Alyeda Solis - SEO in a Mobile-First Index: What Marketers Need to Know

Top Questions to Become a Mobile First SEO Hero

#mobilefirstseo at #TuringFest by @aleyda from @orainti

How many of you use your smartphones to search online?


How many buy, register, or reserve through your mobile?


This is how we search nowadays


Mobile drives 56% of Web traffic in The UK


similarweb.com

http://similarweb.com

No Joke!


Search is also mostly mobile driven now

http://searchengineland.com/report-nearly-60-percent-searches-now-mobile-devices-255025


http://searchengineland.com/report-nearly-60-percent-searches-now-mobile-devices-255025

Not surprisingly, Google is moving towards a Mobile First Index


https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/11/mobile-first-indexing.html

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/11/mobile-first-indexing.html

Ranking signals will come from your mobile Web presence, not Desktop one


http://searchengineland.com/faq-google-mobile-first-index-262751


We can expect this to happen next year


http://searchengineland.com/googles-mobile-first-index-likely-not-coming-2018-earliest-277074

At some point Google will switch to a Mobile-Only Index




Nonetheless, there are clear Mobile Web optimisation challenges


Very obvious ones

Which have direct effects from users


https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/three-ways-mobile-is-changing-canadians-expectations.html

As well as conversion consequences


http://www.monetate.com/blog/ecommerce-benchmarks-q4-2016


It’s time to save your (Mobile) SEO


I’m Aleyda Solis


I help companies to connect with them


Some of them brands that you likely know


I can help you do it too!


It’s about answering Key Mobile Questions


Does your site have a Mobile Web version?

1


There have been 3 main Mobile Web configurations

Responsive Web Dynamic Serving Independent Mobile Web


With pros & cons

Responsive Web Dynamic Serving Independent Mobile Web

Same HTML for Mobile & Desktop = Less personalisation

& speed restrictions

Different HTML for Mobile & Desktop through the same URL = More difficult

to correctly serve and maintain

Different HTML for Mobile & Desktop through different URLs = More difficult to configure,

serve, crawl and maintain


All supported by Google

https://developers.google.com/search/mobile-sites/mobile-seo/


Check if you actually have any of these that can be Google validated

https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly


Just be mindful that passing the test doesn’t mean that is completely optimised


You should also check if your site triggers Mobile Usability errors

Google Search Console


Use SEO crawlers like Deepcrawl to verify the Mobile configuration of all your site pages

deepcrawl.com

http://deepcrawl.com


Identify the top mobile devices already being used by your visitors

Google Analytics


Emulate them to check if the content shown is relevant & consistent

bit.ly/chromedevicemode

http://bit.ly/chromedevicemode


Google’s requirements won’t likely change with a Mobile First Index


But if you’re looking to move from an independent mobile site to a responsive one, do it now

https://www.seroundtable.com/google-mobile-migration-24024.html


How do Mobile Search Crawlers access to your site?

2


It’s critical to make sure your mobile Web content is accessible and indexable

https://www.seroundtable.com/google-prepare-for-mobile-first-index-24052.html


This is why Mobile app pop-ups & interstitials are penalised

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


To refer to apps, is better to use app banners instead

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


Or this might happen!

https://www.sistrix.com/blog/pinterst-com-hit-googles-interstitials-update/


Emulate the Googlebot for Smartphones and crawl your site w/ JS rendering

Screaming Frog


Verify if the mobile crawler sees the same than a user when accessing your mobile pages


Look for any errors, non-relevant redirects & canonicalisation, blocked URLs or noindexation


Is your Mobile content relevant towards your targeted queries?

3

Some Mobile Web versions show far less content which can be harmful in a mobile first index


>


You should bring your content & structured data to your mobile Web HTMLs



It’s ok to use expandable content in this case


But how do you organise & prioritise your Mobile Web Content?


Identify the queries already bringing you more visibility in Mobile search results

Google Search Console


Compare them vs. the ones of your competitors

Semrush


Take into consideration the different queries made across the customer journey

Online Ideas & inspiration

Opinions, reviews & advice

Brand discovery

Product, price & features comparisons

Product availability

Online offers, promos & coupons


Establishing the most popular terms patterns

Buy Backpacks NikeNew

ACTION PRODUCT BRANDCHARACTERISTIC

Sell

Reserve

Register

Rucksacks

Shoes

Jackets

Purses

Pants

Shirts

Caps

Adidas

Guess

Levis

Cheap

For Women

TYPE

School

Subscribe

Exclusive Travel

BabiesRed

For Yoga

New York

LOCATION

Around me

Nearby

Online

Used


Expand them to look for the most relevant & most popular queries

More Generic More Volume Less Relevant

Less Conversions

More Specific Less Volume

More Relevant More Conversions

ACTION PRODUCT LOCATIONBUY BACKPACK NEAR ME

ACTION + PRODUCT PRODUCT + CHARACTERISTIC PRODUCT + BRANDBUY BACKPACKS NEW BACKPACKS NIKE BACKPACKS

Action + Product + CharacteristicBUY CHEAP BACKPACK

Action + Product + LocationBUY BACKPACK IN NYC

Product + Type + BrandNIKE SCHOOL BACKPACK

Action + Product + Characteristic + LocationBUY NEW BACKPACK IN NYC

Action + Product + Brand + LocationBUY NIKE BACKPACK IN NYC

Product + Brand + LocationNIKE BACKPACK IN NYC


Segment your queries based on their categories, characteristics, locations, etc.

Travel backpacks Backpacks Sale


Travel backpacks

Google Keyword Planner

Verify which are more popular from mobile devices

Backpacks Sale


To prioritize accordingly


Is your Mobile Website Fast enough?

4


http://www.thesempost.com/google-mobile-first-index-page-speed-ranking/

Mobile Page Speed will be included as a ranking factor on the Mobile First Index


It’s already critical for mobile user experience though

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/data-measurement/mobile-page-speed-new-industry-benchmarks/


How long does your mobile home page takes to load?

http://searchengineland.com/5-must-technical-seo-audits-validations-2017-273207


Which of your most important mobile pages take longer to load?

Google Analytics


How can you improve them?


What about implementing AMP?

http://searchengineland.com/amp-top-stories-now-live-243314


AMP is a “simplified” HTML that uses already optimised resources & cache to serve it faster


Which can greatly improve your site mobile speedMobile RWD Mobile AMP


As well as your mobile search results visibility

AMP article rich resultsCan be free-standing in the

results page, or embedded in a carousel of similar result types. All AMP article rich results are also rich results.

AMP non-rich resultsA basic, non-graphical

search result pointing to the AMP page.


It has become already a must for news related sites


It’s already supported by Ad Networks and is now focused to expand its e-commerce components


The main challenge is to provide the same (or even better) Mobile Web experience

<>

Where’s the menu?


Which Websites should implement AMP now then?

You’re in the media, news

industry or have a blog

Your current mobile page speed

sucks

You can personalise

AMP to have a similar UX &

functionality than your current

site

You don’t have a mobile version or an independent

one ideally


Its execution can be a rollercoaster although with a positive trend if critical errors are prioritised


With non-trivial mobile visibility results too!

AMP Rich Results

AMP Non-Rich Results

Non-AMP Results


Here’s a complete presentation about how to do it

https://www.slideshare.net/aleydasolis/setting-amp-for-success-at-digitalolympus

Time is (sadly) almost up!


But there are more questions…


What’s your Mobile Audience Search Behavior?

What’s your site Mobile

Search Visibility & Traffic

Performance?

What’s your competition Mobile Web

Search Visibility?

Does your site have a Mobile Web Version?

How Mobile Search Crawlers access to your

site?

What’s your Site Mobile

speed?

Is your Mobile Web Content

effectively Rendered?

Is AMP effectively

Implemented?

How do your ranked pages look in Mobile

SERPs?

What’s the AMP impact on mobile visibility

& traffic?

What’s your Mobile Visibility

impact on Conversions?

Here’s how to answer them


https://moz.com/blog/mobile-seo-stack-tools

It’s time for you to save & grow your Mobile SEO


To can obtain this mobile search visibility increase



these mobile search conversions


And this growth trend

Thanks!


Alyeda Solis - SEO in a Mobile-First Index: What Marketers Need to Know

Marketing

Transcript of Alyeda Solis - SEO in a Mobile-First Index: What Marketers Need to Know