Mobile SEO Strategy & Best Practices in 2024

Technical SEO
Mobile SEO Best Practices

In this digital age, mobile users are growing rapidly day by day. In 2021, the total mobile users was 7.1 billion, projected to reach 7.5 billion in the coming years. Approximately 60% of the global population owns a smartphone. Therefore, it is crucial to make your website mobile-friendly and implement mobile SEO strategies to ensure optimal performance online. In this blog, we will guide you on how to improve your Mobile SEO strategies using proper SEO tools and free Google tools. We will also explain the importance of Mobile SEO in 2024. So let's begin with why we need to implement mobile SEO for our website.


Why do we need to do Mobile SEO?

Over 70% of organic searches come from mobile devices rather than desktops or tablets. Recent research shows that mobile searches are increasing while desktop searches are decreasing. Google prioritizes the mobile version of your website with Mobile First Indexing, meaning it prioritizes the mobile version of your website as a ranking factor. Previously, Google used a combination of desktop and mobile index results. Now, even when searching from a desktop device, Google displays results from their mobile index. Thus, if your website is mobile-friendly and optimized, it's more likely to achieve a higher ranking than your competitors. But if your website is not mobile-friendly, you may notice that it's not ranking well, while your competitor's websites are ranking higher. By implementing these helpful Mobile SEO strategies, you can enhance your website's mobile usability and remain competitive, aiming for higher rankings on Google SERPs.


How To Find If Your Site Is Optimized For Mobile Devices

First, it's important to clarify that when we refer to "mobile" some may include both mobile devices and tablets. However, for Google, "mobile" specifically refers to the handheld devices we commonly use in our daily lives. To determine if your website is optimized for mobile users, you have several options. Below are some commonly used steps to assess if your website requires Mobile SEO strategies to boost your online visibility and achieve higher rankings on Google. Let's optimize the website for mobile using these steps:


Google Search Console

Google Search Console is the most commonly used tool to check how your website is performing on mobile devices. Log in to your Google Search Console dashboard and select "Mobile Usability" from the sidebar. This tool will inform you if your website has any issues on mobile devices, such as text being too small or clickable links being too close together. Therefore, consider adding this free tool to your mobile SEO strategy to improve your mobile SEO performance.


PageSpeed Insights

Another free Google tool to check your page speed insights, as page experience is a ranking factor used by Google to ensure user experience isn't compromised. This includes how fast your webpage loads. Google suggests that your webpage should load within a few seconds. This tool assesses your Core Web Vitals, a group of factors that affect page speed. You'll receive vast information about your webpage's speed, including sections needing improvement. For example, if your webpage has large images that take time to load, Google will recommend using alternative image formats for quicker loading times. Similarly, if there's unnecessary JavaScript code, Google may advise removing it. To use PageSpeed Insights, visit the tools page, enter your URL, and click "analyze". You'll receive insights within seconds, showing areas for improvement to enhance your page speed, mobile usability, and website ranking.


Online SEO Audit Tools

You'll find numerous online SEO mobile audit tools that provide insights into your website's performance on mobile devices and areas needing improvement. Examples include Ahrefs, Semrush, Ubersuggest, Merkle, and others. Both free and paid options are available for SEO audits, offering detailed insights and solutions for every page. Additionally, feel free to reach out to us or fill out this contact form, and our digital marketing expert team will contact you and assist you in improving your website's mobile SEO. We'll conduct a comprehensive SEO audit of your entire website, and subsequent optimization to boost your website's mobile performance.


Mobile-Friendly Test Tool

Google Mobile friendly test tool is a commonly used tool as it assures users if the website is mobile-friendly or not. Users just have to enter the website URL and this tool will give you the result after analyzing your website design and content. If your website is not mobile-friendly then this tool will tell you which area of your website you need to work on.


Mobile SEO Tips And Best Practices in 2024

1. Use responsive design instead of separate URLs

Previously, we utilized the "m." version URL for our website's mobile devices, allowing the site to identify the device and direct users to the optimized URL for their specific device. When accessing the abc.com website from a desktop, it opens as www.abc. com. However, when visiting the same website on a mobile device, you'll notice it opens as m.abc. com, which is the optimized URL specifically designed for mobile devices. Avoid using separate URLs for the same page when optimizing for mobile devices in SEO. This practice creates complications, requiring the use of "canonical" or "alternate" tags.

Instead of this, use "Responsive Design" which means your page layout configures itself for various devices without the stress of separate URLs or different HTML for each device. It's the best Mobile SEO strategy to make your website mobile-friendly. The best part? You don't need to use canonical or alternate tags, as your webpage content is on the same URL, and you don't even need to redirect the webpage. So, choose Responsive Design for the best SEO results on mobile devices. If you're facing any problems related to your website's responsiveness, contact us today. Our expert web development team will help you with awesome web design services.


2. Avoid Using Pop-ups or Ads

Do you ever feel frustrated with unwanted pop-ups after visiting a webpage? If yes, then consider the users who are visiting your website for the first time. If they encounter too many pop-ups, especially on mobile devices, it can be irritating and affect user experience. While using pop-ups to generate leads isn't a bad idea, ensure they are responsive and valuable to users. Similarly, if you use Google AdSense to display ads on your website, it can slow down your web pages and make them less attractive, impacting overall website performance. Therefore, for effective mobile SEO, always try to avoid too many unresponsive pop-ups and ads on web pages for mobile devices.


3. Mobile SEO Auditing Tools

Mobile SEO auditing tools help analyze the performance of your website on mobile devices. They identify issues affecting mobile SEO, such as page speed, technical errors, and mobile-friendliness. By addressing these issues, you can improve your website's performance on mobile devices. While some tools are free, paid versions may offer more comprehensive analyses. Popular mobile SEO optimization tools include Google PageSpeed Insights, Ahrefs, Semrush, and Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool, providing valuable insights and recommendations to improve your website's SEO ranking.


4. Use Mobile site speed for better UX design

Utilize mobile site speed to prioritize your website's fast loading times for better UX design. Optimize mobile site speed with the tools mentioned above, focusing on improving UX design. Remove unnecessary images and JavaScript codes, minimize DOM size, and eliminate render-blocking resources to enhance mobile website SEO. This will reduce loading time and improve your ranking.


5. Utilize Structured Data

Structured data aids Google in understanding your webpage content. Therefore, always incorporate the schema markup code, responsible for representing this data. Implementing schema markup enables special placement on Google SERP, showcasing rich snippet features such as recipe stars, product descriptions with reviews, and more. For mobile users, consider implementing FAQ schema, review schema, local business schema, image schema, product schema, etc. This Mobile SEO tip will boost your website's performance on SERPs.


6. Use Voice Search-Friendly Keywords

Most mobile users use voice search for Google searches. Therefore, it's a good idea to optimize your website with long-tail search keywords, focusing on conversational and common queries. Let's illustrate this with an example: mobile device users typically use voice search for internet queries like 'best place to buy shoes for a kid'. Conversely, if a user is on a desktop, they may search for 'shoes for kid'. In this example, 'best place to buy shoes for a kid' represents long-tail keywords, often used during voice searches. Start incorporating long-tail keywords into your content as a Mobile SEO practice. You can also read our blog on Voice Search Optimization for further insights into voice searches.


7. Optimize Meta Tags for Mobile Devices

This is one of the most useful mobile SEO strategies to increase your CTR (Click-Through Rate). Keep your meta title and meta description unique and informative so that users gain insights about the webpage content. This will also assist Google in understanding your webpage's content, thereby boosting its ranking on SERPs. Optimize your meta title to 50-60 characters and meta description to 115-120 characters for mobile devices. If you use more characters, Google will cut them off, causing users to be unable to view the full content, which may lead to confusion and users might not take any action. Here are some tips for optimizing meta tags for mobile SEO: avoid keyword stuffing, focus on one primary keyword, ensure uniqueness, incorporate a call to action if necessary, and effectively summarize the webpage content.


8. Add HTML Sitemap on the Website

Consider yourself visiting a grocery store. There, you see many products, but none are customized. Consequently, you may encounter difficulties finding the specific product you need, leading to dissatisfaction. Similarly, if your website contains so many web pages, then consider adding an HTML Sitemap. This will help users easily locate the desired page, especially on mobile devices, increasing their experience. Additionally, it also reduces bounce rates, positively impacting your website's performance. You can also improve your Mobile SEO by implementing internal linking practices. This practice allows users to navigate easily to other relevant web pages on your site. It's a beneficial SEO practice that improves user experience and boosts overall website performance on mobile devices. Additionally, update your robots.txt file to prevent Google or other search engines from indexing unwanted web pages on your website.

If you have an online grocery store and need SEO tips for grocery stores, then check out our blog for helpful insights.


9. Track Mobile SERP Ranking

Always track your mobile search engine results ranking to gain insights into your Mobile SEO strategy. This helps identify areas for improvement. Additionally, monitor how visitors interact with your website on mobile devices to pinpoint pages needing attention for increased traffic. Since over 70% of traffic comes from mobile devices, optimizing mobile web pages is essential. Utilize the Google Analytics tool to observe mobile user behavior on your site.


Conclusion:

Mobile SEO optimization is crucial, as Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in search result rankings. In today's smartphone-driven world, having a mobile-friendly site is essential to improve user base and overall search engine performance, including visibility and click-through rates. So in this mobile revolution, boost your online presence with strategic Mobile SEO. If you require assistance with your mobile SEO strategy, fill out our contact form, and our team of digital marketing experts will gladly assist you. Thank you for reading this blog, click for more interesting digital marketing insights.

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