How to do mobile SEO or SEO for mobile?
Contents
- Optimize the loading speed of your website: reduce the weight of the images, clean the code of your site, uninstall plugins that you do not use and hire a quality hosting.
- Guarantees mobile usability: browse your site from smartphones and tablets to check that everything looks and works correctly.
- Have a responsive web design: for this you can use a responsive template, use media queries in the CSS code, build a dynamic site or have separate URLs.
According to the Google search center , 94% of the US population searches for information through their phones.
And that’s only in America.
Hence, companies must include the best mobile SEO or mobile SEO practices in their web strategy.
The better the stay of people on your website, the more engagement you will have , more visits and, therefore, more sales.
What is mobile SEO?
Mobile SEO or mobile SEO is the set of measures and strategies for a website to be compatible with mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets.
What is mobile friendly?
Mobile friendly is the description given to a website when it is easy and “friendly” to navigate through mobile devices.
In other words, a mobile friendly site is what is sought to be achieved by implementing user experience recommendations and SEO for mobile.
What is Mobile First Index?
Mobile First Index is a Google policy that prioritizes among its results those websites that have a mobile version.
How to check if your website is compatible with Mobile First Index?
Enter the URL of your domain in Google’s mobile optimization test and verify in an instant if your website is optimized for mobile devices or not.
Verification in Google’s Mobile Friendly Test
Verification in Google’s Mobile Friendly Test
Is the AMP setting still required?
No. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) used to get preferential treatment because they created a lightweight, fast-loading version of content on a page.
However, since June 2021 Google announced that it would no longer take this into account as a ranking factor.
How to improve your mobile SEO?
Although the recommendations can be many, we have grouped them into 3 great steps:
Keep reading to know each one of them:
Optimize your upload speed
According to a study conducted by Google, more than 54% of people abandon a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
Less than 3 seconds: that is your window to load the content on your website.
How to improve this factor?
1. Know how fast your site currently loads
For this you can use the following tools:
Test My Site : designed by Google, it offers recommendations to improve the performance of your domain on mobile devices.
Page Speed Insights : also created by Google, it allows you to measure the loading performance of individual pages, both on mobile phones and computers.
2. Compress the weight of the images
Un-optimized images in heavy formats will unnecessarily burden the speed of your website.
The recommended formats are:
JPEG 2000.
JPEG XR.
WebP.
These formats are compatible with modern browsers and allow resources to load faster.
3. Dispense with unnecessary animations and visual effects
Like unoptimized images, animations, gifs, and effects will slow your website running smoothly.
Whenever possible, choose a simple aesthetic, with few animations and accessories.
4. Delete plugins that you don’t use
If your website has the ability to install plugins, it is possible that on more than one occasion you have abused this functionality.
It is important to periodically review which plugins are still necessary for the operation of the web and eliminate all those that are not.
Even if they are not activated, if they are installed on your website, they will most likely add to their total weight and, therefore, to their loading time.
5. Reduce the code of the pages
With the help of a programmer or developer, remove unnecessary spaces, lines and characters from the source code of your website.
This will help you to reduce the size of the site file, that is, to minimize java script.
6. Establish priority content in the HTML code
In the HTML code of each page, indicate which content and resources are priority for the browser to retrieve from the server and load first.
This will make, for example, on a page where the most important thing is the text, that is the first thing visible to the user.
Then they will upload the images, visual styles, and any other details that are not as important as the written information.
7. Check the specifications of your hosting
Hosting or hosting service is the parcel of land on the Internet where you have built your website.
Depending on the provider and the plan you have chosen, your site will load more or less quickly to your users.
Ensures mobile usability
Users who browse a website from their cell phones behave differently than those who do it from their computers.
For the best experience for people on any computer, you should check how each page of your site looks on different types of mobile devices:
Types of mobile devices and their measurements
Google recognizes 4 models of mobile devices:
Smartphones : Their screen sizes are typically 480px. It refers to modern mobiles that handle operating systems such as Android, iPhone and Windows Phone. The browsers used by phones are similar to those used by computers, therefore, they are compatible with HTML5.
Tablets : their standard size is 768 px . Google considers tablets to be in a class of their own. In other words, tablets, because they have much larger dimensions, do not use a mobile browser, on the contrary, users expect to see the website as if they were on their computers.
Multimedia phones : Although multimedia phones have different functionalities (solar battery charging, high-quality sensors) they often do not support HTML5, so they are not optimal for visiting websites.
Basic Phones : Phones in this class cannot render any HTML features.
Now, there are several ways to ensure mobile usability:
How to have a responsive website?
There are four main ways to have a responsive website:
Use a responsive template
Currently, most of the websites are built with tools like WordPress or Wix.
One of the advantages of these platforms is that they facilitate the mobile usability of the sites with the offer of responsive templates.
These templates automatically for each page and module have an optimized equivalent for different screen sizes.
By making use of a responsive design, the server sends the same HTML code to all devices, so that later the content is rendered and compatible.
This is the option that Google recommends implementing because:
There is no need to redirect users to another URL, thus reducing load time.
All content is grouped in a single URL. This makes it easy for users to share and link the content.
It saves you from having to tag pages with duplicate content.
The indexing process is faster.
Use media queries in your site’s CSS
Media queries work as a conditional construct in the site’s CSS. They tell the website: “If this happens, do the other.” For example:
If the website has these characteristics, apply these styles.
If the user is logging in from a mobile device, hide some items.
How do half queries help us?
To detect screen sizes.
To set the width of the surface to render.
To define styles based on the orientation of the device.
There are many other multimedia functions that will help you achieve an optimal responsive design.
Create a dynamic website
A dynamic site is one that changes its presentation according to certain factors, such as the time of the region in which you visit it or, in this case, the device from which you do it.
The advantage of this option is that it always uses the same URL regardless of the device you are using.
However, the page will always be displayed in a different HTML code.
We do not recommend this option because if the robot fails to detect the device and displays the wrong version, the user experience will decrease and the consequences will be worse.
Also, in general, it is an expensive system to maintain.
Use standalone URLs
Using this configuration you have different pages (URLs), for different devices.
For example, the link to your home page for computers would look like this:
www.thallalokesh.com
Meanwhile, for mobile devices, the URL on the same page would look like this:
m. thallalokesh.com
What are the disadvantages of this option?
The wrong configuration in the metadata of the pages can confuse Google bots, making them think that you have duplicate content.
Both pages are expensive to maintain.
What are the advantages of mobile SEO?
It allows the personalization of the information . Computers are often used by multiple people, so the information collected by the browser is not necessarily accurate.
On the contrary, if a user browses through a phone, the probability that it is his is high, so we can establish a more direct communication with him.
Increase interactivity. Mobile-optimized websites are less complex, so engagement is higher.
Improve the user experience . According to a study carried out by Google, the level of satisfaction on the part of mobile users is higher compared to computer users.
It favors visibility and organic positioning. Due to the mobile first index, Google favors websites that have a mobile version in its rankings.
The importance of mobile SEO
In short, to optimize the adaptability of your website on mobile devices you should do the following:
Have an optimal loading speed.
Guarantee mobile usability on smartphones and tablets.
Choose one of the available options to have a responsive website. We recommend using a responsive template from WordPress, Wix, or the platform where your site is built.
Regardless of the market where you operate, it is very likely that your target audience always carries their cell phone with them.
Take advantage of this and improve your mobile SEO with Thalla Lokesh .
