{"id":62664,"date":"2019-03-12T20:47:34","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T03:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/?page_id=62664"},"modified":"2023-09-17T22:53:35","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T05:53:35","slug":"mobile-seo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/seo\/mobile-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile SEO and UX Optimization"},"content":{"rendered":"
Why is mobile optimization a top priority for SEOs today?<\/p>\n
Page Experience:<\/strong> the Page Experience update focuses a lot on mobile and speed. And it is hard to discuss one without the other. Please read our Page Experience eBook<\/a> on that subject, then come back.<\/p>\n But back to mobile…<\/p>\n First, mobile internet usage exceeds\u200b desktop<\/em>. People using smartphones \u200bmake up \u200bmore than half the consumer traffic to top sites globally. Certainly, it varies widely by industry, but it is significant for every site.<\/p>\n Second, more searches take place on smartphones than on desktop computers<\/em>, according to Google.<\/p>\n As a result, Google has switched to a “mobile-first index.” The search engine crawls and indexes the mobile<\/em> version of a website. In other words, whatever shows to mobile users is what counts for ranking purposes.<\/p>\n Satisfying mobile users is the search engines’ top priority. \u200bIt’s no wonder they look closely at how \u200byour site treats its mobile visitors before giving you a high ranking.<\/p>\n Mobile SEO is crucial not just because smartphone users are the majority but also because Google and Bing use mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal in mobile search<\/em>.<\/p>\n Is your site’s mobile SEO \u200beverything it needs to be?<\/strong>\u00a0In this lesson, you learn how to:<\/p>\n The shift to “mobile first” may require some refocusing for your website and its search engine optimization.<\/p>\n Most searches yield a different set of results on smartphones than on desktops (62 percent according to research<\/a>). One reason is that mobile results factor in location <\/strong>much more heavily than desktop results do.<\/p>\n Search engines want to show results located near the mobile searcher \u2014 particularly for queries with local intent such as “coffee shop,” “dry cleaner,” or the increasingly common “near me” searches.<\/p>\n So, if you operate a local or location-based business, your first mobile-SEO \u200btask is to set up your business correctly for local search. Standardize your NAP (name, address, phone number) in your site’s metadata and wherever your business is listed. And make sure your business is verified with both\u00a0Google My Business<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Bing Places for Business<\/a>.<\/p>\n Whether you’re a local business or not, every website must prepare to welcome mobile visitors and be found in mobile search<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Let’s look at your audience specifically.\u00a0How much of your website traffic comes from mobile devices now?<\/p>\n You can tell how people access your website with a glance at your Google Analytics (it’s free software, and we highly recommend you install Google Analytics<\/a> if you haven’t already). As the image below shows, if you select Mobile<\/em> > Overview<\/em> from the\u00a0Audience<\/em> menu, you’ll see the exact percentage of site visitors coming to your website on a desktop vs. smartphone vs. tablet.<\/p>\n You might be surprised to see that a large number of people already find you using a mobile device.<\/p>\n The key to a good mobile user experience lies in choosing the best way to set up your mobile website. Many websites are misconfigured for mobile search or not configured at all, resulting in a huge loss in smartphone traffic.<\/p>\n Mobile \u200bsearch rankings won’t vary much based on which mobile configuration you choose to implement as long as \u200byou offer a good experience and similar content on all devices. The biggest impact will be on user experience and site maintenance.<\/p>\n The 3 options for a website’s mobile configuration<\/strong> (image credit: Google Developers Help<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Read more:<\/em>\u00a0A Cheat Sheet for Mobile Design<\/a> explains pros and cons of each of these mobile configurations, while\u00a08 Common Mobile Website Pitfalls to Avoid for SEO<\/a> helps ensure proper implementation from the get-go if you choose the separate-mobile-site option. Google also \u200boffers \u200bhelp for implementing the three different options here:\u00a0Mobile SEO Overview<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are a few things you MUST do, no matter which configuration you use. \u200bThis section\u200b explains four technical tasks to put on your mobile SEO checklist …<\/p>\n 1. Be mobile-friendly.<\/strong><\/p>\n The basic prerequisite for earning a mobile-friendly SEO boost is passing Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test<\/a>. Since that\u2019s determined on a page-by-page basis, check each of your important pages. The results will list issues you might need to fix or give you the \u201cmobile-friendly\u201d green light:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n For more tips on creating a mobile-friendly website, please refer to our 7 Mobile-Friendly Navigation Best Practices<\/a> post. <\/em><\/p>\n 2. Tell search engines which page is formatted for mobile.<\/strong><\/p>\n Search engines look for cues in your HTML code that are different for each type of mobile configuration.<\/p>\n 3. Keep all page assets crawlable.<\/strong><\/p>\n As a rule, you shouldn\u2019t block search engines from seeing your CSS files, image files, JavaScript files, and any other resources needed to render the page. They want to see the page as it appears to users. So permit all search engine user-agents \u2014 Googlebot, Bingbot and all their cronies \u2014 to crawl page resources freely. (Tip:<\/em> See Step 16<\/a> for how to use robots.txt appropriately.)<\/p>\n You can double\u200b-check that everything can be crawled using Google\u2019s Fetch and Render tool inside of Search Console.<\/p>\n 4. Design for a good user experience on small devices.<\/strong><\/p>\n Mobile visitors are limited by their device’s small screen size and reduced bandwidth. Keep reading for common mistakes to avoid and best practices for satisfying their needs so they\u2019ll have a good experience on your site.<\/p>\n Photo by\u00a0Nathan<\/a>\u00a0(CC BY-SA 2.0)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n When it comes to your mobile SEO strategy, user experience (UX) is the single most important factor for success<\/strong>. Welcome visitors with a fast-loading site and good mobile design. These things impact your site’s rankings, since search engines want to give their searchers a satisfying experience.<\/p>\n Follow these tips for optimizing your mobile user experience to welcome potentially high-converting mobile visitors to your website.<\/p>\n As we discussed in Step 16<\/a> of this SEO guide, slow page-load speed can have a negative impact on your rankings<\/strong>. On a mobile device, a slow site feels even slower! This kind of poor user experience can kill your chances for mobile traffic and conversions. Google knows this, which is why they offer a mobile and a desktop version of their PageSpeed tool.<\/p>\n What are the biggest culprits of a slow mobile site?<\/p>\n Images. <\/em><\/strong>Optimizing those fat images for mobile SEO is the No. 1 thing you can do to improve mobile UX. The larger your image file sizes, the longer it will take your web pages to load, especially on a phone or other mobile device. Ways to keep your image files small include compressing your images, resizing images to make them smaller, and specifying the width and height dimensions in your HTML image tags.<\/p>\n Videos<\/em><\/strong> can also cause your web pages to take too long to load. Consider embedding smaller or lower quality videos to reduce the amount of data required, as long as it doesn\u2019t impact the viewing experience too much on faster devices. Another option for downloads of videos and other large files is to offer several download sizes. \u200bThen users can choose which one best fits their current bandwidth and device. Always look for ways to satisfy your various users\u2019 needs and give each visitor a good experience on your site.<\/p>\n Another speed solution is\u00a0AMP<\/strong> (Accelerated Mobile Pages), a Google-led open-source project for making the mobile web faster. AMP is not for every site, as on-page functionality is limited. But AMP results do load nearly instantly for mobile searchers and get special treatment (not rankings, though) in Google results. (Read more about\u00a0AMP<\/a> and how to implement<\/a> it with our quick start guide.)<\/p>\n PWAs<\/strong> (progressive web apps) offer another technical solution for fast mobile pages. Just starting to make waves in the digital marketing industry, using PWAs lets you program one website\/app hybrid that works on all screen sizes. (Read more about\u00a0PWAs<\/a>\u200b.)<\/p>\n Have you ever visited a website from your smartphone that made you zoom and reposition the screen just so you could see it? A poor user experience like this causes most people to leave the site and find another with a more optimal mobile user experience.<\/p>\n When it comes to mobile search, less is more. Make every word count with valuable content<\/a> that is:<\/p>\n Keep in mind that a mobile user’s search intentions probably vary from that of a desktop user conducting a similar search.<\/p>\n A mobile user searching for Chinese food may be looking for a phone number to order takeout. A desktop user searching for the same thing may be looking for an online ordering option for delivery.<\/p>\n Design your content to give users what they need.<\/p>\n For instance, in our responsive design for BruceClay.com (pictured), the navigation menu stays tucked neatly out of the way. But mobile users can access it as needed with the easy-to-tap \u200bmenu button. We also added a prominent call option since we figured if someone is using a mobile phone to check out our various digital marketing services, they’ll probably want to talk to us.<\/p>\n TIP:<\/em> Make sure you include enough content on your mobile site to support your long-tail rankings due to Google’s mobile-first index. Also, include markup there to qualify for featured snippets and other search results page enhancements. (See our Schema Markup Guide<\/a> for more details.)<\/p>\n\n
<\/a>Optimizing Your Site for Mobile SEO<\/h2>\n
First, local searchers are where it’s at.<\/h3>\n
How many mobile users access your site?<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Mobile SEO Part 1: Choosing the Right Mobile Configuration<\/h2>\n
Three Sitewide Setup Options<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Part 2: Must-Dos<\/h2>\n
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\n<meta name=”viewport” content=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0″><\/li>\n<\/a>Part 3: Mobile UX Optimization \u2013 Making Users Happy<\/h2>\n
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Optimize your mobile site for faster page-loading times.<\/h3>\n
Consider using AMP or PWAs.\u200b<\/h3>\n
Keep your mobile site simple and easy to navigate.<\/h3>\n
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Tailor your content to fit the needs of your audience.<\/h3>\n