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SEO in Mobile – Why is it Key?
Internet access on mobile began to overtake desktop in 2015. It’s now statistically probable that the majority of your website visitors are browsing on mobile devices.
In eCommerce, 54% of online sales are expected to come from mobile by 2021. Cyber Monday 2018 drew 30% of total purchases or $2.37 billion in revenue from mobile sales. A whopping 79% of smartphone users made an online purchase on mobile during the second half of 2018.
Further data indicates 40% of users will take their business to a competitor after a poor mobile experience.
Let’s take a look at some factors driving the mobile SEO revolution and a few ways your business can get in on the soaring sales happening on mobile.
Mobilegeddon Strikes
For organisations conducting business online, mobile SEO has shifted from a wish list item to a priority in recent years. Much of this sea change was set in motion by Google. The search leader introduced mobile-friendliness and site performance into its algorithm in April 2015.
Dubbed “Mobilegeddon” by the always-tongue-in-cheek SEO community, the algorithm update sent businesses scrambling to optimise their websites.
What Does ‘Mobile-Friendly’ Mean?
Obviously, it’s important to understand mobile-friendliness and its effects on your site’s search visibility.
According to Google’s official blog, a mobile-friendly search context yields “high-quality and relevant results where text is readable without tapping or zooming, tap targets are spaced appropriately, and the page avoids unplayable content or horizontal scrolling.”
In a nutshell, your web pages should adapt to fit various mobile screens. Text is rendered at readable sizes and flows naturally with vertical swiping. There are no issues loading embedded media like images, videos, audios, and common file types. Page navigation is made intuitive with tap targets.
Formatting Your Site for Mobile SEO
Don’t worry if your site isn’t yet fully optimised for mobile usability. These three tips will help you get there.
1. Deploy a responsive site design
Responsive design means one version of your site adapts to all screen sizes. Text and content naturally shrink to fit mobile devices. Navigation buttons and toolbars on desktop become tap targets when rendered on mobile.
In the past, it was common for websites to serve mobile-only versions with subdomain URLs to tablets and smartphones. Since responsive design promotes a single version architecture, sites no longer risk splitting search authority between the root domain and subdomains.
2. Ditch Flash
Adobe Flash enjoyed a long run as the internet’s engine of choice for embedded multimedia. That’s over now, and Flash is expected to reach end-of-life in 2020.
Flash doesn’t work natively on iOS or Android. You likely have content that’s inaccessible on mobile if Flash still has a home on your site.
3. Design with Screen Navigation in Mind
Given the wide range of screen sizes, it’s important to consider aspects like the spacing around links and the size of text and buttons. Finger navigation may result in unexpected clicks when objects are tightly packed in your site layout.
Test how the responsive design of your site scales for desktop and mobile. Confirm that navigation triggers function well in both scenarios.
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