SEO is very popular in the Internet marketing industry, mobile website SEO is also not to be underestimated, but many companies have not yet optimized mobile website SEO, this article will guide you to start from your own situation, analyze the pros and cons, and choose the most suitable mobile website SEO solution.
The mobile boom is no news in the digital marketing industry. In fact, mobile phones are booming in any industry related to them. Today, the mobile experience is an integral part of search engine marketing and its role in marketing success cannot be underestimated.
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Google's motto is to provide users with the best search results and user experience, and mobile phone users and tablet users are no exception. Due to the growing number of mobile apps, Google has introduced Best Mobile Sites guidelines and is gradually introducing more ranking factors to reward better optimized mobile sites.
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Surprisingly, there are still a large number of websites that do not take advantage of this opportunity. According to a recent survey, less than half of the global Fortune 100 companies' websites are optimized for mobile clients. Of course, every business needs to measure the gains and losses against ROI and KPIs before building a mobile platform. However, the use of mobile phones in each area is obvious. You can collect materials locally and conduct mobile application statistics anytime and anywhere.
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If you have a mobile website or are planning to create one, the following checklist may come in handy in order to ensure the SEO effect of the website. This post will also look at how to choose the best mobile plan, offering best practices and how to avoid common mistakes.
1. Choose the most suitable mobile website
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Three options are available for your consideration:
1. Fully responsive
2. Dynamic service (HTML & CSS)
3. Mobile version
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There is no one-size-fits-all approach to choosing the best mobile solution. The decision-making process generally involves understanding your website needs, how it works, and most importantly, understanding the intent of mobile users. You can also ask yourself other questions, like, what are the best and worst engagement metrics for mobile users versus desktop users? Which mobile device is the most popular on your website? How is your current user engagement on your site without a mobile site? the
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By better understanding your mobile users and how they navigate the web, as opposed to desktop users, you can better understand the different types of mobile solutions and how to make them more relevant to users.
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Every mobile website solution requires specific technical implementation methods, which are equally important for mobile websites and desktop websites. Below are three different types of mobile sites to choose from.
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Solution 1: Responsive Design
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Responsive design uses the same code on desktop and mobile versions, sets the same HTML page for each URL, and uses CSS to achieve page transitions on different devices.
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Scenario 2: Dynamic Services
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Dynamic service means that when the same page has different HTML pages (and CSS), according to different request pages, the client will decide which code to use to respond to user requirements.
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Option 3: Standalone Mobile Site
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A standalone mobile site consists of different pages just like the desktop site. For example, this can be done through m.jeawin.com. However, Google does not favor any particular URL format as long as they are accessible via Googlebots.
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Which program is best for you?
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The chart below was created based on the questions you asked when choosing a plan.
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As the table below shows, the best mobile solution depends largely on your industry and the purpose of your mobile site. Here are some examples of a combination of responsive design and stand-alone website solutions, the websites of Expedia and HSBC are good examples. This is very helpful for coping with the complex development of the Internet.
2. Mobile Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Best Practices
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1. Application index:You can now use App Index and link directly to your Android apps from search engine results pages. This allows visitors to click directly to the app page when they search for the app they're looking for. This click-through rate may not directly benefit search traffic, since this traffic only goes to the app and not the website. However, this approach is conducive to the overall digitization of the website. Giving your target audience the best possible digital experience will radically increase overall goal conversion.
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2. Fast loading of smartphone websites:Site speed is an important factor in search engine rankings, and so is a mobile site. In the case of Google, during August 2013, the average mobile page load time exceeded seven seconds. This doesn't make users happy, although Google has always done a good job in this regard. You can use Page Speed ??insights or Pingdom to test the speed of your mobile website, which will provide you with suggestions for improving your website speed, and Google will reward you with faster website loading speed (improved Google search ranking).
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3. Canonical and alternative tags:If you have a mobile site with different URLs, it's a good idea to tell Google which is web and which is mobile. This will help Google understand the relationship between web pages for different devices, so that it can better crawl different websites. Helping Google is helping itself. Here is an example of canonical and alternative tags for desktop and mobile sites:
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4. Mobile site map:The purpose of a mobile sitemap is to provide search engines with metadata about specific content on your website, making your site more crawlable by search engines. For a mobile sitemap, you only need to include the URL of the mobile content.
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3. Avoid Common Mobile SEO Mistakes
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1. Redirect error:Redirect errors are a common error for standalone mobile sites. Redirect errors are when search results for mobile phones are not redirected to the most relevant mobile pages. For example, a product page that redirects to the same product page is the most relevant result; a product page that redirects to the homepage or blog post page is irrelevant. Therefore, this is considered a bad redirect. Having redirect errors means that visitors are not getting the best search results, which has a direct impact on your mobile search rankings.
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2. Videos and images that cannot be played:Having a mobile website doesn't mean your visitors don't want to see videos and images. Ensuring video and image compatibility on your mobile website can eliminate user frustration and enable the best user experience possible. Of course, mobile users have different purposes, but we should ensure that the mobile site can provide the best service for all customers. Due to the limitations of today's mobile devices and software, Google recommends using HTML5 standard tags to be compatible with video and avoid format restrictions, such as Flash, which is not supported by some mobile devices. Achieving this is more difficult for a responsive website, because its content is the same for mobile and desktop.
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3. Irrelevant cross-links:If your mobile site is a responsive or dynamically served site, you don't have to worry about this because the URLs for the mobile site and the desktop site are the same. This common mistake only exists on a stand-alone mobile site while there are internal links between this site and the desktop site. The most obvious reason this shouldn’t happen is by diverting users from platforms they need to platforms they don’t. Irrelevant internal links can reduce visitor engagement and impact on-target conversions.
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4. Smartphone—404 error:A mobile site may not provide the exact same content as a PC site. If the mobile website does not have the same content as the PC website, do not point the search results to the mobile 404 page. Google recommends redirecting the search results to the relevant webpage of the PC website.
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4. Other Considerations for Mobile Sites
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Creating a good mobile site, among other considerations, may not directly affect SEO results, but may affect overall performance.
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1. Know your mobile phone users:Mobile sites have smaller screens compared to PC sites, which limits the ability of the site to function effectively. Appropriate device capabilities are provided to make mobile sites work better. Like a website, visitors have a variety of purposes, from searching for information to actual transactions, and it is difficult to determine.
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Knowing who your target customers are and providing the most compatible mobile site can help improve the overall conversion rate of the site. Google doesn’t like returning sites with high search rates, so your site needs to provide attractive content to avoid this negative effect.
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2. Conversion rate optimization and focus:Know your mobile site goals, and consider creating alternate goal conversion paths. Your mobile traffic will follow a different conversion path than your PC traffic, so make sure to segment your users and plan accordingly. Here is a list of CRO considerations for mobile websites:
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1) Click to call:Make most mobile phones more useful and provide a click-to-call feature that allows visitors to call directly from the website, and more than 40% of mobile searches use Google's feature. If your mobile site has more than one page with click-to-call functionality, use software that can help you track the pages from which those clicks came. Or you can use Google Analytics to track.
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2) Mobile coupons:Mobile phone users are encouraged to switch (only) via mobile coupons. In many cases, mobile phone users may only want to search through their mobile phones, but do not want to use it for transactions. Stimulating users to use mobile coupons may increase mobile consumption rates.
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3) Store positioning:Our Mobile Planet (Ipsos and Google) survey in May 2013 found that 94% of smartphone users had searched for their location, and 84% of users had acted on it. In another survey, Mobile Search Moments (Nielsen and Google) found in March 2013 that after using a mobile search, 63% of people took action within an hour, and 84% took action within five hours. These numbers show the importance of site targeting and how it affects conversion rates for mobile users.
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4) Registration:Signing up makes the process simple and straightforward. Might want to consider introducing social media registration and login windows.
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3. Socialization:In the digital world, sharing is a fundamental way to reach customers more broadly. If your computer has a sharing feature, make sure your phone has it too.
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4. Localize your website:Localizing your website according to your website type will greatly benefit your mobile search results. According to one study, 78% of local mobile searches result in offline purchases.
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5. Mobile website content:Content is what matters, and mobile phones are no exception. There are many similar examples of dynamic services where standalone mobile sites contain less information than desktop sites. Restricting information may limit the information customers are searching for, and the impact of restricting content is obvious. This can lead to higher bounce rates, less time on page and lower conversion rates. It may also be redirected to an irrelevant page because the search result page for the keyword does not exist, causing Google to lower your website's ranking.
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As the mobile internet continues to evolve and its importance established in the digital world, it's important to stay ahead. If you have a website that is linked to search engines, it is never too late to optimize your website in order to cater to search engines and attract more users.