Mobile SEO (2015) | Blue Mango Interactive (Ektor Tsolodimos)

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Mobile SEO Ektor Tsolodimos

Transcript of Mobile SEO (2015) | Blue Mango Interactive (Ektor Tsolodimos)

Mobile SEOEktor Tsolodimos

Introduction Mobile SEO – by Ektor Tsolodimos Local SEO – by Roswell Balentien Quick scans of your websites

GHG Academy SEO session

Introduction

Ektor Tsolodimos, 26 SEO Specialist @ Blue Mango Marketer & Photographer @ ML Music (guitar), cooking & traveling

Introduction

Mobile SEO is similar to Classic SEO, but with more emphasis on certain technical aspects.

Note: definition of “mobile” may vary Google: Not mobile-first, but cross-device

What is mobile SEO?

People freak out about it lately It’s been on Dutch national news (NOS)

Why about mobile SEO?

Minor impact on rankings

Actual impact

You should invest in mobile-friendly websites anyway: Confirmed ranking signal (though not as crucial yet) Good for UX/CRO

But rankings is not eveything

Social: Tweets in Mobile SERP Apps: Deeplinks in Mobile SERP Organic vs. paid results

KW “iphone 6” on desktop: 9-11 organic results (4 above fold) 15 paid results (15 above fold)

KW “iphone 6” on mobile: 8-10 organic results (1,5 above fold) 7 paid results (4 above fold)

Mobile search characteristics

So again: what is mobile SEO?

Mobile SEO is similar to Classic SEO, but with more emphasis on certain technical aspects.

Conclusion: Similar in how websites are judged Different in how mobile search looks Different in how mobile searchers behave

Every website/brand (unlike Local SEO) Some industries in particular

Who might benefit form mobile SEO?

1. Content delivery (be relevant) Keyword research: usage, relevancy & relations (further reading & visual example

)

2. Technical aspects (meet requirements) Make your content efficient, understandable, reachable & readable

3. Authority signals (increase your popularity) Show search engines that you the best in what you do by providing:

Backlinks, social signals, citations, reviews, bookmarks etc.

Step 1: understand “regular” SEO

Mobile SEO

Extra emphasis on following technical aspects:1. Make your website(s) as fast as possible2. Responsive web design or separate mobile version3. Allow crawling of CSS, JS & images (via Robotx.txt)4. Take UX serious (touch-friendly spaces? too much text?)5. Don’t use Flash, pop-ups or not supported video players

Bonus: optimize for local & app search

Step 2: take this into consideration

More about this later

Step 3: that’s it, you’re done

In-depth Mobile SEO

Hard to say, one thing is for sure though: the faster the better. Also really good for UX/CRO in general (read more)

Best indication available: Google PageSpeed Insights (free) Be aware: even tweakers.net gets “only” 72% & 85%

(mob./deskt.),and that’s a really fast website.

What is fast loading website?

There are basically 2 options: Responsive web design Separate mobile website

Though Google also says: “Google does not favor any particular URL format as long as

the page(s) and all page assets are accessible to all Googlebot user-agents.”

What type of website for mobile SEO?

Google’s recommendation

“Responsive web design is aimed at crafting sites that provide optimal viewing experience (e.g. easy reading and navigation with minimum resizing and panning) regardless of device, resolution and aspect ratio.”

What is a responsive website?

Further information: Live demo: coolblue.nl Google documentation

http://www.coolblue.nl http://www.coolblue.nl

“A separate mobile website is either a sub domain (m.example.com) or a sub folder (example.com/mobile) that has been specifically developed with mobile devices in mind.”

What is a separate mobile website?

Further information: Live demo: bol.com Google documentation

http://www.bol.com http://m.bol.com

Pro’s/con’s of both options

Responsive website advantages

Responsive website disadvantages

Consolidation of backlinks, social shares etc. Compromises have to be made

No redirects, possible mistakes etc.

Cheaper/easier to develop & maintain

Mobile website advantages Mobile website disadvantages

More freedom regarding design & UX Multiple URL’s can be complicated

Easier to get fast-loading websites Costs more (investment & maintenance)

Both are acceptable by search engine standards and have their own pro’s and con’s

Personally, I would recommend responsive web design in most cases (and so does Google)

Conclusion on the debate

Relatively unknown Can be really important Can be really difficult as well SEO/ASO have become more similar

Test: search for “travel app” or “AirBnb” on your Android device

App Store Optimization (ASO)

Title of your app Keywords/categories Total amount of downloads Rating score & amount of reviews

These are the basics, but of course there is more. Download this free e-book

Rank higher with ASO

WordPress tips

Don’t use you too many plugins (there is a plugin for this issue)

Use free CDN (use Cloudflare or Jetpack)

Minify some of your code & enable caching (W3 Total Cache)

Reduce image size (compress beforehand + Lazyload & WP Smush)

Host video’s, slides & photo’s externally (YouTube, SlideShare & Flickr: embed)

Further readings: 15 easy ways to speed up WordPress

WordPress speed tips

1. Before improving your WP website, measure both mobile- & desktop speed using Google PageSpeed Insights.

2. After improving your WP website, measure again. A. Satisfied? Well done!B. Not satisfied? Keep optimizing!

Measure your results

You shouldn’t be worried too much about robots.txt, it should be OK by default (same for XML sitemaps when using Yoast-plugin)

Use a responsive website, seriously. Check also this blog post. Also takes care of potential duplicated content.

As far is Flash/pop-ups/strange video players etc: you shouldn’t (and probably aren’t) using those anyway.

WordPress general mobile tips