Mobile search is a hot topic in the SEO world at the moment, the mobile industry in constantly changing and mobile devices are an essential part of everyday living for most of us. In order to stay relevant in this growing mobile and multi-device environment, it’s imperative that you mobilise your SEO.
Since Google announced its latest search algorithm update back in April the focus on mobile search and mobile friendliness has been growing and growing. Since the update came into effect mobile friendly websites have been ranking higher in Google’s mobile search results than sites that are not mobile friendly.
Mobile SEO Best Practices
There are a number of factors to consider when it comes to optimising your website for mobile, let’s take a look at some of the best practices.
Responsive web design
Responsive design is becoming one of the most important factors in web design, particularly in search engine optimisation and user experience. When you access a responsive website on your smartphone it will look and function perfectly.
Page load speed
Quick page load speed is crucial for user experience, especially in today’s digital world where we want and expect information quickly. There are various ways you can improve page load speed – these include optimising all images, minifying code and leveraging browser caching. You can find out more about these here.
Don’t block CSS, JavaScript or images
Keep your resources crawlable, nowadays most mobile devices can support CSS, JavaScript and images so it’s important not to hide them (as webmasters have done previously). If Googlebot doesn’t have access to these resources it will not be able to detect that the page is ‘mobile-friendly’ and, as a result, it will not be able to properly serve it to mobile searchers.
Embed social media links
It is good practice to embed social media links as the majority of smartphone users will be connected to their social networks via the social media mobile apps. .
Link to the desktop site
All mobile friendly web pages should contain a link to the desktop version of their site so complete access isn’t limited.
Optimise your meta data
A smaller screen size increases the importance to communicate the key information quickly. Ensure meta titles and meta descriptions are as concise as possible.
Optimise for local search
If your business has a local element, it’s vital you optimise your mobile content for local search. For this, simply standardise your name, address, and phone number and include your city and postcode in your website’s meta data.
If you have any queries or questions about what Blackberry Design could do for your business, get in touch on 01527 517309 or fill in our contact form.