The way people use mobile devices has changed over the last decade. Mobile phone searches are consistently rising. If you have a website and it is not optimized for mobile then you are at a great loss. Here are a few tips on optimizing your website for mobile.
Why Optimize for Mobile?
Mobile phones are everywhere, they are a part of everything that we do. According to comScore, “the concept of ‘mobile first’ is no longer exclusive to technology-focused businesses and consumers, but is the default position for a growing number of internet users, who now consider smartphones and tablets essential to their daily lives.”
Average time spent on mobile devices are more compared to desktops. According to go-globe.hk “52.7% of global internet user access the internet via Mobile Devices.”
Mobile SEO is a crucial factor as Google is expected to roll out their Mobile First Index update early next year. Through this update, the search engine giant is going to change indexing from desktop to mobile, so it is necessary for you to prepare your website for this update.
Here are some of the Smart Ways To Optimize Your Website For Mobile Search:
Page speed
The page load time of the website plays a major role in the design of the website. Mobile devices have a lower RAM as compared to that of the desktop. In some of the cases, network speeds are also slow as compared to that on the desktops. Also, the mobile users require the website to open fast. Hence it becomes necessary that you design the websites that load faster than that on the desktop devices. This helps in providing a better UX to the users. This can be done in a number of ways like:
1.Optimize images in such a way that it is beautiful and load easily
2.Minify the code so that it loads faster
3.Use browser caching so as to help the website loads faster
4.Reduce the redirects of links on the website
Properly focusing on the page speed can help you in making your website load faster and thereby help in the SEO of your website.
Optimize CSS, JavaScript, or images
In the earlier days, mobile devices didn’t support the elements like CSS, JavaScript, or images. With the enhancement of the mobile technology, these are fully supported. Hence it is a good decision to use the CSS, JavaScript, or images to make sure that your mobile sites are visually pleasing. Hence it is also necessary that you optimize your CSS, JavaScript, or images. It also helps search engines to understand if the site is responsive or you have a different mobile solution.
Design the website for mobile
It is necessary that you design the website that is optimized for mobile. The website must be designed in such a way that it is designed for mobile. The website must contain the buttons that are neither too small or too big or lies in the path of a finger of scrolling. It must be designed for different finger thickness. This prevents any accidental clicks while scrolling and clicking. Hence it is necessary that you simplify and revolutionize the ways in which the site is designed.
Target mobile-specific keywords
The user behavior differs when they access internet on mobile and when that on the desktop. It is because the mobile devices have microphones that can help you to conduct voice search. Hence while designing the website, it is necessary that you have a proper idea of the keywords that are mobile specific. Hence, it is necessary that you have a proper idea of the keywords that are used by your users and use this in your content. This can help your website to rank higher in the mobile search engines.
Optimize for local search
A majority of the businesses are locally based. Hence it is necessary that you to optimize website for mobile local search with the help of using local search terms. These can be done by using long-term keywords which provides better results and rank higher on these long-term keywords. With better results in long-term, the website can rank higher even in general keywords. Apart from these, you also need to standardize your name, address, phone number and location in the metadata of your website.
Mobile site configuration
It is necessary that you configure your website in such a way that is mobile friendly. This can be done by making sure that the website is responsive, dynamic serving, or has a separate site configuration. Each of these has its own sets of advantages and disadvantages. Google prefers the responsive design and supports all the three options as well if implemented properly.
Responsive web design:
Responsive web design makes use of CSS3 media queries. It enables you to serve the same content to your mobile and desktop users. It makes use of a fluid grid and a flexible design and adapts to the size of the user’s screen automatically. It allows you to have a number of media queries for different sized mobile devices. These range from tiny mobile screens to even larger tablets and makes the users feel that the site is designed for their device. You can quite easily check if your website is optimized for mobile with the help of Google’s Mobile Testing Tool or another such free and paid services.
Dynamic serving
Dynamic serving is useful when you want to display that differ in content based on the devices from which you are using. With this method, you can display different content for mobile visitors and that of that of desktop ones. This can be done with the help of HTML and CSS and detect user agents that give you an idea what devices your users are using. Based on the data garnered by the same, you can provide different content for different users. In order to use this, you need to use the Vary HTTP header and based on the same you can display different content based on the device. It relies on having an updated list of user agents. It also needs to be regularly updated whenever a new mobile device arrives at the market.
Separate mobile URL
Creating a separate URL for mobile devices also works in a number of cases. In this, a parallel website is created for mobile users. The two different version of the website can be created by adding a custom content for mobile visitors. Various mobile sites use “m” subdomain in their URL to differentiate it from regular URL. You can also make use of certain buttons to click over to their preferred experience.
Make use of Schema.org structured data
Rich snippets play a major role in the SEO of the website. These contain various information about the content that makes it easier to identify the bots what the content is about. It also helps provide useful information in the search engines and make it informative. This search result with rich snippets that helps your web results to stand out. You can quite easily use the structured data from Schema.org.
Optimize titles and meta descriptions:
The titles and meta description play a major role in the SEO. Hence it is necessary that you choose a title that is pleasing and convey the information of your content. Apart from the same, the meta description must also be consistent with the content that you are using. Both the title and meta description must be catchy and convey the information about your content. This helps in providing the relevant information in the form of SERPS. This can be done by creating titles, URLs, and meta descriptions without sacrificing the quality of the information.
Don’t use Flash
Flash websites were quite trendy in the earlier days. It was because it enabled the designers to create the websites that supported animation and sound. However, ever since its inception it has been criticized by a few people. In a few years from now, Flash will no longer be supported as has been announced by Adobe. Apart from these, it is not necessary that your device will support it. This, in turn, may not help you to reach a large number of users. Hence it is necessary that you use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to achieve similar results.
Don’t use pop-ups
Pop-ups are used in large numbers on the desktop websites. However, it is not recommended that you use pop-ups on your mobile devices as it becomes irritating for the users as it is difficult to close it on the mobile devices thereby resulting in a high bounce rate.
