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How to make your SEO strategy work for mobile first index

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Google-mobile-first-index

Google created a lot of buzz in the SEO circles last month after news of its Mobile first Index finally being part of its algorithm was known.

Garry Illyes clarified (again) that the update is months away (still). He went on to add that SEOs and webmasters need not freak out.

However, it’s not a bad idea to get ready. Is it?

There might be a few questions that might pop up in your head, if you aren’t from the industry, like:

What is Mobile first Index?

Why was this update necessary?

How does it impact SEO?

What strategies should I employ to stay ahead of the Mobile-first Index roll-out?

However, before I dive deep and answer these questions (and a few others), let me explain what Mobile first Index actually means.

What is Mobile first Index?

Indexing is a process by which Google lists, stores and arranges all the webpages on the internet for it to be shown against search queries.

Google is now going to index the mobile version of your site first instead of the desktop version. This preference of mobile over desktop is Mobile First Indexing.

Now that you know what Mobile First Indexing is, let me give you a little background on how Google might have decided to follow this approach.

If I need to find one line answer to this question. My answer will be:

Change in Search Pattern.

With the shifting search pattern from desktop to mobile since 2015, when Google announced that mobile search has overtaken desktop in the US, this update wasn’t that big a surprise. Going by the trend, I’m actually wondering why it took them this long to make it happen.

Considering, Google is known to align its update with user behavior, Mobile First Indexing seems to perfectly fit the bill. With Internet usage in developing countries largely driven by Mobile and Google being the dominant search engine by a big margin, Mobile-first Indexing helps cater to its majority audience.

As of now, web pages are indexed based on their desktop version. The problem with this is that webmasters and SEOs emphasize on improving the site’s desktop version to improve rankings. Mobile version often gets ignored.

Websites optimised based ONLY on desktop usage pattern might not give the ideal User experience to mobile users. Considering mobile users continue to outnumber desktop users, the gap increasing even further, it is natural for search engines to give preferential treatment to mobile. This move can also be seen as Google’s push to make website owners optimize their desktop as well as mobile versions.  Google, after all, is known to resort to such antics to make sure SEOs toe its line in following the best practices.

What about businesses without a mobile website?

Well, Google says there’s no need to panic.

Google has also clarified that websites which do not have a mobile version, their desktop version will be indexed. However, it would be fair to assume that this might change in the future and you’ll have to cater to any future algorithmic changes that would make mobile index mandatory.

Let me reiterate:

There’s no need to panic (as of now).

However, it would not be a bad idea to optimize your website for mobile users.

What will be the impact of Mobile first Index on SEO?

  • Being slow will not get you anywhere: If you have a slow mobile experience currently, you might want to consider putting work into the mobile page loading speed.
  • Greater push to optimize mobile websites: The rapid mobile adoption rate seems to have triggered the need for optimized mobile websites instead of mobile-friendly websites
  • Focus on user experience over SEO parameters: Marry UX and SEO to reap rewards as search engines want you to focus on the user instead of robots.
  • Reduced use of lightbox ads/interstitial ads: Bid Goodbye to all the fancy lead-generation popups that might be troubling the users.
  • Less differentiation between content served on desktop and mobile: This is to bring uniformity in the type of content served on desktop and mobile

If you’re going, ‘That’s alright! But, how do I deal with the impact of  Mobile First Index?’

In other words, ‘What should I do?’

Here are 8 things you can do to form your Mobile First-index Strategy:

 

  1. Get a responsive site:

If you don’t specifically need a mobile website, make the desktop version of your site responsive. This will help you stay ahead of the Google update without any additional effort.

It is also helpful in bringing uniformity in the way content is served on the mobile as well as the desktop site.

  1. Make page load faster:

The Gold Standard for mobile page speed set by Google happens to be less than one second for Above-The-Fold (ATF) content to help the user interact with the page.

Of course, this is what is known as the ‘Gold Standard’ of page load speed. Four seconds is the acceptable standard for a page load.

There’s a good chance that a user might be dissatisfied with the page, or worse, might leave if it takes a longer time to load.

Now, who wants that?

No one!

However, there are still many websites that seem to prefer a fancy UI over the page load speed.

  1. Create AMP pages:

Yes, Accelerated Mobile Pages! Coz Accelerated, Duh!

AMP forces you to have streamlined versions of CSS and using off-the-shelf Javascript library made available by AMP. The preference over speed is the prime purpose of AMP.

Fast loading pages will give you an edge by loading pages faster and bring you in the good books of the big G.

  1. Run a mobile-friendly test and review errors in search console

If you’ve been procrastinating all this while to review those errors that throw up on the search console, then it’s high time, you took it up.

Head over to https://search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly and run your website URL and find out if it passes the Mobile Friendly test. Ensure that all the errors, if any, are taken care of immediately.

  1. Make content easily accessible to users:

Ensure the content is easily accessible to users and not hidden under accordions for them to click and read. Think of your content placement with respect to mobile and how it’d impact the mobile user experience of a page. Right from clicking on the URL to landing on your page to loading time to being able to satisfy the user’s purpose, ensure the availability of content isn’t an issue for users to navigate.

According to Google, the reasons for inaccessibility of content are:

-Pop-ups that cover the main content users originally landed on the page for

-Standalone interstitials that users have to close to access before viewing original content

-Layouts that make above the fold content appear to be an interstitial while original content lies at the bottom.

intrusive-popups-mobile-index

Source: https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html

However, legally obligated popups like cookie notification or log-in information to access indexable/private content is not a part of it. Even pop-ups that take a limited space on mobiles are considered okay.

Google had earlier clarified that it would index content that is part of accordions.

  1. Optimize on-page SEO component

Optimizing on-page elements is essential. Even without Mobile-first Index looming over our heads. But it becomes even more critical to have everything in place. Pull up your socks and verify if the Meta Data, interlinking, image attributes, etc. are in their place. And if not, then get to work, my friend, because this is important.

  1. Add structured data:

Increasing discoverability and ensuring that search engine bots are able to access your site’s content should be a priority. Structured markups are essential to help bots discover content on your page.

Usually, desktop versions of the sites are marked up properly and the mobile version is ignored. Because, of course, the page load time gets affected with markups and it made sense to skip this practice on mobile.  However, with Mobile-first Index, this calls for a change.

You need to ensure that the essential data markups are present in the mobile version of your web page. Sure, you can skip the non-critical ones, when compared to the desktop version of the same web page, if you fear it’ll make the page size heavy and slow down the load time. Load time takes precedence, anyway.

  1. Progressive Web Apps: 

Alibaba and Flipkart implemented Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) and saw a jump in the time spent on their pages. Not only have the conversions increased, but they’ve resulted in less data usage. This seems to be a good enough reason for consumers to use this, especially in developing countries where Internet connections seem to be on the slower side.

Now, all that is good. But what exactly is Progressive Web Apps?

PWA acts as a layer between website and browser by storing offline pages in an app shell, which contains JavaScript, CSS Stylesheets, and images, to give an optimum view. Updated content, whenever a user accesses it, modifies the existing page.

Isn’t that something?

This can be one of the strategies that can be implemented.

If the strategies stated above appear alien to you, there’s help available in the form of Market Motive’s Mobile Marketing course which you can check it out.

This is indeed a welcome step from Google’s end to ensure that the user gets benefited and brings SEO good practices to focus. Although the update is months’ away from being implemented, it’d be wise to get started on this.

Check out this Infographic created on Mobile First Index by Chetan Ramesh:

mobile-first-index-infographic

 

To summarize, Google Mobile first Indexing will ensure:

  • Presence of Uniform content across different site versions
  • Fast loading sites
  • Focus on User experience

Share your thoughts about this move by Google and how it will impact you in the comments below.

The Art of Mobile Persuasion by Jeff Hasen

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The Art of Mobile PersuasionHow the World’s Most Influential Brands are Transforming the Customer Relationship Through Courageous Mobile Marketing

We are very excited to announce the publication of Jeff Hasen’s new book, “The Art of Mobile Persuasion.”

Our Mobile Marketing guru Jeff Hasen has just released a new book. And fun fact: The book will constantly be updated in real time once a month so you always have the latest and greatest insights from the industry’s premier expert.

So what can you expect from Jeff’s latest literary work of art? Let’s take a look!

[Read more…]

New Content: Mobile Marketing Foundations with Jeff Hasen

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mobile marketing foundationsIn this Mobile Marketing Foundations course video, Jeff Hasen explains the importance and value of mobile marketing programs.

Mobile Marketing enables brands to create a personal relationship that is often not possible through other digital marketing disciplines. With mobile, marketers must continue to move product off the shelves, but they must do that through mobile devices.

Throughout this introductory course, you’ll learn the importance and value of mobile marketing programs. From products and services to location-based targeting all the way to rules and regulations, learn how mobile is creating a personal one-to-one relationship between brands and customers.

Mobile Marketing Foundations Course Materials Includes: [Read more…]

6 Reasons Why Brands Need a Great Mobile Marketing Strategy

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Are you still unclear about jumping on the mobile advertising bandwagon?

Not sure if your site needs a solid mobile strategy?

Mobile marketing is no longer a ‘trend’ of the future, it now makes or breaks any brand. Unfortunately, several brands fail to see the importance of mobile in their marketing strategy and fewer still are equipped to handle the change. It is becoming increasingly important for brands to integrate mobile marketing into their traditional digital marketing strategy. In fact, we could go as far as to believe that your mobile strategy should take precedence over other forms of marketing.

For brands who want to develop a mobile marketing strategy, the first step to take is to provide a Mobile Marketing course for their employees. Once employees are trained properly, it becomes easier to implement all the necessary steps.

Enroll in our Mobile Marketing course today and learn how to implement a solid mobile-first strategy.

Brands missing out on a solid mobile strategy are missing out on a huge chunk of their target audience. The world is going mobile and there is no avoiding it. Here are the top 6 reasons you need to be great in mobile marketing.

1. Increasing Use of Mobile over Desktop

increasing-use-of-mobile-over-desktop

There are more mobile than desktop internet users in USA and UK

Is desktop dead?

While the desktop is not dead or dying (about 30% of people in the USA and 40% of people in the UK use desktops to surf the net), 2017 is touted to be the year of mobile!

According to PwC, 51% of all digital marketing budgets were targeted at mobile users in 2016. This number is only rising.  The number of internet users in 2017 has risen by 10% since last year and the number of active social mobile users has risen by 30% in the same year. All these statistics point toward a mobile revolution.

On a similar note, Google’s Mobilegeddon update in 2016 revealed its intention; mobile or out.

So, how does this update impact your site?

If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, it might just get penalized by Google.

In this update, Google is testing a mobile-first index system (of course nothing is spelled out yet), where they will crawl the web using a site’s mobile content as the primary factor for ranking.

This is Google’s way of starting the mobile race. Google is shifting perspective. With this update, they indicate to the industry that mobile content will be given precedence over desktop content. While sites that do not have a mobile presence will not be hit by this update, it pays to mention that these sites will not have the benefit of a ranking boost that is available to a mobile-friendly site.

While most industry experts are still unclear about whether this has started, some experts have been able to get a (read-between-the-lines) response. For anyone with an online presence, this is an extremely important update to take notice of.

2. Mobile commerce is more relevant today

more-and-more-people-are-using-mobile-to-buy-stuff
Have you bought anything using your mobile phone recently?

You’re not alone!

A hefty 82% of people today use smartphones to research a product or service before they buy. If you don’t have a mobile presence, this could translate to mean a huge loss for your company. Moreover, Facebook has over 2 billion active users and Instagram has over 700 million.

Guess where these sites are most accessed?

You’ve guessed right, over 80% of all social media usage is done on mobile. If your brand does not have a solid mobile presence, your company will lose out on more than just a couple of leads.

Mobile loyalty clubs are also doing great in attracting and retaining customers. 33% of mobile users want to join a mobile loyalty club, but only 12% of users currently participate in one. 12 million Starbucks drinkers, for example, use and love the Starbucks app which includes a rewards/loyalty program. Within a year of the launch, Starbucks reported 26 million mobile transactions via the app, and now 15% of all Starbucks transactions are processed via mobile.

Without a successful mobile loyalty club, you’re leaving your customers (and your sales!) out in the cold.

3. Consumers reward brands that provide a great mobile web experience

consumers-reward-brands-that-provide-great-mobile-web-experience-mobile-friendly

Your consumers aren’t going to suffer a painful mobile experience if your competitor is a Google-search away. For those of you who have already enhanced your mobile experience, buckle up – you have a lot of sales coming your way!

What does a mobile-friendly site experience mean anyways? It means that your site can be viewed and scrolled seamlessly by mobile users. This includes large buttons and a responsive page design.

For Example – Etsy’s mobile site gives its users a gliding shopping experience. Etsy’s sales supposedly took off after the launch of its mobile site (which is also integrated with sophisticated machine learning algorithms).

Nearly 75% of smartphone owners use their device as part of their overall shopping experience. According to McKinsey and Co., 61% of people who have had a shoddy experience with a site are more likely to not return to it. In fact, 40% of these people will visit a competitor’s site. It doesn’t take much to check if your website is mobile-friendly; Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can help you with this.

4. Targeting and brand amplification becomes easier

reasons for mobile marketing strategy
Did you like a brand page on Facebook? Your twitter account will soon hit you with advertisements for the same brand. Most people on Facebook are shown recommendations of their previously browsed products on Amazon. In fact, any social media platform you visit will now have an ad to a site you previously interacted with.

Brand amplification becomes easy with a solid mobile marketing strategy. With mobile marketing, companies are now able to spread the word about their brands through multiple social media platforms.

For marketers, this means exciting possibilities. It’s not just about displaying the right products to the right people, it is also about NOT displaying the wrong products to the wrong people and therefore annoying them.

While mobile marketing has made targeting audience possible on a more granular level, most companies aren’t making full use of it. We don’t blame them, no one is still sure of how going mobile can help them.

As we have already mentioned, Google is increasingly shifting its focus onto mobile. One of the biggest reasons for this is because of the ‘local’ factor. What Google wants to do, is to enhance users’ experience by making the information they receive more relevant to them. How do you make already specific information more relevant to your user? You make it specific to where they live of course!

While this could mean a little more work for the marketer, it also means a big pot of untapped SEO and social opportunity for them.

Take FourSquare, for example, a location-based social network. Users on this site have started checking into locations they’ve been to. Businesses on FourSquare have started making full use of this platform to bring more and more people to the site.

With this social media platform, businesses are now reaching out to customers who have already been there once and giving them discounts, so they return. This is a micro-influencer program in itself, with each person who checks-in, they have automatically recommended the same to others.

5. Influencer Marketing is all about Mobile

influencer-marketing-is-all-about-mobile
Influencer marketing has taken the world by storm. Over 70% of teenage YouTube viewers trust influencer opinions over traditional celebrities, while over 50% of beauty companies use influencer in their marketing strategies.

Influencers love social media. Influencers like Giuliana Rancic and Kristyn Cole have helped promote brands like SmarTrike and Pedigree respectively. It is no surprise, given that more and more people rely on social media to make purchases.

Take the RESCUE campaign for example – with the help of a couple of blogging influencers promoting its coupons, this company was able to garner over 133 million social media impressions and over 6,000 clicks to the coupons. Success becomes more common for influencer campaigns like this one, given the popularity of social media.

Platforms like Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook have become vital to influencer marketing. These social media platforms are most used by mobile users. Your consumers interact with social media, and they do it on the go. You need to be where they are (Twitter & Facebook), and you need to know how to interact with them in a mobile-positive manner.

6. Adapt your content for Mobile Assistants

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Mobile assistants are in; if you don’t know this, you are late to the party. But what does this mean for marketers?

According to experts, over 50% of all searches will be conducted over voice searches. (This makes sense, all of us call out to Google or Siri when we drive or cook or shower or walk).

Given that over 40% of adults use voice searches today, doesn’t it make sense to not ignore this in your marketing strategy?

Integrating your regular marketing strategy with your mobile strategy is quite easy. Start with content, it’s the fastest fix. This means use simpler, more commonly used words when writing and use words like “how and what” when forming headlines. If you think your employees aren’t ready for mobile marketing, chances are, you’ll have to play catch up eventually and it might just be too late by then.

Take our Mobile Marketing course today and prepare for the trend of tomorrow!

Interested in Mobile Marketing Training? – Click Here!

Ready to jump on the mobile bandwagon? Great!

But beware!

Mobile is both highly efficient and highly personal.

Poorly conducted mobile campaigns can cause customer frustration, a sense of invasion, or (eee!) lawsuits.Whether you’re already in the mobile sphere or you’re just realizing you should be, it’s important to do mobile and it’s important to do it well. Don’t jump in blindly.

Make sure you learn the nitty-gritty of options, rules, best practices, and how to integrate it with the rest of your social & web experience.

Then go get creative!

Does a Mobile “Opt-In” Opt Into Everything?

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From the Market Motive Forums: Does a mobile “opt in” opt the user into everything?

Mobile Phone Opt InMobile campaign rules are extremely important, not only to protect your company legally but also because people may feel violated or upset if they think you’ve crossed a boundary by contacting them when they aren’t expecting it.

Thus: the opt-in.

Opt-ins are for permission-based databases, primarily for communication via SMS. [Read more…]