Everyone man and their dog is probably sick of hearing about mobile devices but there’s good reason that SEO blogs don’t shut up about it. With mobile searches now accounting for 51.3% of total searches, exceeding desktop, it’s more important than ever to make sure that your site is mobile friendly. To make it easier for you to mobile-proof your website, we’ve compiled a short list of mobile ranking factors to help you along.
THE GOOD
We’ve mentioned AMP before, Accelerated Mobile Pages are almost essential if you want your mobile site to rank and be user friendly. AMP allows your mobile site to load at a much faster rate, which of course is exactly what the user is looking for. Stores with a physical location would strongly benefit from adapting a local SEO strategy. This is because mobile phone users are on the go and moving around, coming across a local SEO result could lead them from their current location to your storefront. Most mobile search users are looking for quick results that give them direct answers to their queries. Reading huge chunks of texts on a small screen isn’t easy, which is why you should let images do they talking for you. Not only do they complement your overall site aesthetic but they are a much easier way to communicate to your audience.
THE OKAY
Internal links are one of those factors that should be used in moderation, a link here or there is okay but over-linking won’t get you anywhere. Generally mobile sites have 75% fewer links than their desktop counterparts, this is because excess links can impact overall user experience, making the page slower to load and harder to navigate. Keep your content short and sweet on mobile sites. Similar to the reason for using images, shorter content is more user friendly as very few people use their mobile devices to read long pieces of content.
THE UGLY
Because most mobile browsers don’t support flash at the current moment in time, it’s best to avoid using it all together. You don’t want a potential customer to click on the link to your website only to find that it doesn’t work on their phone. Save your customers and yourself the trouble and save flash for desktop sites. It may seem simple and self explanatory but we’ll explain it anyway, small font is an absolute no-no. It might seem like a good idea to make font smaller to suit a smaller screen but the only thing this will do is make your users squint before giving up and exiting your site. Make sure your font size is big enough to read comfortably, this goes with any other touch features on your page, they should be big enough to tap without continually tapping the wrong link. Pop ups are the bane of any Internet users existence. On a desktop they’re pretty easy to close, just a click of a button, it’s a different story on mobile sites. Most pop ups aren’t actually designed for mobile sites so not only does the pop up obstruct an entire page of content but it can be almost impossible to find the exit button. Get rid of mobile site pop ups completely because more likely than not, users will simply exit your site instead of dealing with the hassle. Mobile searches are only increasing so don’t let your business be left behind. Make sure to update your mobile site to make it as SEO and user friendly as possible. Of course for those that are still at a loss, an agency like SEO Premier can help you get on track for the mobile takeover.
