An advanced SEO strategy is crucial to any online business nowadays. There is so much competition on the internet that if you do not tweak your way to Google Search’s top results, your target audience might never find you.
And this has become even trickier recently, as we have no idea of where and how people are accessing our websites and blogs. The number of people surfing the web while on public transport, in a queue, or waiting for their food is increasing on a daily basis.
But while this scenario can be fascinating and exciting, it is also true that it brings challenges to all digital marketers and web designers and developers. It has become mandatory to optimize our websites and blog to mobile access, and it all goes down to getting the SEO straight again and looking for the best ways to perfect your mobile strategy.
Optimize What You Already Have Done
If you are reading this article is because you probably have an online business, and you want to make sure that your customers access it on their mobile devices.
So the first thing that you should do is to try and optimize the site that you already have. Check if it is fully responsive by going through it on as many devices as you can. Do not forget to test it on iOS, Android, and perhaps Windows Phone phones and tablets to be sure.
And as you might be thinking that there are just too many Android devices to test, you can narrow your choices by focusing on those that your target audience is more likely to use.
Check Loading Page Speed
One that is essential to mobile marketing is loading page speed. As you know, people will not have access to Wi-Fi every single time they are online, most likely using a 3G or 4G internet connection.
That is to say that they access the web might be much slower than usual and your website that used to load in no time starts moving on snail-mode. As a consequence, they might leave your website to another day, which might never happen.
So make sure that your speed is at the right level and that your images are not compromising your user experience. And talking about images…
Be Concise
Exactly because of the small screen challenge mentioned above, your texts need to be concise to work on mobile devices. It does not mean that you cannot offer in-deep content, but your sentences should be short, and your paragraphs look like small chunks.
If you need help with it, look for online writing services that can give you editing advice, such as the Papers Board, but do something about your style if needed. Otherwise, it will decrease readiness and the consequent engagement of your audience.
Have A Look At Your Images and Videos
The images and videos displayed on your website should be specially optimized having mobile users in mind. They need to be as light as possible and have the right dimensions so as not to compromise the loading page speed of your website or the design itself – you know how unpleasant is a page that you have to be moving around to see it on your mobile.
Also bear in mind that some things that work perfectly fine on desktops might be a nightmare on mobile devices, such as Flash-based applications. Stick with HTML 5 instead, or go for something else that will work – and one more time: test everything again before publishing it.
Also Read: Top 10 SEO Tips to Follow For Your eCommerce Start-Up
Design For Mobile
If you are starting from scratch, then make sure that you will have a mobile in your mind since the very beginning. It is much easier if you do so, and most of the themes that you can buy online are already born like this.
And in the case that you are contracting someone to get your website done for you, make sure that you let them know how mobile is important to your business. Provide them with as much information as possible about the way that your target audiences behave in terms of which devices they use, which type of connection, for instance.
Forget Pop-Ups
Just forget about pop-ups altogether. They do not function on 95% of mobile devices, meaning that the cost of creating and maintain it has nearly none return. So do not even try to find a way to make them work. Plus, nobody likes them even on the desktop anyway.
Think about fat fingers
You might have heard about it before, and this is a big true. When you think about mobile, you should think about fat fingers. Do not expect that your audience will find easy to click on your buttons and forms by default. Think that they will struggle with it, because they probably will.
Even though touchscreen technology has been around for a while, not everybody is comfortable with it, and some devices make very hard to use it in the first place. And you probably haven’t seen many styles pen on people’s hands, as they never became very popular.
So make sure that it is easy to click on your buttons and to fill your forms, or you will lose many conversions for this reason.
Think About Small Screens
Same way, you should have in mind that a significant number of your customers will be looking at your website through a small screen. This perspective is much different from a desktop one, and you know that. So you need to ensure that the user experience is still pleasant and engaging even on a tiny mobile phone.
Be Conversational
With voice search getting improved, and Apple and Google working hard on getting it right, you should try and optimize your text so it will sound more conversational.
Nobody knows for sure how voice search engines are going to work, but it is safe to say that they will try to match what the person actually said, word by word, to the content available online. So if yours is already matching this criterion, you will be one step ahead of your competitors.
Consider an app
If you think that it too hard to get all this done, or that it does not make sense considering your business’s structure or nature, maybe you should consider developing an app instead.
This is an honest way to tell your client that you cannot make your website any better than what it is for mobile devices, and, if they want to have a better experience, then they should download your app.
Depending on your business’s goals, you might give it away for free, or sell it for a small fee – considering that you add some value to it through unique and exciting features, of course.
The Bottom Line: What Does It All Have To Do with SEO?
You can see that SEO wasn’t mentioned in any of the tips above, but it was on every single bit of it. By improving your user experience, you will make sure that they do not run away from your website a few second after looking at it, or maybe even before it is completely loaded.
And we all know how a high bouncing rate can harm your ranking on Google Search. Plus, the algorithm of this search engine gives higher marks to websites that are mobile-optimized as it shows that the administrator is taking their business seriously and being professional.
So, make sure that you put all these ideas in practice and your target audience will have a great time accessing your website. And you will be happy when you see your conversion rates increasing after it.
