More than a decade back people waiting at public places were either found reading newspapers, or talking with somebody, or just staring around. There was one gadget which had still not made its appearance then–the ubiquitous mobile phone. But in the present day, wherever you look around in a public place you are most likely to see people staring into their mobile phones. Either they are checking their emails, or reading something on the net, or maybe just giggling at some joke on whatsapp. The mobile has captured everybody’s hearts and therefore their lives.
According to one media report, in 2017 there are around 300 million smartphone users in India. If this report is accurate, very soon half of India’s population would be using smartphones in the near future. What does it mean for businesses and website owners? It means more and more people are getting on the mobile and their everyday use is increasing rapidly. It also means a huge portion of customers would be accessing products and commercial websites through mobile smartphones. Hence, it is logical to take into account SEO and user experience for mobiles.
Mobilegeddon–The Google Mobile Friendly Update
Some time back in 2015 we saw how Google took into account mobile experience by launching Mobilegeddon. This SEO algorithm took into account the user-friendliness of websites on smartphones and other mobile devices. Websites which looked better on PCs as well as on mobiles were given priority in search results. Whether or not this had a huge impact is irrelevant. The point to note is Google too is placing increasing emphasis on how consumers are efficiently served on smartphones.
There is a lot of difference between using the internet on a PC and on the mobile. There is an urgent need to tap this mobile market. If one has to survive in the harsh, competitive world adapting to the mobile revolution has become the need of the hour. How can one make their website mobile friendly? The following are some ways how one can create an SEO mobile friendly website:
1) Responsive Web design: This term signifies that the design and layout of your website should be compatible across several devices such as PCs, laptops, tablets and mobiles. Responsive Web designing is all about designing your website information and layout to adjust in different environments such as browsers, screen sizes and page orientations.
2) Page loading speed: Another crucial step for an SEO friendly mobile website. If your web pages load very slowly on mobile smartphones, it can provide a frustrating experience for users. You need to focus on the size of the files on your website used on PC and mobiles. What works on a PC may not work on smartphones. Make sure your web pages load smoothly and fast on mobiles. This is also a Google criteria for better ranking.
3) Make use of white space: When the designers are constructing a website enabled for mobiles, business owners think of utilizing all the white space that is available in the website. They want to fill in as many keywords and SEO friendly elements in their mobile layout. But that can backfire. White spaces add balance to the layout and does not clutter it. The white space we are speaking of is the empty space between major elements in the layout. It is very much part of the design as the design itself. White spaces are more relevant in mobile layouts as they help make your website clean and neat in appearance.
4) Keep it simple: Another way for an SEO-enabled mobile layout is to keep it as simple as possible. Given the small and restricted space available on smartphones, only important key elements should be made available in the mobile website. Give priority to what matters most. Shorten lengthy articles. A mobile user does not have the inclination to read through long detailed product description. He just needs less but useful information to take a decision.
5) Avoid heavy images: Images speak louder than words and add variety to the design of the website. But some heavy images take time to load. It can prevent fast loading of pages on a smartphone. Hence, if they are not necessary avoid them in mobile layouts or use low resolution versions.
Companies were least concerned for mobile SEO before the advent of smartphones. But with the increasing usage of this important device, it is necessary to keep up with the changing times.
