Top 9 Ways to Optimize for Mobile SEO

We live in a world dominated by the mobile phone. Those who can’t adapt their SEO to this platform are going to get left behind. Join the waves of businesses seeing booming success by following these nine steps for mobile SEO and joining forces with mobile SEO services.

The importance of mobile SEO

This is a technological world. People expect to access everything they’ll ever need in the palm of their hands—that is, on their mobile devices. People spend up to 70 percent of their time on a mobile device. It’s that important to us. They can already control food delivery, fitness regimes, small business software, and more. That’s where the competition is, and that’s where businesses need to be to compete with others. The importance of mobile SEO is further explained using these statistics:

• Almost 75 percent of users are more likely to return to a mobile-friendly site. That being said, if a customer isn’t hooked immediately, a site optimized for mobile SEO offers a second chance.
• Over 60 percent of users’ opinions of a brand improve when they see a mobile-friendly website. First impressions can be improved if mobile SEO is also improved.
• Almost 70 percent of users are more likely to buy from a brand that’s mobile-friendly. Offering the capability to purchase directly through an app or website that someone is accessing on their mobile device makes it that much easier for them to convert.
• Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites due to the high demand today. The mobile version of a website will be analyzed first by Google so it better be good because it will have a significant impact on how the website as a whole is scored.

The importance of mobile SEO speaks for itself. Get on this strategy now using these mobile SEO best practices. Get started on a mobile site audit so obstacles are overcome and opportunities reveal themselves.

Mobile SEO best practices 

1. Improve website load speed

The longer a website takes to load, the more likely a possible consumer is to turn away. Often, page load speed is affected by multiple factors, so look at image size, videos, graphics, and the amount of content. Make sure  the desktop and mobile versions load as quickly as possible to avoid conversion loss.

2. Implement responsive design

Conduct a mobile site audit to determine whether or not the pages are responsive. Customers should be able to interact with the page in ways that make sense, such as lbeing able to scroll properly using their thumb or click on buttons and links to get more information.

3. Improve UX

The customer is the lifeblood of most, if not all, businesses. The user experience (UX) should be top-notch. Make sure anything the customer needs to do is easy and straightforward. Don’t risk losing business because the website isn’t updated.

4. Get rid of pop-ups, or use them sparingly

Pop-ups can be a helpful tool on websites to capture lead information, but on a mobile device, they’ll likely take up too much space on the page and make it either too difficult to get back to the page with the content or too annoying for a customer to stick around. If a pop-up is used on a mobile device, adjust how it will appear.

5. Use local SEO

Customers use their phones in a few specific ways, one of which is to find nearby businesses. Optimize the mobile website with local SEO using keywords that include “near me” and populating the page with relevant contact information. This will ensure the right audience is targeted when they’re close to making a purchase decision.

6. Create easy-to-use navigation bars

If a page or a specific answer isn’t readily available to a user, they’ll find another method of getting to it faster. Optimizing the navigation bar to be different from the original website will help users navigate the website with their thumbs and not a mouse.

7. Focus on on-page optimization

On-page optimization is how Google understands a website and shares it in relevant search queries. On-page SEO will help highlight that brand when a mobile-friendly search query is made.

8. Use a separate mobile URL

Don’t use the same URL as the desktop website. These URLs are often longer and won’t display as well on a mobile device. Using a different URL can also help differentiate between the websites and work on improvements separately.

9. Create mobile-friendly content

Lastly, does a mobile site audit show the website has new, optimized content for phones? Or is it the same, tired content that also appears on the desktop version? While the content can be the same, the formatting should be different to fit properly on a mobile device. A normal paragraph on a desktop blog might seem fine, but on a mobile device it will appear very long and no amount of scrolling will be enough for customers to stay on the page to read something that seems long.

Mobile SEO services

Pedestal’s mobile SEO services highlight improvements that will unlock the power of your website on organic and paid searches. We’ll work on a search benchmark assessment to identify where your website currently ranks for core keywords as compared to your competitors. With this information, you’ll be better positioned to understand the search landscape and where immediate opportunities for rank increases exist.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO uncovers developmental aspects on your website that are less than optimal for search engine discoverability. Some examples include broken links, 404 errors, site speed issues, mobile responsiveness, and search engine accessibility.

On-page SEO

On-page SEO factors communicate critical information to Google. By neglecting this aspect of SEO, you’ll miss out on significant ranking opportunities. This section of our mobile SEO services focuses on questions such as: 

• Do your web pages have properly optimized SEO tags? 
• Is the text on each page informative, substantial, and rich in SEO-relevant keywords?
• Does your website have a blog and is it being used in a search-optimized manner?

Backlinks

Backlinks pointing to a website are a core part of Google’s algorithm. The off-page mobile site audit catalogs all the links pointing to your website and analyzes the quality of your backlink profile. This also looks to analyze the growth or shrinkage of your link profile, removal of spam links, and identifying where link opportunities exist going forward.

Local SEO

This section of the audit will determine your website’s visibility on local search results. Honing in on factors such as an existing Google My Business page and the use of targeted local keywords, opportunities for leveraging your website’s ranking in local search are identified.

Social media presence

This type of audit reviews the website’s current performance and presence across social media channels. Insights and recommendations are identified on how to better leverage your presence on the search through content distribution on social media. Ready to take the next step in your marketing strategy? Contact Pedestal’s SEO experts today.