Type the abbreviation ‘SEO’ into a Google search and you’ll likely be hit with a barrage of articles telling you the Dos and Don’ts of search engine optimisation. Quite often these are phrased quite negatively, for example, the top ten SEO mistakes that companies make, but does it have to be like this?
Rather than looking at what strategies can break a company, here at Visuell Kommunikation we like to focus on the positive – in particular, the benefits of mobile technology for SEO. As with all SEO strategies, above all it is important to be up-to-date and in line with industry changes, and nothing says this better than making sure one’s site is optimised for mobile.
On April 21st, search engine giant Google was set to cause waves across the internet when it released its latest algorithm. The new update would prioritise certain websites in its search engine results pages, the websites in question being those which were optimised for mobile devices such as smartphones.
So what exactly does ‘mobile-optimised’ encompass? Depending on your level of technical knowledge, it can mean a lot of different things. For example, for a web designer, one might want to consider changing his or her website from adaptive to responsive. This basically means that a site will automatically change its size to accommodate different device sizes, such as smartphones. By comparison, one which is not responsive will require the user to scroll around the screen, making for an altogether less comfortable viewing experience.
Mobile-optimised sites also embrace other developments in web design, such as the famed ‘hamburger icon’ – that is – three lines in the top corner of a page which can load up a menu. Many sites offer condensed versions in which their main menus are compressed into these ‘hamburgers.’
Of course, one could even go one step further and make a whole app for his or her website, but that is not to discount mobile-optimised sites altogether. Studies have shown that 40 per cent of web users browse sites through their mobile device – that’s an incredible 25 million of us in the UK alone – so it makes sense for webmasters to embrace Google’s changes, not just to rank highly, but to give their customers an all-round better experience.
Here’s another statistic for you – twice as many of us are as likely to tell others about bad service as we are good service, so make sure your website doesn’t fit into the former category! Being successful in SEO is about being forward-thinking, and for now, mobile optimisation, it seems, is the future.