The numbers don’t lie: More and more people are using mobile devices to access the Internet. For years now, Google officially changed its algorithm to accommodate the fact that mobile searches now outnumber desktop ones. And why won’t they? In recent years, over 66% of online shoppers use their mobile devices and it is only expected to increase as smartphones are taking over the market.
It’s important to make sure your website is not only easy to view on mobile, but also responsive enough that it can easily be accessed across all platforms — especially if you want your content to be found by your target audience in any search results.
What is Mobile SEO?
The technique of optimizing a website for search queries coming from mobile devices is what is known as mobile search engine optimization (mobile SEO). A website can rank for mobile searches using this type of SEO strategy.
Mobile SEO essentially makes it possible for a website to appear in search engine results tailored for mobile devices. Mobile SEO often mainly concentrates on on-page optimization strategies to increase website mobile search worthiness.
A website must adhere to responsive Web design in order to perform mobile SEO. This means that the website must deliver the same URLs and HTML across all platforms, including desktop and mobile. However, the photos must be resized to fit the final device’s screen. Mobile SEO also concentrates on enhancing mobile user navigation ease, content visibility without manual resizing, and website access speed.
What Makes Mobile SEO so Important?
Three primary factors make mobile SEO crucial. People prefer to search for things on their mobile devices, Google gives preference to websites that offer a flawless mobile experience, and smartphones are the most popular voice search devices.
To better understand why mobile SEO is so crucial, let’s look at each of these factors in more detail.
Mobile Searches are at an all-time high 52.48% of searches are conducted on mobile devices (compared to 44.59% on desktop). This indicates that mobile search is becoming more popular, and this pattern is likely to persist.
It’s crucial to make your brand mobile-discoverable and to offer pertinent material that will help you draw in and retain potential clients.
A study found that more than 40% of shoppers prefer to finish their entire purchasing process—from research to purchase—on a mobile device. Additionally, they desire quicker mobile experiences. Conversions might be negatively impacted by 20% with just a little delay in load time.
Additionally, consumers desire a seamless experience across all channels. They want to be able to easily switch between your desktop site, mobile site, app, and even your physical store. It’s obvious that your target audience is searching for content on their mobile devices. The likelihood that they will locate your brand increases if your website is mobile-friendly.
Google Ranks Seamless Mobile Experience Priority to Websites
Whether conducting a search on a desktop or mobile device, most users favor Google. It’s crucial to take into account the implementation of its mobile-first index given its dominance. Worldwide, 51.65% of online page views come from mobile devices. Additionally, mobile devices account for 64% of all Google organic search traffic.
What are Mobile SEO Best Practices?
Boost your website loading speed
The mobile experience is significantly impacted by how quickly your site loads. Users demand quick access to information when they do on-the-go searches for it. Your viewers will leave your page if your website doesn’t load quickly enough for them.
You must speed up your site’s load time if you want to maintain leads on your mobile site. You can find out how long it takes for your site to load with Google PageSpeed Insights. You can see where your site works well and where it needs to improve with this tool. Google will offer suggestions on how to speed up your site’s loading for mobile users.
You can purchase page speed services from any digital marketing agency if you lack coding knowledge or don’t have the time to adjust your site to make improvements. With the help of page speed services, you can rely on professionals to decrease the time it takes for your page to load, giving you more time to manage your company.
Use a unique mobile URL
Many businesses will develop a unique mobile URL when they optimize for mobile. You can establish a different site just for mobile users by giving it a unique mobile URL. It enables you to provide a unique user experience for those who access your website on mobile devices.
In most cases, a mobile URL will be “website.com/mobile” or “m.website.com.” Users who access your website using a mobile URL view a mobile-friendly version of your website. Through this modification, users can access your website.
Use a responsive web design
A website must have responsive design in order to be mobile-friendly. By utilizing responsive design, you make sure that your website can be viewed on any device. Your audience will receive the optimal mobile experience for their device, whether it is a smartphone or tablet.
Your audience will find it simple to navigate your site if you incorporate responsive design. They can navigate your page with ease and see your website properly.
Consider trying to use a mobile device to visit your site’s desktop version. Your viewers would have to constantly zoom in and out to see the content on your website since everything would be congested and difficult to read.
You’ll lose more leads if your website lacks responsive design. They won’t likely stay on your website if they can’t readily access and read your content.
Be wary of pop-ups
Pop-ups are a powerful tool for getting your audience to focus on a certain activity. Many businesses utilize pop-ups to direct users’ attention toward the action you want them to perform, whether it’s to download free content or sign up for newsletters.
A pop-up window may appear on the screen in response to particular activities. It might happen when someone opens a page for the first time, scrolls to a certain area, or even moves their mouse to return to the search results. Pop-ups are a powerful tool for grabbing your audience’s attention and persuading them to read the important information you want to deliver.
Nevertheless, on mobile devices, these pop-ups might be a problem. Users will become irritated if your pop-up fills up the entire mobile screen. They won’t be able to access the content they came to your website for, and they might not know how to close the pop-up. Users can leave your website as a result of this.
Be cautious while using pop-ups on your website if you decide to do so. Pop-ups shouldn’t be used excessively on mobile devices because they may turn visitors away. They won’t obscure crucial information if you use them sparingly and only on the pages of your site where the pop-up counts the most.
Additionally, make sure your pop-up offers a clear “x” at the top or another straightforward means to close it. Use cautious while utilizing pop-ups on your page if you want your mobile SEO to be successful.
Add a simple, user-friendly navigation bar
Users’ ability to find and access information is significantly influenced by your navigation. Users will become dissatisfied and quit your site if your navigation bar is inconvenient to use Make your navigation mobile-friendly to make sure you’re fostering a favorable environment for your audience.
A hamburger menu an ideal tool for creating mobile-friendly navigation. Three-line hamburger menus are displayed at the top of each page. Users who click on this button will get a drop-down menu with all the available pages.
You may easily maintain your audience’s navigation structured by using a hamburger menu. It helps maintain your website tidy and makes it simple for your viewers to access content.
Focus on local search
Local SEO is a crucial component of mobile SEO. In the previous few years, mobile searches containing the keyword “near me” increased threefold, indicating that more and more consumers are looking for local companies.
To identify nearby companies, people frequently use search terms like “near me,” “open now,” and “where can I buy.” Since so many mobile users conduct local searches, you have to modify your approach to appeal to them.
Using local keywords will help you adjust to local searches. For instance, “vegan restaurants in Missouri” is a perfect local keyword if someone wants to find nearby vegan restaurants around Missouri.
You’ll show up in more local search results if you use local keywords. It’s a fantastic tactic that will enable you to succeed with your mobile SEO approach.
Improve your meta descriptions and title tags
Your meta descriptions and title tags are crucial components of mobile SEO. Whether someone clicks on your listing in the search results is determined by these two factors.
Mobile customers frequently use your meta description and title tags to decide whether or not to click on your listing because they need information quickly.
Create mobile content
Making mobile-friendly content is a wonderful mobile SEO tip. When creating content for mobile devices, format it to offer a satisfying user experience to mobile phone users.
Make it easy for visitors to scroll through your content if you want to develop mobile-friendly content. For instance, limiting paragraphs between two and three phrases will make it simpler for readers to scan or read your post.
You should also include images and videos in your article. It will make your content more captivating and provide opportunities for your audience to engage your posts. Additionally, you should include interactive components, such as clickable buttons, to make it simpler for consumers to navigate your mobile website.
Pay attention to user experience
This best practice complements using a responsive web design. The user experience must be your main priority if you want to succeed with mobile-friendly SEO.
The user experience can be improved by using responsive design. Leads have a great experience when they can simply access and browse your site on mobile devices.
Your website needs to have more than just a responsive design. While responsive design is a terrific starting point for improving the mobile experience, you still need to include other components to make sure your strategy offers users a pleasant experience. Focus on using a thumb-friendly style and CTAs (call to actions).
“Thumb-friendly” style
You must make it simple for your website visitors to scroll through and click on page items when creating your mobile site. Since consumers typically surf with their thumbs on mobile devices, you’ll need to design with this in mind.
Accessible CTAs
The next step in the conversion process is made easier for your audience by call to action (CTA) buttons. Make sure your CTAs are prominent and simple to find when you design a website that is appropriate for mobile devices. Regardless of whether it’s a phone number or language that directs users to the following page, your CTA should be visible to your audience right away. Additionally, make sure that your CTA is easy for visitors to click.
Use a font type and size that is readable on mobile devices
You must optimize fonts for devices with smaller screens because users will be using these devices to explore your website. You should modify your font to be clearly readable on a mobile device, whether you use a stronger font or increase the text size.
How to Determine Whether Your Website is Mobile-friendly
Check to discover if your website is genuinely mobile-friendly before making any significant modifications to increase your mobile SEO. Luckily, you can determine how mobile-friendly your site is without loading every page on your phone or other mobile device.
Using Google’s mobile page testing tool is a simple approach to determine whether a page is mobile-friendly. You can either go directly to the website or conduct a Google search for the mobile-friendly test. Simply enter the URL of the page you wish to verify and click “Test URL” to complete the process.
The Mobile Usability report makes testing your entire site considerably easier if you utilize Google Search Console. This will evaluate how mobile-friendly your website is and classify URLs based on problems they may have. You’ll have a better sense of the work you need to perform for your mobile SEO strategy once your mobile-friendly research is finished.
Also Read: 20 Things You Should Know About SEO