With over 60% of searches now conducted on mobile devices, having an effective mobile SEO strategy is imperative. If your website isn’t optimized for mobile users, you are missing out on significant opportunities to drive traffic, leads and sales. Follow these best practices to boost your mobile SEO:
Implement Responsive Design
Having a responsive website that adapts seamlessly to any screen size should be the foundation of your mobile optimization. This provides an consistent, user-friendly experience across devices. Use flexible layouts, auto-resizing images, and mobile-friendly navigation. Test regularly on real devices.
Leverage Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Google’s AMP project allows you to create stripped-down, lightweight versions of pages designed for mobile speed. Implement AMP for key site content to improve page load times. Just be sure to maintain strong linkage between AMP and canonical pages.
Optimize for Page Speed
Site speed hugely impacts mobile SEO, as slow load times lead to high bounce rates. Test your site using Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix. Compress images, enable browser caching, minimize redirects, defer non-essential JavaScript, and optimize code. Faster page loads enhance user experience.
Simplify Navigation Menus
Navigation menus that work on desktop can be cumbersome on mobile. Simplify menus to display only key top-level options, behind which additional menu levels can be accessed. Having a cluttered mobile navigation hurts usability.
Watch Page Length
Avoid extremely long, scrolling pages on mobile. Break up lengthy content into multiple pages, or at minimum use anchor links to allow jumping between sections. Display only key section summaries above the fold, requiring less initial scrolling.
Highlight Calls-to-Action
With smaller screens, it’s crucial that your CTA buttons and links stand out. Use contrasting colors, larger/bolder fonts and strategic placement toward the top to make them easily tappable. Don’t hide your CTAs way down long pages.
Implement Voice Search Optimization
Voice searches on mobile devices continue rising. Optimize content for featured snippet opportunities using natural conversational language and questions people ask. Structured data markup also boosts visibility for voice results.
Avoid Interstitials and Popups
Interstitial overlays and popups may work on desktop but deliver terrible mobile experience. Avoid anything blocking content on page load, including full-screen overlays. Use mobile-friendly, non-intrusive CTAs instead of abrasive popups.
Target Local Searches
Geotargeting allows you to optimize for searches within specific regions. This is highly relevant for mobile users who are often searching locally for immediate needs. Target key geo-modifiers in content and metadata.
Enhance Click-to-Call Features
Many mobile users prefer to directly call a business. Use click-to-call extensions on mobile search ads, and include prominent phone contact on pages. Also register your Google My Business listing to display calls buttons in local search.
Mobile optimization never stops, so continually review your analytics for opportunities to improve site speed, UI, local targeting and more. With robust mobile SEO, you can keep visitors happily engaged regardless of device.