The ultimate aim of search engines and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is to offer a satisfying user experience to the visitors coming online. According to Statista, In 2020, the number of unique mobile internet users stood at 4.28 billion, indicating that over 90 percent of the global internet population use a mobile device to go online. 

Because most of the visitors are surfing the web using their mobile devices, mobile SEO services are quintessential.

So, why lack in mobile SEO and lose important customers to your competitors? 

Dive into this blog to understand why SEO for mobile is the need of the hour. Later in this blog, we will also learn some of the best practices to get your website ready for Google’s mobile-first index.

 

Introduction to Mobile SEO

The number of mobile internet users surpasses the count of desktop users. Hence, it becomes crucial for businesses to provide users with exceptional experience via SEO for mobile devices. 

Mobile SEO strategy ensures that your website is easily accessible to visitors on their mobile devices. 

• It loads quickly on all web browsers
• Adjust itself according to mobile display size
• Display content and visuals properly
• Loads completely without any issue

 

Stats that prove the importance of Mobile SEO

According to various reliable resources like Statista and Intergrowth raise in mobile SEO services is crucial for businesses online.

1. On average, an American spends 5 hours 24 minutes on their phones every day.
2. 52.2% of website traffic is generated from mobile phones which are expected to increase to 73% by 2025
3. 61% of online customers say they enjoy shopping products/ services from mobile-friendly sites
4. 52% of click on PPC advertisements on search engines come from mobile devices.
5. 40% of mobile website visitors will leave your site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.

 

Want to know what Google thinks?

“When people have a negative brand experience on mobile, they are over 60% less likely to purchase from that brand in the future than if they have a positive experience.”- Google

Reference: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/negative-mobile-brand-experience-data/

Best Practices For Mobile SEO Of The Website

Nothing out of the box has to be done to make your website mobile-friendly. Simply follow the tips and strategies listed below to avoid the common mistakes done on the website which makes it incompatible with all mobile devices.

 

1. Avoid blocking Javascript, CSS, and image files

It is commonly seen that developers hide image files, CSS, etc., on the website using “display: none” in order to increase the loading speed of the website. But, unfortunately, it never works. Instead, it flouts Google’s guidelines and restricts proper crawling of search engine crawlers through the website. 

To ensure the website’s CSS, Javascript, and images are easily crawlable, you can use ‘Fetch as Google’ through the Google Webmaster tools.

• Create a robots.txt file and do not hide any pages. 
• Make sure your redirects are working properly even on mobile devices.

 

2. Optimize videos for mobile devices

It is not necessary that every website video playable on the desktop can be played on mobile devices. At times, they don’t load properly on mobile leaving a bad impression on the visitors.

Instead, use HTML 5 to embed videos on a website and improve its accessibility on all devices.

 

3. Fix broken links and redirects

Run regular website health checkups to ensure your website is compact and there are no faulty links to fix. Especially, if you are targeting to achieve a higher ranking on SERPs.

 

4. Avoid adding URLs with Mobile-only 404s

Some websites contain web pages that are easily accessible on desktops but when accessed via mobile devices, they tend to show 404 errors. This bad practice can leave a wrong impression on the visitors coming to the website using mobile devices.

Instead, redirect the same URL to another URL that can be viewed via mobile. So, your customers don’t walk away from you.

 

5. Speed up your website

Do you know?

Customers wait a maximum of 3 sec for a website to load after that they abandon the website and move to the next link. In addition to this, nearly 47% of customers wait for less than 2 sec for the website to load properly.

So, imagine the type of competition you have. 

Ensure that your website loads faster on desktop as well as mobile as a part of mobile SEO services.

 

6.  Use the ‘Rel=Alternate Media’ attribute

‘Rel=Alternate Media’ attribute is to map your desktop URLs and mobile URLs. Use this in the code for the desktop version of your website to specify the mobile versions.

Remember, it never works the other way round.

 

7.  Add the “Vary: User-Agent” HTTP Header

Irrespective of the type of redirects you are using and their functionality, it is always advisable that you incorporate the “Vary: User-Agent” HTTP Header to keep your website mobile SEO friendly. This will help you save time and engage customers using mobile devices to visit your website.

 

8. Use ‘Rel-Canonical’

Fundamentally, Canonical tags are used to inform search engines that a specific URL represents the master copy of a page and prevents duplicate content issues. You must add a ‘Rel-Canonical’ tag onto your website’s mobile version so it understands how the content is related to your desktop website and proves its originality.

 

9.  Keep the content concise and relevant

Even for mobile SEO services to work, it is mandatory that the content quality is at par. It should be both user-friendly and mobile SEO friendly. In addition, it should incorporate all the focus keywords relevant to your business.

Meta title and Meta description of the website must include keywords and should be engaging as well as written in a concise way to engage users using mobile devices.

 

10. Build mobile sitemaps

Indeed, there is no doubt that sitemaps are crucial for SEO. Create an XML sitemap for the mobile version of your website as well as name it a little different from the desktop pages. This will strengthen SEO for mobile.

Bonus Tip: Check the mobile-friendliness of your website using Google’s mobile-friendly tool.

 

Wrapping Up:

It is no longer up for debate that if businesses don’t focus on mobile SEO service, they will lose at least 40% of their potential customers. Are you ready to take that risk and lose customers to your competitors? If not, we are also ready to back you. Prepare your website to win the competition by making it stronger with mobile SEO.