|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Over the last few years, the pattern of internet usage has changed. Even a decade ago, most people preferred using devices like desktops, laptops, etc. to browse the internet. Today, most people rely on their portable, slim mobile phones for this purpose.
This means, whenever they need something, they search for it using mobile devices. As a result, having a good desktop-friendly business website is no longer adequate. Entrepreneurs also need to pay attention to developing mobile-friendly websites so that every customer can access your business effortlessly on their devices.
Almost all web developers offer mobile application development which helps businesses reach a larger section of their target audience. Much like the websites, the applications run on mobile phones also need optimized pages. Before getting into further discussion about mobile SEO, let’s understand it superficially.
1. What Is Mobile SEO First Index?
In simple words, mobile SEO refers to an arrangement that ensures undisturbed visualization of the entire business page on a mobile screen. Now, Google, one of the most accessed search engines, often changes the ranking of every site almost regularly.
Therefore, it is critical for every business to reach and retain the top few positions so that mobile users get to see you whenever they search with a relevant keyword. In fact, mobile-first index search might also have a profound influence on your SEO approach.
Hence, for optimal SEO benefits, you need proper mobile-first indexing in place. Read on to learn more about how a mobile-first index can make or break your SEO plans.
2. The Most Useful Mobile SEO Tricks
The following are a few important factors that every business person should keep in mind while assessing a mobile-first index’s efficacy in augmenting website SEO. The mobile traffic percentage may significantly vary when you implement the right tricks to augment your existing set-up.
Responsive Website Design
When you have a responsive design for a website, the following benefits keep your web portal ahead.
- It’s effortless to share any variety of content from a unique URL
- Google can index your URL without much ado for higher rankings on the search engine pages
- It would be easier for you to maintain several pages for similar content
- This design helps avoid common formatting and SEO mistakes
- This won’t take much time to set up
- Google bot will need fewer resources to make the crawling function smoother and more efficient
- Users will not face issues like redirects which engender briefer download times of pages
Dynamic Serving
Dynamic serving is a configuration that enables the server to respond to various CSS and HTML codes on identical URLs based on the desktop version/device of the user.
In order to enjoy this advantage, you have to use the header of Vary HTTP to indicate alterations depending on the requests of the user/agent.
Valid headers convey the browser a significant message about how the content should be displayed. This, in turn, helps the Googlebot to unveil the existence of mobile-optimized content on your website faster.
Separate URLs
The very name of this configuration makes it clear that you will need different HTML for the website. This arrangement also makes sure that your content gets displayed to your audience in a holistic manner regardless of the user’s mobile version.
Each URL used in this configuration remains equipped with distinct HTML codes to match the specific requirements of different screen sizes.
3. Mistakes To Avoid
The above configurations will help you develop a mobile SEO capable of amassing more mobile traffic and establishing your brand on solid grounds. But, you will also have to be careful about not committing the following mistakes, even unknowingly. Avoiding these mistakes will help you implement mobile search engine optimization tricks more effectively.
- Do not block CSS, Javascript, and image files.
- Optimize each piece of unplayable content on the website.
- Fix cross-links and faulty redirects to help your audience maneuver through the pages smoothly.
- Be careful about Mobile-only 404s. Error pages cast an indelible impression and benefit a business in zero ways.
- Not keeping the website lightning fast.
- Not optimizing the Meta Descriptions and the titles.
- Not opting for structured data.
- Not keeping a close vigil on local searches to make use of them.
- Not building mobile sitemaps to keep your mobile site separate from the desktop site at the source level.
4. How Does Mobile SEO Benefit A Business?
Gone are the days when Google focused on the desktop version of any piece of content for SERP ranking and indexing.
With more people across the globe accessing the Google search engine pages using mobile devices, Google has decided to rank and index the websites based on their content’s mobile version.
Therefore, mobile-first indexing will have more impact on the performance of websites than ever. Here is how a perfectly designed website integrated with strategic mobile SEO moves can help your business.
- Fast Loading Pages
People using mobile phones generally prefer fast-loading pages. From the point of view of a businessman, you should understand that every customer, with a smartphone in hand, has multiple choices to pick.
The moment your website goes slow, they will not wait for it to respond. Instead, they will simply switch to another website – often your rival’s.
Mobile SEO makes sure that your customers remain loyal to you and do not flee your website at the first chance because your website will never give them a chance in the first place.
Additionally, fast-functioning websites also offer the users a better user experience and many of them come back to your website time and again.
- Lower Bounce Rates
If the mobile SEO is working fine, the bounce rate also declines. However, first, you need to understand what a bounce really is. If a customer visits multiple pages of your website and then leaves the portal without buying anything or placing a query, it is not a bounce.
But, if a customer enters your website, finds it difficult to use and understand and leaves it out of irritation without even visiting the second page, this is a bounce. So, customers who drop out from the very first page are counted under the bounce rate section.
When your website works fast, bounce rates drop significantly. Mobile SEO makes sure that every customer finds the website friendly and stays tuned to it for quite some time. To minimize bounce rate, check your website using the mobile-friendly test of Google.
This test will help you identify whether you have a responsive web design integrated with your mobile version for different mobile devices.
Google will also give your website a score based on the test to help you comprehend the mobile experience your customers will have. If your website gets a high score, you can be sure that the bounce rates will go down.
5. Which Enterprises Should Have It?
In short, every business should have mobile-friendly websites and optimize them for mobile SEO keeping the ranking factor in mind. No matter the domain of your business, mobile SEO will help it keep up with the market and its changes.
Especially for growth and expansion, the mobile-first index can be an excellent way out. A favorable rank on the SERP means more mobile traffic, more mobile visitors, and a better chance of sales and revenue.
While e-commerce relies heavily on websites, all other businesses, too, can benefit significantly from mobile-friendly interfaces. Therefore, regardless of the scale of operation, make sure to integrate mobile-first indexing to realize your dream of taking your business to its zenith.
6. What Are The Myths About Using Mobile SEO?
Myth 1: Mobile SEO Is A Costly Venture
Many people shy away from adopting mobile SEO integration, anticipating high costs. In reality, much like any other marketing service, mobile SEO, too, involves investment. However, whenever you consider cost without benefits, you make a mistake.
Therefore, make sure to check the multitude of advantages mobile SEO brings to your business before focusing on its cost. Therefore, do not pay heed to ideas such as these. Mobile SEO can help your business grow faster and achieve your goals consistently. This is why you should avoid heeding the widely accepted myths about SEO implementation.
Myth 2: It Is Suitable For Large Scale Businesses
The next myth is that only large-scale businesses require the support of SEO services. Now, the question remains, which enterprises aspire to grow? Which businesses look for better website ranking? Which businesses intend to reach more customers and penetrate deeper into the market? Inarguably, for small businesses, all these factors remain of more importance than the big ones.
Big enterprises generally enjoy a substantial presence in the market and a sizeable portion of customers spread across a large landscape. It is the small businesses that look forward to extending their reach. Therefore, this myth stands no ground. For all enterprises, big or small, mobile SEO can be a way to thrive.
Myth 3: It Does Not Impact The Business Much
Many people opine that mobile SEO does not do anything extra for a business. In this age of digitization, businesses are becoming more reliant on effective digital tools for expanding their scope. Mobile SEO, undoubtedly, is one such tool that helps keep the business ahead of its rivals.
Enhanced visibility, more traffic, reduced bounce rate, better user experience, and higher revenue remain a few such benefits of integrating mobile SEO with any business.
Hence, it would be wrong to say that mobile SEO does not bring anything extra to the table. On the contrary, it can help your business reach its peak position within a shorter time.
Myth 4: Only Ecommerce Platforms Need Mobile SEO
If you think that everything digital has something to do with the e-commerce platforms, you are not following the latest business trends properly. Even steel manufacturing companies are operating online to remain in touch with their customers.
Therefore, all businesses, regardless of their line of products or services need mobile SEO services. As long as you run an enterprise, you need the assistance of technology.
Otherwise, your rivals will outperform you in no time. When every other business takes the help of superior technological tools, not opting for one for your business could be a ruinous decision.
Myth 5: Integration Of Mobile SEO Takes A Long Time
Many people think that the integration of the mobile SEO process is a time-consuming one and it might cause your business substantial downtime. This is absolutely inaccurate and the truth is that the integration process has nothing to do with your running business operations. The developers integrate the tools without letting the daily operations suffer adversely.
Finally, listening to the myths and not analyzing them carefully can be an unwise move. Do not believe everything that keeps the market abuzz. Instead, discuss with the experts to learn more about the reality.
7. Is Having A Mobile App And Optimizing A Website For Mobile Devices The Same?
No, they are not the same. A mobile application for a business means a separate entity that the users can download on their mobile devices and access for browsing or ordering products and services.
Whereas, optimizing a website for mobile usage means optimizing a desktop site so that it fits the mobile screen perfectly well. Therefore, opting for the optimized website remains a necessity, given that 50% of the global population searches for products using their mobile phones.
At least for new enterprises, launching a mobile application along with a website can be a little too much. But, they can always optimize the URL so that it fits any mobile adequately. Once the revenue starts flowing in, they can focus on developing a separate mobile app for their business.
8. Is Outsourcing Mobile SEO A Good Idea?
SEO is a specialized task that needs in-depth market research, an understanding of the optimization mechanism, and a vision to comprehend market behavior. Therefore, a team of specialists remains a necessity for implementing mobile SEO effectively.
A business can either maintain an in-house team for the task or outsource the work to experienced professionals. Generally, most digital marketing firms offer top-notch mobile SEO services.
Many entrepreneurs hesitate to outsource anything intricately related to their business process fearing risks and vulnerabilities associated with data leakages. However, when you pick a reliable, reputed, and professional vendor, you can outsource the process without any worry.
Additionally, this makes the entire task cost-effective. Considering the benefits of outsourcing SEO services, it would be wiser to hand over the responsibility to the experts.
Final Words
To summarize, mobile SEO is essential for all businesses, big or small. No matter how you plan to expand your business, the SEO advantage can only accelerate the pace. Get in touch with a competent SEO service to know the best way to give your business a lift.