Is ranking on the top of search engine really an uphill climb?

It is, actually. However, on-page and off page optimization turns it into a walkover.

But, have you optimized it for the desktop users only? 

Your dream to get millions of users on your board can’t be true unless you focus on the mobile SEO. Why?

As a search tool, mobile phone leads in penetrating internet users worldwide in 2019 with 63.4 percent. Its comparative analysis depicts 14.6 percent growth, which is exponential.

Needless to say, mobile searches are worthy to attend. They primarily create online visibility by congesting traffic through mobile phones. That’s why Google algorithms switch to mobile-first indexing.

Mobile-First Indexing:

Google has redefined its indexing model, viz. mobile-first indexing. Now, its spiders use mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking to reflect better search-results. Its desktop version trails the procedure. This is where mobile SEO came into the picture. Mobile optimization started gaining momentum. Along with it, a crucial update Mobilegeddon (which elevates mobile-friendly sites in search results and ranking) has made it a need of the hour. It echoes logical, if you really want to make to harvest leads online.

How can you determine if or not your website is mobile friendly?

To get its answer, you should check if:

• It loads resources across all screen sizes
• Its content is readable on the mobile phones.
• It uploads within 3 to 4 seconds, which is a standard.
• Its internal and outbound links are active.
• It serves the best UX on any device.

Mobile Page Speed:

However, all aforementioned points are crucial when it comes to catering a great UX. But, the mobile page speed appears in the main frame.

So! First, you should screen its mobile page speed. Google’s mobile usability test through Google Search Console can mirror its exact speed and the related issues (if there is any).  What you should do is to:

• Log in the Google Search Console (GSC) account.
• On left sidebar, select ‘Mobile Usability’.
• A click will pop its visual data, including error, valid, date-wise and page-wise impression.

Besides GSC, you can employ many free online mobile speed testing tools like PageSpeed Insights or Website Speed Test.

Fix Mobile Speed Breakers With These SEO Tips:

Do you like the aforementioned speed breakers?

Neither do they disturb your site’s visibility, but also, they paralyze its traffic, ranking and leads. You can’t compromise on them. So, here are three tips to boost the mobile speed by fixing these flaws:

1. Fix Header Image: The banner image pops when you browse a URL. Do you think that users intend to see it?

It’s a misconception. They want to know in a wink after clicking the link. A big banner or images can spoil their mobile web experience. So, trim their giant size. If it’s harmless, remove them. 

2. Negative Space is Usable: A clean design is what users love to admire. But, the absence of the intended content turns an excellent UX turtle.  So, utilize negative space wisely. It’s essential that you adjust the space between text, buttons and design elements. It represents the negative space that often gives a neat and clean look on the desktop.

However, de-cluttered look is important. But if it’s about ranking up in Google, the UX comes first. The users click the URL to browse the information. If negative space pushes them to scroll down, they rather like to bounce back and look for an alternative URL.

Glue them by using the negative space with impressive content. The dwell time will bounce up.

3. Pin Social Buttons:  Social sharing buttons unveil which social channel is forerunner in attracting most of the online traffic. The marketing Mughals integrate social sharing with the SEO strategies. It boosts up leads, as the more it will be visible, the more clicks it will attract.  So, pin the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram buttons at the bottom. But, they should not look distracting. Keep them still at the foot of the mobile screen. Scrolling should be left free.  

Why mobile responsive website?

If your mobile site is responsive, it’s an edge. Google catches it as a signal to rank it up. A responsive design is a way to put things together on a website so that it automatically adjusts its content and elements irrespective of screen sizes. It simply aims at preventing users from unnecessary resizing, scrolling or zooming, which generally become a need, if the website is not optimized for all screen sizes. Besides, it is the best investment option for:

• Gaining flexibility to make changes in a few  minutes
• Saving money that you often invest on creating separate websites for the mobile phone and desktop
• Improving user experience by compressing images and faster loading
• Winning SEO edge that Google delivers to the mobile-friendly website in particular
• Managing it easily by self, as you don’t have to push your nose into fixing errors page-wise

Once you’re sure that your responsive design is rolling out impeccable, focus on the content.

Content Management Tips for Mobile SEO:

1. Simplify content to deliver WOW experience on phones: 

Check, if your users are scrolling, resizing and zooming in the page.

· Press Ctrl + Shift + I.

· Or, Right click the webpage> select inspect from the dropdown list.

· Press Ctrl + Shift + M to catch its mobile view.

These steps will resize the desktop view into the mobile view. Inspect, if the content is readable or legible easily. The unclear visibility pushes visitors to bounce out. Put optimization tweaks in place to fix mobile speed breakers (as aforesaid).

These hints can help you to make the mobile content legible:

· Prefer 15 or 16px font.

· Put short points

· Wrap up points in between 50 and 60 characters.

· Stay firm on the contrast between the font colour and the background hue.

2. Video and Animated Content:

Try to keep fancy animations away. It requires flash to support its motion. Many-a-times, the users’ phone doesn’t have it. So, drop the idea of integrating any flash supported animation.

HTML5 easily runs on the smartphones. If you really want to integrate a video/ an animation, design it with the HTML5 codes.    

3. 'Viewport Meta Tag’: Coding for resizing according to diverse devices is a challenge. The ‘Viewport Meta Tag’ helps you to fight it out. If you’re a designer, you can embed this tag. The output will reflect when you view that website in the mobile phone.

Google recommends you to unify this tag:

<meta name= “viewport” content= “width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0”>