Let the best websites be found! To help you with search engine optimization, we share articles about SEO-friendly website design, e-commerce SEO, and more. Still, there is a large area that needs special attention — mobile SEO. So we are sharing some useful mobile SEO tips with you today.
Why is mobile SEO important?
When it comes to the importance of mobile SEO, a few facts will speak louder than words:
- According to Statista, the share of mobile phone website traffic worldwide has grown from 0.7% in 2009 to 52.2% in 2018.
- Also, according to Statista, the number of mobile phone search users will reach 221 million by 2020 in the US alone.
- According to Google, nearly 2 in 3 online purchases during the 2018 holiday season were made from a smartphone.
And, of course, all SEO experts know that the search giant Google announced mobile-first indexing in 2018. This means that the mobile version of the page is now used for indexing and ranking. So, mobile SEO is important more than for the mobile audience — it may also influence your website’s overall positions.
Your website should be prepared for it all and use the best SEO practices. So let’s move on right now to our mobile SEO tips.
Useful mobile SEO tips
Mobile configuration
You have three options to present your website on smartphones:
- Responsive web design. All layout elements respond to different device dimensions and display accordingly. Your website’s URL is the same in all scenarios.
- Dynamic serving. Similarly to responsive design, the dynamic serving configuration uses only one website URL but delivers a different HTML and CSS to different devices.
- Separate domains. Your website has a separate mobile version with a different domain.
Google clearly recommends responsive web design, but supports all three options. They only need to be set up correctly, and our development and SEO experts are ready to help you.
High-quality content for mobile users
Whichever option of mobile presentation you choose, you need to make sure that the content you offer to your mobile users is the one you want to be indexed by Google. This is what Maile Ohye, a search expert who had worked at Google for 12 years, said in an interview.
It’s easy with responsive web design, because it deals with a single codebase. But if you have a desktop and a mobile version of the site, you need to take care of the latter’s content. Don’t forget to update it regularly, avoid redirects to the desktop version, too brief content versions, and so on.
However, if your website has long-reads, you don’t have to provide the exact same content version to mobile users. After all, they will have to read it all on mobile screens. Trimmed content versions are good as long as they are meaningful and relevant. Also remember good formatting with bullet points, lists, and headings.
Optimization of meta descriptions and titles
While creating valuable content, it’s important to provide the metadata. Smartphones have much less screen space, so page titles and descriptions should be as concise as possible, while staying relevant, meaningful, and keyword-rich.
Loading speed improvement
According to Google’s announcement, starting of July 2018, page speed is a ranking factor in mobile searches. Google experts explained this with the fact that people want to find things as fast as possible.
This means that modern websites absolutely need to speed up. There are plenty of tools to test your website’s speed like Google PageSpeed Insights, Test My Site, and so on. Our website support and maintenance team is ready to help you improve your website’s performance in all aspects.
AMP implementation
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is a project by Google and also a coding standard. It helps websites to load instantly on mobile devices by using a lighter version of HTML.
So to achieve good results in mobile SEO you need to consider implementing the AMP standard, and our development team will help you. First, as mentioned above, loading speed matters for ranking, and second, Google is pushing AMP.
Mobile UX improvement
You need to look at the user experience on smartphones. This includes:
- readable fonts
- large clickable CTA buttons
- scaled images
- handy search box
- clear and mobile-optimized navigation
- absence of pop-ups
- enough space between clickable elements
and so on.
Voice search optimization
Voice search is a really hot trend on smartphones. Being able to just say “OK, Google” into your smartphone and get all the information you need is incredibly convenient. So remember to optimize your website for voice search. Among important voice SEO tips are:
- preparing content to fit Google’s featured snippets
- providing good website speed
- using long-tail keywords
- using the natural question-answer style
- optimizing for local search
Local search optimization
This point deserves a special overview. Phones are often used in local searches, especially for local services, organizations, or products. So your website should be well-prepared. Among key local SEO points are:
- listing your company on Google My Business (with good pictures & descriptions)
- keeping all your contact details clear and up-to-date
- earning positive reviews :)
- writing locally-oriented content
- using structured data (read on to learn more)
Use of structured data
Schema.org structured data for various types of your content helps search engines use it to better crawl, parse, and present it. Your content has more chances to appear in rich search results, cards, and carousels. Using structured data is an important part of local search optimization, as well as mobile SEO overall.
No CSS, JavaScript, or image blocking
There were days when mobile devices could not support JavaScript and CSS, so webmasters blocked them.
However, today, it is highly recommended to let Google see all your web page resources (CSS, JS, and images). This helps Google understand your pages, see that they are mobile-friendly, and show them in search results.
Apply the best mobile SEO tips on your site
The above tips are just a brief review of mobile SEO recommendations. Contact our Drupal web agency that has developers, web designers, and SEO experts as well. We will optimize your website for mobile searches in all possible aspects.