The Mobile First – SEO Process. Optimize For Mobile Search Behaviour

A few years ago Google announced its searches from mobile devices had increased considerably. Statistics indicated nearly 60% of searches in the US alone happened from mobile devices. With that in mind, Google began moving towards mobile indexed searches. Due to high mobile usage amongst people across multiple industries mobile optimization is now a marketing strategy.

First, figure out your mobile audience’s search behaviour. What are the existing pages visibility and traffic through mobile searches? The shift towards mobiles which started in 2015 has gone from strength to strength which means your audience is going to want to connect with your business using their Smartphone. The market for Smartphones is growing rapidly and the popularity of using these devices to pretty much run your life is increasing tremendously. Mobile commerce is outgrowing e-commerce it seems and was expected to reach 43% in 2016. The ad spending and revenue from mobile users is incredible that it has become a mobile revolution in a sense.

There is a struggle in this for marketers, and that is to understand the difference of optimizing mobile friendly websites for mobile consumers and that of desktop users. Behaviour differs between these two elements. The strategy used for mobile optimization means being able to fit the puzzle pieces onto a mobile screen.

For mobile optimization to work the site should be configured properly. Did you know 1 in 4 sites are not optimized for mobile audiences? There is a guidebook for businesses introduced by Google on developing an understanding of how mobile users work and creating a strategy for optimization based on this. There is a reason why marketers don’t optimize for mobile devices. A study revealed that the conversion rates of mobile users are far lower than desktop users, this may be the reason why many brands seem almost hesitant to use up their resources on something that may not be worthwhile.

However, it is still critical for the success of your brand. Mobile users are constantly checking website locations, telephone numbers and other bits of information. If a website design is poorly and does not offer critical information it can lose sales quickly, as shoppers will move onto the next thing that is convenient and addresses their needs.

Understand your customers and know what they want. What do mobile users expect to see on your site? What pages are mobile users frequenting? Use this information to target your mobile audience and optimize your site accordingly. This means highlighting information that is critical to your audience like opening hours, location and so on.