Out of 7.9 billion people in the world, 7.1 billion use a mobile device. That is why a social media agency Hong Kong needs to know the best practices on SEO for mobile. It can greatly improve how potential customers view your ads and campaigns whenever and wherever they are. With almost everyone using a smartphone, a mobile-optimized diet will surely give them a great first impression!

IS “SEO” NOW ABOUT OPTIMIZING FOR “MOBILE SEO”?

In the past, SEO was about optimizing for desktop searches. However, with the rise of mobile devices and everything that goes into making a website “mobile-friendly”, it has become much more than that. In 2015 alone, there were almost 200 million users who accessed websites through their mobile devices. Compare this to just over 100 million users in 2014! This is why social media agencies such as Digital Marketing Speaker Hong Kong tell you how important it is to ensure your site is not only mobile-optimized but also search engine-friendly when it comes to mobile traffic.

While most people use a mobile device for browsing, there are still some that still prefer a larger screen with a bigger keyboard. Digital Marketing Speaker Hong Kong’s advice is to start optimizing your site for mobile search today! This will increase the chance of being found by customers who have been searching through their mobile devices.

In addition, a digital marketing speaker Hong Kong said that it takes more than just installing an SEO plugin in WordPress to make your website mobile-friendly. There are very specific things you need to do so your website’s appearance on mobile searches coincides with its desktop version – and these apply specifically if you want higher rankings in Google for certain keywords or phrases that include “mobile” or “cell phone.”

BEST PRACTICES ON SEO FOR MOBILE

  1. Prepare your website configuration. The first step involves redirecting mobile users to your mobile version. While there are many plugins available, the “301 Mobile Redirect” plugin is one of the best. It automatically detects if someone is using a desktop computer or mobile device and re-directs them accordingly. 
  2. Test all your web pages. Once you have installed the plugin, open your website and check if it really does redirect mobile users to its mobile version. There are also other ways to test this feature. There are several third-party validation tools available that can provide you with a list of all elements on your web pages that need optimizing. Make sure user experience is not being affected by this redirect. Sometimes, what seems like a smart move can actually harm your search engine rankings due to changes in URL formats or weighting factors caused by excessive redirection of links. 
  3. Optimize URLs for SEO. During this process, URLs will most likely change or even be removed entirely if there were too many redirections in the past. Be sure to follow best practices on SEO for mobile like using keywords in your URL whenever possible without compromising user experience. It is also very important not to include gibberish words or spammy links because this could hurt your rankings instead of helping them! 
  4. Your website should load quickly. Research has shown that people are more likely to wait longer for a page to load on their mobile devices if it’s not optimized. Most people will give up after 4 seconds! Optimizing your site for mobile search is one thing, but you also want to make sure the user experience is positive because this could make or break whether or not they come back next time.
  5. Responsive Design. Mobile users generally expect your website to resize and re-arrange according to the screen it is being viewed on. Some points that need to be taken into consideration include: making sure all images and videos are high quality, the text is readable and buttons do not take up too much space. With more than 60% of web traffic coming from mobile devices these days, having a responsive design is no longer enough. You must make sure your site fully adapts to different screen sizes as well as orientations (landscape or portrait) so it does not appear cramped or distorted. Ensure Compatibility with Android Apps. The latest version of Android includes several new technologies for app development using HTML 5 which can help your websites that look like native apps
  6. It must also load correctly. Regardless of who is using your site – mobile or desktop users – it must load correctly in both environments. Make the most of Facebook, Twitter & Google+. Although not directly related to SEO for Mobile, you should also make the most of social media because this can spread links to your website faster than ever before. With more traffic coming from mobile devices each year, it’s important to keep up with what people are sharing on their favorite platforms like Facebook and Twitter as well as through apps like Google+ and Pinterest.
  7. The website should look great. Make sure your website looks great on mobile devices. Get rid of all those fancy buttons, sidebars, and other elements that may look good on a desktop computer but not a mobile device. A mobile user wants to be able to read the content first and foremost – a crowded layout will only make it more difficult for them!
  8. Check how your website is doing. Checking your website’s search engine rankings is very important for making sure your SEO efforts are working. If they are not, make changes accordingly and wait until the bots find your updated site. It could take several months for this to happen, so you have to be patient. If your website is not performing as well as you would like, it may be due to these issues which are common among mobile SEO strategies: 
  • structuring URLs in the wrong way that includes redirects or excessive numbers of server hops 
  • including gibberish words or spammy links 
  • having a slow load time 
  • using social media platforms incorrectly 
  • neglecting Android apps and/or user experience on responsive designs

9. Let the bots check your website. Google launched its mobile-first index in 2018. What this means is that Google now uses the mobile version of a website as the primary index for its search engine bots. This will not be shocking to most people, because many SEOs were touting this as the future years ago. Once you have a website that is redirecting mobile users automatically to its mobile version, it’s time for the bots from Google and other search engine companies to crawl your site. If everything works well, they will “discover” your new URL structure and index both versions appropriately. 

Now that you know what you need to do, go ahead and implement these best practices on SEO for mobile!!

Reference: https://usa.inquirer.net/81845/seo-best-practices-for-mobile