically when viewed through varying screen sizes. It allows mobile site visitors to have the best possible experience when scrolling through site pages or making a transaction through the site.
Not only is this great for your mobile audience, it is also more efficient for your business. A responsive site design eliminates the need to design multiple websites for multiple screen sizes. What you’ll have is a single design that modifies itself forboth mobileviewing and desktopaccess.
#5. Invest in Images
In the same way that your site design has to ideally be responsive, you would also want to check with the images that you upload and use on your site.
Well-formatted, properly-sized, and accessible images have to be prioritized over those that tend to affect loading speeds or viewing ease.
JPEG images remain to be a popular and primary choice for mobile-friendly sites; however, GIF is more common for animations and icons.
Mobile SEO and Your Business
Smart phone users who have had negative experiences from a mobile website or app are 62 percent less probable to transact with the same brand compared to when they have had positive experiences with it.
This means your mobile presence could either make or break your business.
The increasing dependence of consumers on their mobile devices further cements the importance of mobile SEO.
By optimizing your mobile website for organic search, you improve ways for your brand to be more visible to mobile users, regardless of location and device choice.