3 Tips to Get Started on Mobile SEO

Michael Garrity — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:30:00 GMT

Optimizing your site for mobile search engines should certainly move to the top of your to-do list, if it hasn’t already. After all, it’s an easy and enticing activity for on-the-go consumers who may have a question about a product or service they're looking for, or need to find specific information about a business.

However, trying to meet mobile users where they’re searching is a bit trickier than your average run-of-the-mill desktop search engine optimization. Mobile searches take into account a number of different criteria to determine a site’s ranking, which can include overall site performance, usability, download speed and screen rendering, among other things. But the extra work is worth it, because not only are mobile users searching more and more, but they’re also buying more frequently from their devices.

When it comes to preparing your business for mobile search, there are a number of ways that you can differentiate your SEO practices to be ready for tech-savvy, mobile-ready consumers that can help you vastly improve your business’s performance on the mobile Web.

Design for All Devices

A website that is appropriately optimized for mobile devices of all shapes, sizes and operating systems will have a much better chance of ranking higher in the mobile SERPs, particularly when compared to a site that has just been reformatted to fit a smaller screen. This is because transcoding a pre-existing Web page strips it of some key content and leads to incomplete pages and, thus, decreased usability. All of this is detrimental to a high page ranking.

Plus, the type of mobile device that a user is searching on also plays a role in determining site ranking, as different mobile browsers render pages in different ways that can affect usability. As a result, brands with device agnostic mobile strategies that work with a number of different mobile operating systems will consistently rank higher for the vast majority of mobile users.

Localize

If you already have some sort of local presence online, you should definitely be nurturing that as part of your mobile SEO initiatives, because often, many mobile searchers are actually looking for specific information about local businesses. In fact, according to a Google survey, 76 percent of mobile consumers use their devices to search for a business’s location or operating hours.

In other words, part of having good mobile SEO is also having good local search optimization in place, especially if you’re just a local business or a retailer with various brick-and-mortar locations. For a quick guide on how to get started, check out our 3 Key Steps to Optimize for Local Search.

Be Ready for Email

Approximately 41 percent of all emails that marketers send out are opened on mobile devices, which means that companies should be incorporating multiple incoming links into their digital newsletters that will send recipients to their websites. These links will offer a fully integrated experience that gives brands a chance to establish a more connected presence across the mobile Web. But more importantly, these traffic driving tools, along with social media, allow consumers to find and click on links instantly.

All of that traffic, especially via outside links, is going to look good for your mobile website and can play a big role in helping to improve your mobile SEO efforts. However, links that aren’t tested or maintained will obviously end up leading to a loss of traffic from redirects to your mobile site, so make sure you put working links in your email newsletters, in order to fully reap the benefits of all of that traffic.

It make take some time and testing to get it right, but readjusting your SEO practices and reimagining your website to consider mobile search engines may be the next step to helping your brand conquer the mobile Web.

Mobile SEO with Evan Bailyn

Mike Phillips — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:35:00 GMT

The mobile market is ever-expanding and in every area. But while mobile apps get most of the attention, mobile Web browsing is still a major factor -- and browsing means mobile search. So, how do you make sure your website and business can be found easily by a mobile searcher? For some more insight into mobile SEO, we spoke with Evan Bailyn, SEO expert and owner of FirstPageSage.com.

So what are mobile searchers looking for? "Normally social, entertainment-related products -- restaurants, movies, books and maybe some light research," says Bailyn. "If you have a very local business, you will want to be on Google Local. Write the name of your business, and type of business." For example, a jeweler will want to include some extra information in the business name, such as 'Smith and Company - Engagement Rings.' "That instantly taps into the relevance algorithms." And while these changes can take up to four weeks, according to Bailyn, "Usually that name change alone will end up on first page."

There are other ways to target mobile users.

"There's a whole niche industry around misspelled keywords," says Bailyn. "Just a little SEO can optimize for misspellings. Even though there's so much auto-correct [on mobile devices], it wouldn't apply with company names." So, make sure your keywords include any variations of your company name, commonly-misspelled industry words or other words relevant to your business such as street and city names.

Keyword opportunities can also be found in subtle differences between mobile and desktop queries. "What I have found is that people will still type in the same queries as a PC, except when there's an abbreviation available," says Bailyn. For example, New York Cleaning Service on a PC search might be 'Cleaning Service NYC' on a mobile search.

Another area making an impact on mobile (and in search results) is social media. Bailyn believes that mobile social SEO will be an important factor moving forward.

"One thing I think is pretty fascinating is that both Facebook and Twitter have been making strides on a hyper-local level. Twitter has announced geo-location feature. You're also going to be able to drill down -- if you're at a Chili's on 72nd street, you can find tweeted reviews of that restaurant on the fly, or what people are tweeting about while at this place.

"Facebook's open social graph is one of the most exciting things to happen on the Internet in a really long time. They're going to make it possible to get recommendations for certain things you like. In the future, you might see something like 'While in this area ... did you know your friend John likes ABC restaurant?' Of course, they will also be serving an ad based on where you are."

In other words, tapping into the social graph is an important part of mobile SEO. The more 'social' people get, the more they will be turning to these networks to find what they need on-the-go. This can include presences on Facebook, Twitter and Yelp, and more mobile-specific applications like Foursquare and Loopt.

Finally, make sure your website is mobile-friendly. For instance, Flash is not supported by the iPhone or indexed by the major search engines at all. So, a Flash-intensive website is going to be be problematic. Make sure your website appears properly on those mobile devices where users are most likely to browse -- an iPhone, BlackBerry and Android-supported device. And remember that users are dealing with a small screen. So, keep your objective in mind and the number of steps low, such as the number of required fields in a mobile-friendly contact form. Or, as Bailyn puts it, "Get to the point."

'Net Features : mobile SEO

3 Tips to Get Started on Mobile SEO

Design for All Devices

Localize

Be Ready for Email

Mobile SEO with Evan Bailyn