Those who hold a smartphone in their hands are more eager to purchase something on the Internet, or take some type of immediate action. So if you have a conventional website for your “brick-and-mortar” business, it then becomes extremely important that you tailor it towards these mobile users.
Implementing a mobile site strategy becomes a necessity, which will give your business, service, or campaign an edge over your competition. The trend is staggering, as the masses are shifting towards a mobile Internet.
A recent survey found that close to three-quarters of all mobile device users are in a “buy” mode mindset when they use a search engine, and that 85% percent of them intends to purchase something or take some type of action such as an email opt-in, within the next 24 hours.
Optimizing Your Site For Mobile
First Begin With A Mobile Friendly Site
Right now, today, this year and beyond, having a mobile-friendly site whether it’s responsive or strictly dedicated for mobiles, is a fundamental need when it comes to activating a successful mobile SEO strategy.
The immense growth of mobile traffic is on an upward swing. According to reports, Internet traffic via smartphone traffic increased massively over the past year, while desktop computer usage increased by just 10% percent.
However, the majority of the websites are still tailored to the desktops and laptops, and not for the smartphone users. They’re poorly designed and too bulky, so they don’t cater well to the smaller smartphone screens.
There’s also the debate whether to have a responsive site which adapts to all screen sizes, or to have a dedicated mobile site. There are pros and cons for both, the answer being whichever meets the needs of your customers.
The Experience Of The Mobile User
User experience becomes the most important factor when it comes to an effective mobile SEO strategy. It’s known that even the top retailers on the Web still struggles with offering a good mobile experience.
The users experience has the biggest impact when it comes to a site’s ability to engage its visitors, which has a direct impact on visibility rankings, and sales.
What’s important is the mobile site’s ability to convert the mobile user into a buyer. It becomes critical that your site provides a good experience for them, which will then improve your rankings, engagement, and more importantly convert.
Everything mobile right now ties in directly with user experience. Once your mobile SEO strategy aligns with this, then your rankings and traffic should increase as well.
A Fast Loading Mobile Site
Page load speeds is what irks the mobile users the most. Based on recent research, what Google wants is for mobile pages to load in less than a second, this for the best results and a positive experience.
What a site that loads longer than one second does is it disrupts the mobile users flow of thought. According to stats, the average load time for mobile pages are currently around 5 to 9 seconds, infinitely too long.
Although it’s not known what impact mobile page load times has on site rankings, what can’t be stressed enough is the importance it has on user experience. What a positive user experience has is a direct impact on conversion rates.
Having A Clean Mobile Design
What you also need is a simple clean mobile site design with easy usability, which has a profound impact on user engagement as well, this because of the mobile user’s smaller screens.
It’s important to provide your information as easily digestible as possible, which includes big visible buttons and text, and a clear concise call to action being the biggest factors when it comes to converting mobile users.
The usability of the site should always trump design, and all design elements which are unnecessary should be eliminated. What clutter does is it makes the site confusing, while causing the page to load slower.
Knowing The Intent Of The Mobile User
What Google recently tweaked in their algorithm was they focused more on mobile devices. This includes conversational search queries, mobile user intent, and voice search, which are all essentials for a successful mobile SEO strategy.
This SEO strategy should always be dictated by the needs of your intended audience, and the needs of the mobile user are usually different from the desktop users.
For instance, smartphone users will often search for something that’s local, while having higher intent to purchase or take action. According to a survey, the majority of mobile users generally expect businesses to be within a few miles of their current location, and they want to purchase within the new few hours.
Mobile Voice Search
Know what the mobile users intent is which impacts the types of keyword phrases you use in your SEO strategy. For mobiles, it’s not longer necessarily combining keywords and a location.
The keywords need to be considered in context as mobile users are now using voice search commands, asking the search engines specific questions about the information they need.
For instance, a user performing a voice search for a local florist may ask their smartphone, “Where’s the nearest florist?” instead of typing in “florist + location.”
Since most search results are based on the mobile user’s exact location, a mobile SEO strategy which promotes the florist’s store and location, which incorporates conversational search terms in its content, will have an edge over the competing florists in the same area.
Once a local business displays their locations, physical address(es), hours, and contact information on their mobile-friendly sites, as well as on Google+ Business Listings, you’ll then be ions ahead of your competition.