Most searches are done on a cell phone and it’s time to put a mobile SEO strategy in place. Here are 7 tips you need to help you get started.
Did you know that mobile devices account for more than 52% of all Internet searches?
Nowadays your online marketing campaign has to target mobile users. Our highly-connected world has enabled people to search and view websites while on the go from a variety of devices.
This means that if your website isn’t optimized for mobile usage, you’re losing leads and conversions. A non-optimized mobile site will also slip in search engine rankings.
The good news is that optimizing your site is easy. Keep reading for 7 mobile SEO tips to boost your site’s visibility.
1. Determine How Mobile Friendly Your Site Is
Before making any decisions as to a way forward for mobile SEO, you’ll need to know where you stand.
Google offers a free tool that will determine the mobile usability of your site. With this tool, you can test all sorts of mobile factors including:
- Use of plugins
- Viewport width
- Content sizing
- Use of Flash
- Font sizes
- Positioning of page elements
The report results can be used to shape your next moves. Maybe you need to redesign your website for smaller screen usage. Or maybe you need to optimize content and remove certain plugins.
2. Use Responsive Design
One of the best mobile SEO tactics is to embrace responsive design.
This design approach responds to a user’s platform, screen size, and orientation. In turn, your website is more likely to load for a larger number of users.
But why not just create a mobile site for all mobile users?
The biggest issue with a mobile site is that screen sizes continue to change. With new mobile phones and tablets released each year, you’re going to have a hard time keeping up with the dozens of screen sizes.
Responsive design is all encompassing and will deliver the best experience for mobile users.
3. Get Involved in Social Media
The use of social media on mobile devices has continuously grown. In fact, 80% of time spent on social media is through the use of a mobile device.
Getting involved in social media is a must if you want to grow your company’s visibility. This mobile SEO strategy allows you to engage with potential consumers while targeting existing customers.
Use Facebook to share company information and updates. Twitter is the ideal place for holding hashtag contests.
The key is to get involved and stay involved. Engaging in conversations and campaigns keeps your company’s name relevant.
4. Focus on Page Load Time
For mobile browsers, there’s nothing worse than a slow website. In fact, mobile users expect pages to load within 3 seconds or less. After 3 seconds, 53% of users will abandon the page.
Slow pages may be costing you leads and conversions. So how can you speed up your website?
Some steps to take include:
- Removing unused script
- Minimize HTTP requests
- Compressing files
- Enabling browser caching
- Optimizing images
Page load time is a critical factor in the success of your website.
5. Focus on Local Searches
Local SEO is another important piece of mobile optimization. Mobile users often search for products and services in their area.
This means that your website will need to be optimized for local searches.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to include state and city names in your content. This includes meta descriptions, title tags, and H1 headings.
Aside from onsite content, offsite content is just as important.
To build your company’s visibility, create a Google My Business Listing. This is a free service that allows Internet searchers to locate your business as well as read customer reviews and even view images.
You may also want to create a Google Maps as well as a Google+ page.
6. Optimize for Mobile Keyword Searches
If you already have existing content, such as a company blog, chances are you know about the importance of keyword optimization. But, mobile keyword optimization is a little different.
The days of text-based Internet searches have taken a back seat. Instead, consumers are increasingly using voice-based searches.
In fact, 41% of mobile users have embraced voice search. It’s much more convenient to ask Siri or Google to find a local business for you.
With mobile keyword optimization, you’ll want to focus on voice search-friendly keywords. As consumers embrace more voice activated technologies, your website content will need to keep up.
To make your website more voice search friendly:
- Optimize using conversational search queries
- Answer questions in your content
- Use structured data markup
- Create a FAQs page
The voice search trend isn’t going away anytime soon. Your business will want to focus on voice search optimization to stay ahead of competitors.
7. Consider Using Accelerated Mobile Pages
Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is a new initiative that seeks to provide faster mobile pages. These pages don’t look any different than a normal HTML web page. The biggest difference is the insanely fast load time.
With faster pages comes a much better browsing experience for users.
Pages designed using AMP incorporate simpler forms of client-side scripting. This means you can still use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript on your site, but you’ll instead use the AMP versions.
These script libraries are slimmed down and load much faster than standard libraries.
For added speed, the pages are cached in the cloud. Script and caching techniques combined enable an under a second page load time.
Other benefits of using AMP including improved search engine ranking as well as increased visibility. While this initiative is still evolving, now is a good time to benefit from it.
Expert Mobile SEO
The importance of mobile SEO cannot be overstated.
Mobile users are more likely to return if they have a good experience on your website. But, optimizing your website for mobile use requires time and effort.
Finding it hard to find the time? If so, SMA Marketing is here to help.
Our company offers a variety of services, including web design, inbound marketing, and SEO. We embrace creating connections with consumers to drive your company’s success.
Contact our team today to learn how we can help you.
