Online Marketing – Mobile SEO: More than just Responsive Design

If you’re involved in online marketing or promotion, you’re surely aware of the relentless rise of Internet access via mobile devices such as tablets and phones. Nowadays, 70% of Australians get online with their smart-phones.

So are you ready to accommodate all these mobile users? If you’ve incorporated responsive design into your websites, you’re well on the way. Getting your site to render well is a major step, but there’s far more you can do to ensure your sites offer mobile visitors a quality experience.

mobile seo

Consider your Visitor

As with all marketing strategies, an understanding of your prospect is the key first step towards optimisation. So firstly think about why your visitor is accessing your site. Here are some possible reasons:

Locate your contact details.
Check or compare prices.
Make a purchase.
Read a blog post or review.

Clearly each of these requires optimising the page in a different way. Locating your contact info, for example, might benefit from the presence of a click-to-call button.

Making a purchase would need a standard checkout page or you might wish to develop an app for the purpose.

With the limited amount of information visible on a small screen, you need to arrange things so that the most relevant data show up for mobile searchers.

Performance

Mobile users expect faster speeds than those using desktops. They’re relying on mobile data networks or public Wi-Fi which may not be stable. Plus the limited screen area tends to focus the mind on getting the job done rather than surfing. Content heavy sites can slow down loading times so breaking content up into manageable units helps.

Navigation

Navigation on a phone or tablet is by way of finger swipes and taps rather than mouse and keyboard. Thus navigation has to be clear and easy with the necessary information with a maximum of two clicks from the landing page.

Provide menu buttons suitable for fingers and try not to make your visitor need to zoom in to read menus and instructions. CSS can be used to enhance button size and thus enhance user experience.

Sharing

Mobile device users tend to be socially savvy so make sure you’re offering them a way to connect and share. Unfortunately, with bandwidth at a premium, adding regular social media buttons can slow down load times. Using simple links to Facebook, Twitter and Google + can help with server load.

Testing

To check your mobile device performance, look in Google Analytics. If your stats for mobile visitors are subpar – high bounce rates and low time spent on site – it’s time you started looking into enhancing your website for this growing group of visitors. With mobile overtaking fixed net access, it’s the wave of the future, after all.

For expert help in responsive site development and mobile SEO, contact Smart SEO.

About Nathanael Vanderkolk

Nathanael Vanderkolk is the Director of the Smart SEO Company, a SEO Agency in Sydney, Australia. Smart SEO Sydney has a keen awareness of the latest approaches to online marketing. Follow him on , Facebook and Twitter.
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