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Business Growth 101: Understanding Organic Search Rankings in Mobile Devices

It has been said many times before the importance of  having a website for your business, but giving it an extra push by making your business website mobile-friendly,  seems to take you a step ahead of your competitors.

A mobile-friendly website stands out among its competitors and makes your business appear, well, modern.  Apart from that, local businesses could also benefit from this feature because it allows them to be searchable even if users are on the go. Hence, this will boost the awareness of your brand and increase sales of your products or services.

Before starting anything, it is very important to understand  that  when a smartphone is used in searching Google, it will show the same results as what you would see when a desktop is used.

 

Mobile Search Results

When an inquiry is made using a mobile device, a list of desktop version of URLs show up, once the user clicks, Google then loads the URL’s mobile version  so that the page loads easily and user experience improves.

Another important factor is that  Google also gives plus points to mobile pages that give users a good experience while browsing. That simply means, when users love it, Google also loves it. Sounds simple.

These are issues regarding mobile browsing that prevents an ideal user experience. These issues negatively affect the site’s chances in ranking well to mobile searchers but would do no harm in the site’s ranking when a desktop is used.

Since smartphones are in demand nowadays, the following are ranking signals specific to that mobile device.

Redirects

In order for a mobile device to get a connection for a page request, it requires .6 seconds to accomplish this and another .6 seconds (at least) of load time for redirects.

With this in mind, make sure to avoid redirect chains and redirect directly to the target.mobile-SEO

You also need to do away in redirecting from desktop URLs to the mobile home page. Remember that these don’t exist when using a mobile phone hence it can definitely affect the ranking of those URLs.

Page load time

Because Google gives more importance to pages that provide users with the best experience, slow loading pages will most probably not rank because they won’t give users a good experience when searching.

According to a case study  on the impact of  delay on mobile business metrics done by Tammy Everts. It showed that pageviews decreased by 9.4 %, a 9.3 % increase in bounce rate, and a 3.5% drop in conversions.

Mobile-only pages

Keep in mind that  ranking signals for pages with both a desktop and mobile version are  being consolidated by Google, hence pages that are for mobiles only will have fewer signals and may not rank.

Supported Content

Be careful when it comes to putting  content on your mobile pages because there are contents that are not supported by mobile devices such as video that won’t play on mobile phones.

Pages with such contents are harder to rank high because Google won’t be able to give users  an answer to their searches quickly.

With the luxury of technology available these days, businesses  have no excuse not to be found by their customers. Make sure to maximize the benefits internet has to offer by creating a website that is not just SEO-friendly but also mobile-friendly.

 

MiLi

About MiLi

Melissa heads her enthusiastic online media specialist team in Digitalmoz. With major accounts under her belt, she has developed a firm grasp on how the business works and how her clients can befriend Google. Local, organic, social media – name it.