Mobile SEO, are you paying attention?

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There’s no doubt that mobile needs to be incorporated into any search strategy, with a boom in mobile browsing since 2007. In December 2009 mobile took a 1% share of all Internet traffic and by November 2012 this had grown to 13%. In some markets, mobile penetration is over 100% (101% in Northern America and 127% in Western Europe), reflecting the multi-device world we now live in. People are using mobile at home, on the move and during key commuting times.

Although mobile apps are eating in to traditional web browsing – partly because apps don’t need web connections to function – mobile web usage is growing and much of this is driven by mobile search.

With predictions of mobile browsing overtaking desktop browsing by the end of 2014, mobile visits should be taken as seriously as the desktop visitor, if not more so.

Why do mobile SEO?

Taking aside the statistics on the growth of mobile use, there are other reasons to enhance the mobile browsing experience. If you’re successful there is no reason why mobile shouldn’t be giving you better conversions and generally better results than desktop.

Someone using a mobile to search is usually a higher quality prospect because they generally want instant gratification. You should ensure that the experience for a mobile user gets them where they want to be as fast as possible. Mobile searches typically have more local based queries than desktop search (up to 1 in 5), so it is imperative that the most locally relevant landing pages are there for you to attract increased footfall.

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Think about the importance of mobile local search to high street retailers with a large store base. A customer searching for a product may not know that they have a local store, or where the local store is. Effective mobile SEO will ensure that the local store listing is highly visible for relevant searches and the store landing page is mobile friendly, so the information the customer needs can be retrieved and used quickly. A good example is ensuring mobile store landing pages have click-to-call features to avoid forcing people to have to remember a number and then tap it into their keypad!

The general advice from experienced SEOs is that you should concentrate on mobile SEO not just because more people are browsing via mobile devices but because the type of user will generally be of higher quality and more likely to convert.

Development for mobile SEO

When optimising for mobile web, you have two options when it comes to development and your choice will depend on the current state of your site, how flexible you can be with its production and your product/end goal.

These options are:

1. Responsive

This is the process of using @media queries in CSS that adjusts the site to be viewed by any device from large desktops to the smallest of mobile handsets.

2. Mobile Site

This is the development of a completely independent site that is only viewable by mobile devices.

Each method has advantages and disadvantages, which are explained in more detail below. However, do note that there is no “real winner” as each solution will have its own relative advantages and disadvantages based on your own business context and what works for one company may not be suitable for another.

What about Mobile content

Content for mobile users does not necessarily have to be the same as that of the desktop user. If anything, your content should be optimised only to include the absolute essentials needed to ensure that the visitor is given what they want without any other distractions (other than CTAs of course).

In our next blog, we will cover what people are actually doing on their mobile!

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Patrick Murphy
SiliconCloud provides high-quality, customized solutions to satisfy business objectives by leveraging the online space to drive leads and nurture customer relationships. SiliconCloud's integrated solutions of Web Creative, Analytics, Search Marketing & Social Media is designed to elevate your image, inform sales strategies and drive business. SiliconCloud means having a clear vision. Dozens of organizations in B2B and B2C arenas have counted on SiliconCloud to pave their road to the future by securing their online presence

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