Friday, March 29, 2024

The Importance of Mobile SEO for 2021

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What do you reach for the moment that you wake up? What gadget do you use to watch videos or scroll social media accounts? Where do you prefer to transact with online vendors? If your answer to these questions is your mobile phone, then you are not alone.

Canadians are undeniably one of the heaviest mobile phone users in the world. In 2020, it is estimated that 29.83 million people will own smartphones. This data is expected to increase in the years to come. With a smartphone in the hands of almost every person in the world, taking your business to mobile is simply a must.

Why Invest in Mobile SEO?

To best understand the SEO tactics that a trusted IT company based in Toronto, for example, will apply to your site, you should first understand the importance of mobile SEO.

Understanding Mobile SEO

Mobile SEO (search engine optimization) combines optimizing websites for ranking and seamless viewing on portable devices like smartphones and tablets. The Canadian figures of smartphone ownership are enough reason to be highly concerned with mobile SEO as more than half of the population is now using these handheld devices to search for products, services, and information. Google, the world’s biggest search engine, also favours mobile-friendly websites.

What Makes Mobile SEO different?

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Toronto Wordpress developers will tell you that you need both a desktop and a mobile-friendly site to sell your products and services. If you already have an SEO campaign in place then you are already a step closer to realizing an optimized mobile site. The two closely resemble each other in several ways.

Content is a primary component of both desktop and mobile-friendly sites. Regardless of the access point, the content will always be king. However, the target keywords for desktop searches may be different from those on mobile. Therefore, one should create relevant content according to the target keywords to increase your ranking.

Another similar aspect to consider is user experience or UX. Users pick websites that are easy to navigate and address what they exactly need.

Finally, improve the performance of the website for both desktop and mobile users. Sites that take forever to load are often abandoned by shoppers quickly. To not waste your efforts, remember that the desktop market focuses on the general public and the mobile aspect focuses on local results or users.

Visible Increase in Mobile Search

In an April 2021 data by Statista.com, Canadian data show how much the mobile lifestyle has seeped through our daily lives. With 33.05 million mobile subscribers, 29.8 million of them are mobile Internet users.

Photo by Brett Jordan

The same data also found that Canadians have Internet browsers as their top smartphone app. This market trend shows how mobile search has overtaken desktop search and this shows no sign of slowing down anytime. With a large chunk of your target customers using their mobile devices, improving your mobile SEO is a must.

Mobile Content is determined by Google Search Ranking

Google has switched to a mobile-first index and it means it is using a website’s mobile content in determining the search engine ranking. Even with all the effort to optimize your website for desktop users, if you are putting off the mobile sector, then Google will still not be very gracious with you. Simply put, websites that are not optimized for mobile use will get a poor ranking.

Mobile Search Generates Sales

According to Google’s research, mobile plays a huge factor in generating sales. Some important takeaways are the following:

  • Product reviews viewed over mobile show a significant increase of 35% in the past years.
  • An equivalent of 50,000 years of watch time for video reviews was spent on mobile.
  • Mobile searches that include the word “best” have grown to over 80% in 2 years.
  • Finally, 40% of people prefer to use mobile devices to complete a shopping process – from researching products to selecting and paying for them.

The Future is Voice Search

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Being part of the SEO strategy, optimizing your site for mobile users will help future-proof it as voice search is seen as the future of mobile search. Not only is it done through tablets and smartphones but also on home assistant devices like Alexa and Amazon Echo.

It becomes easier for these apps to find websites if the sites have well-optimized content. Bonus point, optimizing your mobile site for voice search will give you an advantage as 62% of businesses are still not doing it yet.

Usable Mobile Sites Get More Attention

Algorithm changes say one pressing thing – websites that are slow and not usable are not making it to SERPs. Investing in a mobile-friendly website is a huge factor for search engines.

How friendly and usable is your website? There are tools like Page Speed Insights, Mobile Friendly Test, and Google Webmaster Tools that you can use for checking. Such tools will check the site’s usability according to the current algorithm. Changes should be aptly made to ensure a smooth mobile user experience.

Mobile Design is also Considered by Search Engines

Contracting a Toronto web design company to revolutionize the design of your website is a good investment since they know the basic requirements. They are already up to date with the following:

  • Dropping Flash since it is not available on every device. An alternative to use is HTML 5.
  • Avoiding pop-ups because they do not translate very well with mobile devices.
  • Making the design finger-friendly since this is what mobile visitors expect when navigating your site. In setting up your site, Google Webmaster Tools will inform you if there are pages that veer away from the user’s finger. If your site is either too big, too small, or too close together, Google will also be penalizing it.

Unlike desktop-focused websites that have more space, a mobile one is very limited. Search engines give a better ranking when user experience is put on top of design consideration. Drop the bleeding margins, annoying pop-ups, and very small buttons.

Website visitors will quickly leave sites that are not user-friendly. Aside from the very slow load time, they will abandon a site when the view doesn’t fit their mobile screen. If they need to adjust the screen size just to read a sentence then they will just exit the site.

Landing Page Optimization

A major component of every mobile algorithm update is that landing pages should be regularly optimized with it. Even a simple, functional, and clear mobile site will lose visibility if no regular optimization efforts are exerted. A notable example is the British Airways website that dropped from the top to the 11th position simply because it wasn’t updated to accommodate holiday and destination terms on its landing pages.

This story is not unique as more businesses suffer great ranking blows at a more targeted level. A plumbing company for instance, when not optimized for the locals it is serving, will easily get lost in the ranking battle. The lesson here is simple, do not forget to include your location and specific services so your site will rank better.

People all over the world are constantly busy and on mobile. They are expected to perform various tasks, communicate, purchase products, and book services wherever they are. This lifestyle emphasizes the importance of computing devices that they can take wherever they go. Knowing the importance of the user experience, search engines prioritize optimized mobile websites in their SERP rankings.

Businesses can’t ignore the importance of mobile SEO in their efforts. Optimized and friendly websites get more traffic, retain visitors, convert better, have lower bounce rates, and are more competitive.Work together with a trusted SEO consultant in Vancouver or Toronto to formulate the right strategies to fit your market. Just as you need Toronto-based IT support for your IT systems, you also need the assistance of SEO experts to harness the power of the Internet.

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