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In today’s fast-paced world, it is absolutely essential to have a website that is optimised for mobile devices rather than considering it as just an optional extra.
With over half of all website traffic originating from mobile devices, ensuring that your website is mobile-friendly to connect with your intended mobile audience effectively is crucial.
Regrettably, many businesses make errors when conducting mobile SEO audits. These mistakes can result in decreased traffic and missed opportunities for traffic growth.
This article will delve into the five blunders found in many mobile SEO audits that may negatively impact your organic website traffic.
Additionally, we will provide solutions to help rectify these mistakes.
The Importance of Mobile SEO
Before we explore the common mobile SEO mistakes, let’s take a moment to remind ourselves of the importance of mobile optimisation.
Did you know that over 50% of searches come from mobile devices, surpassing desktop searches?
Furthermore, Google has introduced a system called “Mobile First Indexing,” where the mobile version of your website plays a bigger role than the desktop version in determining its ranking position on search engine results pages (known as SERPs).
Considering that most purchases are made by users on their mobile devices, neglecting to optimise key pages on your website for a mobile device can lead to missed opportunities and potential loss of revenue.
Mistake #1: Neglecting the Importance of Mobile User Experience
One oversight during a mobile SEO audit was not giving attention to the usability of your website on mobile devices. It’s not enough for your site to load quickly and look good on a desktop; it also needs to provide an experience on a mobile device if you want to retain traffic.
To ensure a good mobile user experience, take into account the following factors;
Responsive Design
Implement a website design that adjusts smoothly to screen sizes and resolutions, ensuring your site appears and functions well on any device. This is called a responsive website design, but that may still not be enough, as you have less space on a mobile device. Think hard about the design. Often, experienced web designers adjust the mobile version to give a lighter, faster version, giving a much better mobile browsing experience.
Easy Navigation
Make sure that navigating your site is intuitive and effortless on devices. Use concise menus, avoiding drop-downs or hidden navigation options. Think about duplicating your main menu on the website. This way, searchers do not need to return to the main menu to move to your other pages. Also, consider linking your content to other posts and pages. All of this will help with the user experience.
Important Content Above the Fold
Verify that crucial information is visible without scrolling on screens. Users should be able to access details without hassle. Think of what you can add above the fold (the area of the website before you scroll) to grab their attention. Also, keywords above the website fold are more critical to search engines than lower content.
Avoid Pop-ups
Pop-ups can be frustrating and challenging to close devices. It’s best to avoid using pop-ups as they hinder the user experience and slow page loading times.
Flash Free Experience
Since devices don’t support Flash, it can result in slower loading times. Ensure that all elements on your site can be displayed without relying on Flash technology.
Mistake #2: Ignoring the Importance of Mobile Site Speed
One mistake businesses often make is not paying attention to the speed of their mobile websites.
It’s crucial to understand that mobile users have expectations regarding loading times, and even a minor delay can result in several visitors leaving your site and feeling dissatisfied.
To ensure speed for your site, consider implementing the following strategies;
Utilise Google Page Speed Insights
Google offers a helpful tool called Page Speed Insights, which provides valuable recommendations on enhancing your site’s loading speed specifically for mobile devices.
By following these suggestions, you can optimise your site’s performance. https://pagespeed.web.dev/
Image Compression
Large and uncompressed images slow down your website’s loading speed. It is advisable to compress and optimise device images to mitigate this issue, ensuring swift loading times.
Streamline CSS and JavaScript Files: Minimising the size of CSS and JavaScript files by removing code and extra spaces can significantly improve loading times for your site. This step is commonly known as minification. It helps in enhancing speed.
Leverage Browser Caching: Enabling browser caching temporarily allows the storage of resources like images and CSS files on users’ devices. This approach reduces the need for repeated downloads, resulting in loading speeds.
Here are three of the best caching plugins for WordPress that can help speed up your mobile load speed,
1. W3 Total Cache Click Here
2. WP Fastest Cache Click Here
3. WP Rocket Click Here
4. WP Super Cache Click Here
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Mistake #3: Neglecting Mobile-Focused Keyword Strategy
An executed keyword strategy tailored specifically for users is vital in driving targeted traffic to your website. It is important to acknowledge that mobile users may be searching slightly differently than they will on a desktop because mobile searchers may be looking for somewhere nearby and follow Google Maps to get there.
Therefore, customising your keyword strategy is essential to maximise visibility amongst mobile visitors.
Here are some tips to optimise your keywords for devices;
1. Focus on shorter search queries
Mobile users often prefer using concise search queries. Make sure your content targets these keywords to attract search traffic.
2. Emphasise search
Mobile searches often have local intent. Incorporate location-specific keywords into your content. Optimise it for search to attract mobile users in your target area.
3. Optimise for voice search
With the growing popularity of voice-activated devices, especially with the rise of AI, optimising your content for voice search is crucial. Target conversational search. Long tail keywords to improve visibility in voice searches, especially in your blog posts.
4. Utilise Google Search Console
Use Google Search Console to identify which keywords mobile users use to find your website. This data will help refine your mobile keyword strategy and uncover missed opportunities.
You will find the Google Search Console here. Sign up and follow the steps as you must verify your website once you have signed up.
Mistake #4: Ignoring Mobile First Indexing
Google now prioritises the mobile version of a website over the desktop, meaning the mobile version of your website is more important for ranking.
Neglecting mobile-first indexing can negatively impact your site’s visibility in mobile results.
To ensure performance, consider the steps:
Verify Mobile Friendliness
Use Google Mobile-Friendly Test to confirm that mobile versions of your website meet their criteria for being mobile-friendly.
Ensure that your website is mobile and desktop-friendly by addressing any issues.
Mobile Friendly Test
https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
Optimise Pages for Mobile
Make sure your mobile pages are optimised to provide a user experience. Ensure that all content on the desktop site, including images and videos, is properly formatted and displayed on devices.
Check out The Smush plugin; it is excellent for optimising the load speed of your images. It can also be set to optimise all images as soon as they are uploaded. Using Smush can drastically speed up your website load speed.
Check Mobile Usability in Search Console: Utilise Google Search Consoles Mobile Usability report tools to identify any problems with your site’s usability.
Take action to address these issues and enhance your site’s performance in mobile search results.
Mistake #5: Neglecting Analysis of Mobile Traffic and User Behaviour
Failing to analyse device traffic and user behaviour can lead to missed mobile optimisation and opportunities. Gaining insights into how mobile users interact with your site can be valuable for improving their experience.
Consider implementing the following strategies;
Track Mobile Traffic using Google Analytics
Utilise Google Analytics to track and analyse the traffic from devices. Identify the devices and browsers used by your audience and analyse their behaviour on your site.
Once you have signed up and installed the Google Analytics tracking code, head here for free training. Google Analytics Academy
Review Conversion Rates on Mobile Devices
Analyse conversion rates for devices to identify any obstacles or issues that may be affecting conversions.
Optimise the conversion funnels on your website for conversion rates on phones.
Monitor Engagement on Your Mobile Site
Evaluate engagement metrics such as bounce rate and average session duration for users accessing your website via devices. This will give you an idea of how effective your website is for those users and adjust accordingly.
Make sure to adapt your mobile SEO strategy using the insights provided. It’s essential to avoid these mistakes during a mobile SEO audit and instead follow the recommended strategies.
Doing so can enhance your website’s ranking factor, visibility and user experience. Ultimately, it attracts more relevant traffic. Stay ahead of your competitors by monitoring and optimising your mobile SEO campaign.
FAQs
1. Why is a Mobile SEO Audit essential?
Conducting a Mobile SEO Audit is significant in the modern digital era because it ensures your website delivers an excellent user experience on all mobile devices.
With the increasing number of users and the growing reliance on smartphone mobile devices for browsing, it has become crucial for businesses to do mobile site audits to ensure that their websites function seamlessly on platforms to maintain traffic and search rankings.
2. What causes differences between Mobile Search Results and desktop search results?
Mobile Search Results can vary from results due to the priorities set by search engines. Search engines like Google prioritise factors such as mobile friendliness, page speed, and responsive design when ranking search pages.
As Google has adopted an indexing approach, it primarily uses the mobile version of content for indexing and ranking purposes. Therefore, if your website is not optimised for devices, it may rank differently or even lower than desktop searches.
3. How does utilising Google Search Console contribute to enhancing Mobile SEO?
Leveraging Google Search Console proves invaluable in improving mobile SEO efforts. It serves as a tool that provides insights and data to optimise your website’s performance on mobile devices. Using Google Search Console, you can identify areas of improvement related to your site’s visibility, indexing status, and overall user experience on platforms.
4. What is Mobile First Indexing?
Mobile First Indexing refers to the practice of search engines, such as Google, giving importance to the version of a website’s content regarding indexing and ranking. This shift is necessary due to the growing number of users and increasing reliance on searches.
For website owners, it highlights the significance of optimising a site for desktop versions and devices. In terms of impact on your website, it means that if your site is not mobile and lacks content to its desktop version, it may receive lower rankings in search results.
A few notes from me
I hope this has helped you understand that it’s essential to have a better website for the mobile experience: loading speed, design, SEO, and functionality. Even though Google Page Insights is very good, you may find that it’s hard to cover everything unless you have a full HTML website.
I suggest using GTMetrix and doing your best; remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect to rank; you must ensure it’s good enough.
