We can’t deny the fact that mobile has become an essential part of our life. In the era of smartphones, the mobile Web Search has replaced desktop search. Mobile-first indexing is a priority for better SEO results.
According to the mobile behavior report by Google, 70% of smartphone owners who bought something in a store first turned to their devices for information relevant to that purchase. 92% of those who searched on their phone made a related purchase.
It indicates that the number of mobile searches is slowly taking place of desktop searches. Higher intent users are relying heavily on last moment mobile search before taking the final decision on purchase.
What needs to be done as a pro SEO? How to target high intent audience as our first step? How can we make our website not only mobile friendly but mobile-first indexing too?
Importance of Mobile Site Speed
We all know mobile load speed matters a lot. It is a Mobile-First Algorithm of Google. Page load speed is a Google ranking factor. If the page load speed is low, it may affect your page ranking.
Because of slow loading time, your users may bounce and go to your competitors’ websites. Ultimately you loose business.
There are many third-party tools available along with Google’s page speed insight tool to provide you valuable insight on how to speed up your site.
Important Factors to Reduce the Page Load Time
- A large number of redirection can slow down your site. Only use if they are absolutely necessary.
- Use quality hosting. The response time of server also affects page speed. WordPress site is a better host in terms of less response time.
- Optimize your images before using them. Use responsive code to serve the right image size according to the screen where the content has to be shown.
- Make sure your HTML, CSS & JavaScript is clean. Optimize your site code and minify the code to compress the files and reduce file size.
- Always use site caching. It will simply display the page without loading HTML, CSS & JavaScript.
Earlier Google’s indexing was based on desktop searches. The mobile search result was also shown on the basis of desktop indexing. Now Google bot indexes mobile version first and the desktop search result also shows the result on the basis of mobile indexing.
It indicates perfect Mobile SEO can be a strategy for our flawless success!
You can leverage your Mobile SEO with the required technical know-how.
Points to Consider for Mobile-First Indexing While Doing On-Page SEO
- Content is a major factor for both desktop and mobile SEO. Relevant content and keywords help in improved ranking.
- User Experience is also important for both platforms’ SEO. Proper page navigation helps users find their content quickly & easily.
- Performance is universally important for both Mobile SEO & Desktop SEO.
- The device location of mobile phones keeps changing, unlike the desktop. Google’s algorithm considers the changing location pattern.
Responsive Site & Content
It is important to have a mobile-friendly website for mobile bot. Google recommends having a responsive website. Responsive websites automatically adjust and adapt to any device screen size.
When it comes to mobile, many of us don’t think about the layout, graphics, video or content creation for mobile. The lucid flow of the website makes the user experience better.
Checking on Google Analytics may find 80% of the traffic coming from the mobile device. It increases the chance of conversion from mobile devices.
Depending on the responsive code, we should also focus on CSS to arrange content on the website.
When you are designing content for a website, you should make sure about the good look on the mobile screen.
Technical Points to Implement on mobile First Indexing
- In the Mobile SEO, there is nothing different from the standard On-Page SEO you do for your desktop site.
- When you start optimizing the website, you should start from URLs, Title tag, Headings, Page Content, Image alt text and Meta tags.
- The Desktop SERP result contains more information in comparison to Mobile search result pages, so focus on shorter and compelling Title and Description for Mobile Page SEO. This will help you to make a better impression of the result when you show up in mobile searches.
- Try to avoid putting pop-ups on your mobile site. It irritates users.
- You should not miss schema markup for your mobile site considering the mobile screen size. If you can manage rich snippets to get in your search result, you are more likely to stand out when people search for you.
- Avoid using flash on your website for special effects or animations, Use HTML5 instead.
Importance of User Experience (UX)
Searching on a mobile device is very convenient but it is also important to be comfortable user experience.
The Points which you should keep in your mind for better UX.
- The most common UX issue on mobile site is Click size. Menu or any clickable element, it should be large enough.
- Pay attention to the distance between the two clickable points.
- The phone number should easy to see with a clickable link.
- You should keep the mobile menu easy to navigate.
- Make sure the form which you put on site is well fit on screen.
- The keyboard which you are using for form should easy to connect the right field. For the name field, you should use a standard keyboard and for a phone number, number keypad instead of a standard keyboard.
- Font size is also important. Don’t use small fonts to provide more content on a smaller screen.
- Image size also matters. The full-size desktop image is much larger for a full-screen size mobile image.
Importance of AMP & Apps in Mobile SEO
We can’t ignore AMP & PWAs when we are talking about mobile page speed. AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Page.
- AMP is created with a special coding language which is based on the stripped-down version of HTML & CSS and loads almost instantly.
- If we want a fast and streamlined user experience then a Mobile app is also a better option. Until you are very clear with the app’s objective, don’t go for it as an alternative to the website.
- PWA stands for Progressive Web App. It is a hybrid of mobile websites and apps. You can directly download it from a browser without going to the app store.
- PWA looks like an app on users’ mobile but basically it works as a mobile website. PWAs are incredibly fast.
Optimizing your site for Local Business
When we search from mobile, Google knows and it displays local results if the search has anything to do with a local business.
According to Google, 76% of user searches a business nearby visited a related business within 24 hours of searching. This is not enough but 28% of searches converted into sell. It indicates LOCAL SEO is going to rock.
