Mobile SEO Mistakes You Want to Avoid
It is not a secret fact that smartphones dominate the world and the internet.
Statista states there will be over four billion mobile internet users by 2020. That means more than 90 % of the world’s internet users are using smartphones, tablets, and other devices to access websites, share content on social networks, check their emails, and even shop on the internet.
With the current state of mobile and the current state of mobile, it is logical for webmasters to adopt the SEO plan to help make their websites more accessible for users on mobile devices to access and explore.
Yet, mobile SEO errors are quite commonplace these days and can affect a site’s speed, in addition to other things.
Let’s look at the most frequent mobile SEO errors you must be aware of and avoid.
Not Having A Mobile-friendly Design
This should be an easy decision, yet strangely it is that many websites aren’t mobile-friendly, despite the advantages associated with having one.
If your site doesn’t have an optimized mobile design, users who visit the site on mobile devices will need to perform many pinching movements to zoom into terms that appear too small or zoom out of images that are too large.
However, if mobile users learn that they must do one of these, they will likely abandon your website and proceed to the next.
If you’d like your website to look good on tablets, smartphones, and desktop computers, flexible web design is the best way to take it.
Pages That Take A Long Time To Load
At the beginning of dial-up internet, the page that completed loading within just 10 secs or so was an occasion to celebrate.
In the present, a page’s loading time is a virtual eternity. In the age of fast internet, mobile and desktop users expect pages to be loaded within three minutes or less.
If you go slower than that, you’ll be unable to gain the leads and conversions you require since people will leave your site without hesitation.
As page speed is now an important ranking factor in mobile search results, webmasters who are concerned about how their pages perform in search results need to take steps to speed up the process.
A few of the ways that you could do to speed up your mobile website pages to run faster are:
- Optimizing images
- Enabling compression of images
- Minimizing HTTP requests
- Minimizing the code
- The ability to enable caching for browsers
- Minimizing redirects
- Making the switch to a more efficient hosting service
Unplayable Videos
As over 86% of companies employ video as a marketing tool, It’s only right to join in the fun by creating and embedding video on your site.
But, before posting, check that any video you share is playable, not just on desktops but on mobile devices too.
This is because many videos on websites are there for a reason; they can’t be played on tablets or smartphones. And it’s a hassle, particularly when the thumbnail appears appealing.
Not Optimizing Your Content
It’s safe to say mobile users consume their content while traveling.
To ensure that mobile users are paying interest, you should improve your content to make it simple to read how they want it.
With slow loading pages, Mobile users won’t be able to read through a maze of text on their mobile devices.
A few of the ways you can improve mobile content include:
- Utilizing subheadings
- Make paragraphs concise and sweet within 2-3 sentences
- Using shorter words, such as “need” instead of “require.”
- More whitespace
- Utilizing bullets
- Making headings and titles brief and easy
Unfortunate Pop-up Use
Pop-ups are useful; however, making them too frequently could be a hassle for mobile and desktop users.
Suppose you’re a mobile user who is constantly traveling. In that case, nothing is more frustrating than seeing the same pop-up within seconds of entering the site, blocking them from immediately accessing the information they require.
Pop-ups can be great for getting users to sign up or download free content; however, having people sign up for something even though they’ve not read any of your content yet is too much.
If you’re using pop-ups, it’s best to ensure they only appear after the users have read your website’s content. So, it doesn’t be too distracting and could also make the reader sign up to receive something.
Not Optimizing For Local
In the last couple of years, there has been over a 500% rise in the usage of “near me” in mobile searches, with words such as “to buy” or “can I buy” in it.
You can’t ignore it, especially when trying to increase your local company’s size.
If you are looking to improve your website so that it appears in more local search results for the mobile user, you will need to accomplish any of the following:
- Local keywords to target
- Optimize for voice search
- Create an account on Google My Business.
- Create content using local color
The number of mobile users will only increase, and you’ll need to be in their good graces. Making sure you avoid the mobile SEO mistakes mentioned above will make things easier for you to keep it that way.
An SEO company can help you avoid mistakes and guide you if needed.