SEO with Mobile in Mind

For the second year in a row, over 50% of website traffic originated from mobile devices. Accounting for 51.62% of all traffic in 2020 and 55.02% in 2021, mobile internet use is only increasing (source). As more and more of your potential customers are researching, buying, and talking about products and services on their smartphones and tablets, your website isn’t the only one that needs to adapt. You also need to be evaluating your digital marketing strategies, especially your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, and amend them to be more mobile friendly. If you don’t have mobile friendly SEO, you’ll have a much harder time attracting and retaining customers.

Smartphone sales peaked from 2015 to 2017, but even in 2021, there were almost 4x as many smartphones sold as personal computers (source for smartphone sales, source for PC sales). However, you don’t have to be a digital marketing expert or have access to this kind of data to have noticed the shift in mobile web browsing and the advances in technology that have allowed it to happen. You could probably have surmised this simply from you, your friends, and your family’s changing browsing habits. With mobile browsing more popular than ever, it’s crucial for your website to be easy to use and easy to find on mobile devices. But what makes a website mobile friendly? And how do you do it? To answer these questions, you do need to be a digital marketing expert. Thankfully, we are! Read on to find out why SEO for mobile sites is important and what you can do to make your website mobile friendly.  

What Makes SEO Different for Mobile Sites

SEO for mobile sites is not all that different from the work you’ve already done for the desktop version. In fact, many of the same principles and guidelines still apply. Pages still need to have quality, informative, and relevant content, content still needs to be keyword rich, and URLs still need to be optimized and SEO-friendly.

Where SEO for mobile sites diverts from its desktop is in the layout and design. Mobile devices have much smaller screens than desktop displays, meaning page content can often get distorted if you don’t account for the difference. To avoid page content becoming distorted, you have two options – create a website with a highly responsive design or create an entirely separate site for mobile browsers. While both are feasible, Google recommends responsive design.

Achieving Responsive Design

To achieve a responsive web design, a site must be able to adapt to every different screen and orientation. Essentially, it means ensuring the site is easy to use and read and the experience will be the same on a computer, tablet, smartphone, or any other device.

Because mobile users will be accessing your site just like any other user would, you don’t have to do any additional SEO work for the mobile site.

SEO For Responsive Websites

In addition to providing a seamless user experience, a responsive website design can boost your SEO efforts. To maximize the benefits of being mobile friendly, consider the following:

Test the new site on all devices: To be sure every element of your site works properly across all kinds of devices, test your new site on them all before its launch.

Optimize for local searches: Mobile users are typically looking for local products and services, so put more effort into local SEO by adding more location-based links and keywords to your site on Google Maps and other directories specific to the area.

Use long-tail keywords: Using long-tail keywords allows you to attract a more targeted audience that should have more interest in your offerings. Don’t forget to add location-based keywords!

Make sharing easy: Although adding share buttons to your content, photos, and other areas of the site does not have a direct impact on SEO for mobile devices, they can help spread brand awareness and act as an endorsement from your customers to their followers and friends.

Now you know the importance of mobile friendly SEO, but you may not know where to start. That’s where we come in. With our help, you can transform your site to be responsive and give your potential customers a great, user-friendly experience no matter what device they’re on. Contact us today to learn more!