There is no doubt that the boom in mobile communications brought about by the advent of the mobile internet has reshaped people’s lives; and allows them to do whatever they need and access whatever they want while they are on the move.
Almost 55% of all mobile device users access the internet regularly; and the figures will most likely touch 62% by the year 2018. If you are a marketer, you must keep tabs on each of these trends and jump on the bandwagon before you are left behind.
Sooner, rather than later, you will be required to adapt both your website as well as your marketing strategy to be able to accommodate and attract mobile users. To attract traffic, SEO is a must. Mobile SEO has a number of aspects and challenges which you will have to face before you can set up a rock-solid strategy.
First: Optimize the Local Search
Google studies reveal at least 80% of consumers use their search engines for local searches; and a further 88% of these users use smartphones or tablets for the same. The trends for these usually revolved around directions, addresses, business hours and so on.
Half of the people who conducted local searches ended up visiting the store or restaurant they were looking for within one day and almost 20% of the local searchers made purchases.
These figures are far superior to the purchase percentage of non-local searchers (around 7%), showing the importance of SEO. Local search optimization is hard, though, so you will need to spend time on strategizing.
Three big factors come into play for local searching. These are
1. Distance from Searcher
The distance of your business from the location specified by the user or detected by Google is one of the largest factors; as it is likely to push your business up the list if it is in close proximity to the searcher.
2. Relevance to Searcher
Provide as much information as you can about your business. So Google understands what it is. And is able to correlate it to specific relevant search terms entered by the user to fetch your site on the SERP.
3. Prominence of the Business
If your business is well-known and well-reviewed, or even mentioned on articles and other links online; Google is much more likely to push your links. Fill out every field in Google My Business and ensure it is accurate. Don’t overuse keywords, but try to include the relevant keywords in your description. Encourage customers to review your business, and get registered on Yelp, Bing and other local directories.
Second: Optimize the Loading Time of the Page
It is a well-documented fact that slower-loading pages are pushed down the rankings. Studies reveal that each year, more than two and a half billion dollars is lost in sales due to slow websites. As less as one-fifth of all responsive websites load in less than 4 seconds on smartphones; more than 30% take 8 to 48 seconds to load. No consumer waits more than ten seconds on a site, thus the bounce rate is negatively affected. Hence you must put special thought into this.
The solution is quite simple. You must optimize images to keep them as light as possible without compromising quality. Keep the homepage as light as you can. The top 30 retailers have a median weight of 420 KB. Keeping it less than 1 MB is a good idea. It may also help to switch to a faster hosting service.
Third: Ensure Your Data Is Accurate and Reliable
Improper redirects and mobile-only errors are huge issues when it comes to websites. Users who use mobile phones will have a negative experience if they land up on pages which haven’t been made for, or have content incompatible with phones. This could definitely deliver a blow to your search rankings. Moreover, empty or faulty links lead to 404 errors.
The way to fix this would be to either build the entire site responsively or to display the desktop version rather than an error page. If an error page redirects them to the original link, which directs them back to the error page, an infinite redirect loop is generated. This must be avoided.
Conclusion
Optimizing for the mobile means you are improving user experience as well as making it easy for search engines to find you. Ensure that you don’t prioritize one over the other, and also that you end up with a cohesive website which serves both purposes well. Well established SEO agency Mumbai can provide you excellent strategies