Mobile SEO: Best Practices to Boost Search Ranking in 2020

Find out the best practices in mobile SEO to boost search rankings.

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In 2020, search engine optimisation is not as effective without a considered mobile SEO strategy. Without a flawless mobile SEO strategy, you could be missing out on potential customers and damage your existing SEO efforts.

If you are not sure where to start to improve your sites mobile SEO performance, start by reading our handy guide on the best mobile SEO practices in 2020!

What is Mobile SEO?

Mobile SEO (mobile search engine optimisation) is when a website is optimised for the optimal mobile user experience. If your website is optimised well for mobile, it has a better shot at achieving a higher ranking in the search engine results page (SERPs). To find out how optimised your site is for mobile, you will need to first carry out a mobile SEO audit, to find any issues, and then create a robust mobile SEO strategy.

Is Mobile SEO important?

Mobile search is on the rise with over 50% of current searches completed on mobile devices, so you could say mobile SEO is a big deal! Mobile search also drives presale searches, where customers might search on their mobile for product reviews first before using their desktop to make a purchase.

Here are a few of the best practices to help you to improve your sites mobile SEO and boost search rankings:

  1. Ensure your website is responsive

Ok, responsive websites are not exactly a new phenomenon, but it is an imperative first step for mobile SEO. If your website is difficult to navigate on a mobile, people will find another website that makes it easier to find the answers to their questions.

“81% of mobile users are more likely to purchase from companies with mobile sites or apps that help them easily find answers to their questions.” – Google

At Upperdog all the websites we design are responsive with three things in mind: user experience, business goals and SEO! Find out more about our responsive websites.

  1. Help your customers find you in Google

Google is now a mobile-first indexing search engine, meaning that they will judge the quality of your website based on its mobile search engine result.

  1. Prioritise site speed

If your site performance isn’t up to speed, you won’t get the results you want from mobile SEO. The average mobile webpage takes 15.3 seconds to load, with more than half of users abandoning the page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. To stop customers going to competitor’s sites, making sure your mobile site speed is fast is vital.

A good SEO agency will be on the ball with your mobile site speed by monitoring it regularly with expert tools and work continuously to get the speed as quick as possible!

  1. Mobile SEO for local search

An excellent mobile SEO strategy can help businesses rank higher in local search. For the best results, make sure your mobile content is optimised for local search using tactics such as:

  • Location keywords in your title tags, content and meta data.
  • Implementing an embedded Google Map on your website.
  • Consistent NAP data (Name, Address, Phone Number) across the internet.
  1. Make the most of structured data

With mobile search results showing on a smaller screen, you may be wondering how you can make your website stand out? The answer is rich snippets!

Rich snippets allow normal Google search results to show additional data on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). Without rich snippets, Google search results include the same 3 pieces of data; a title tag, meta description and URL. Ultimately rich snippets make it easier for users to find what they need when they are searching by mobile.

How do you get rich snippets?

To get rich snippets, you will need to first add structured data code in a specific format to your website. For more information about how to add rich snippets to your site to boost mobile SEO, visit Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper.

What types of rich snippets are there?

There are lots of rich snippets that you can enable with structured data on your website. For example, your website might be eligible for:

  • Articles – Ideal for blogs, news, and sports pieces.
  • Featured snippets – Also known as ‘position 0’, Google chooses snippets from your website that it thinks are most helpful to the user.
  • Carousels – Often display featured articles from a single site.
  • Breadcrumbs – Navigates users to the most relevant page on your site.
  • Events – Lists events with dates, times, and locations.
  • FAQs – List questions and answers beneath the websites search result.

There are lots of rich snippet options available but choosing the right one for your website makes a huge difference when it comes to increasing organic mobile traffic.

The takeaway on rich snippets for mobile SEO – Rich snippets are way more eye-catching and can generate a higher CTR!

Now that you know a little bit more about the best practices for mobile SEO in 2020, why not request a free mobile SEO audit from an experienced digital agency like us? We will use a fresh pair of eyes to offer you recommendations to boost your organic mobile SEO rankings. Call our friendly team on 01202 798 820 or email us at hello@upperdog.co.uk

Sources:

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/