If you haven’t optimized your website for mobile use already, then you’re way behind in the race my friend. With the ever-increasing use of smart phones, tablets, web-capable e-readers, and the like, mobile searching now surpasses traditional desktop/laptop searching—a trend expected to only increase.
Our fast-paced world advanced mobile communication and search from a want to a need in less than a generation. If you’ve already jumped on the opportunity to build a business website to stay relevant, great. However, mobile formatting is different than desktop formatting, so just having a website won’t help you reach the millions of mobile users that require different displays than desktop users.
Mobile optimization happens in two different steps: strategic mobile SEO (search engine optimization) and website formatting. It’s not enough to simply make it easier for users to find your website through search results, but it is also imperative for users to experience painless interaction with your page from any device they are using.
Luckily, mobile optimization is a relatively simple update that reaps substantial returns, and major loss if overlooked.
While desktop search optimization shouldn’t be ignored completely since it still counts for a large percentage of searches, mobile optimization is crucial for maintaining a healthy and professional online presence. Here are five reasons why you should consider mobile optimization for your website in this technologically advanced market.
- Google said so. Did you know that Google and other search engines actually penalize websites that are not optimized for mobile searching? If you’re building an SEO strategy and neglect mobile optimization, all your hard work could go unnoticed by Google and by users. It is the search engine’s job to display relevant and useful results to the user. They will show mobile friendly sites over non-mobile friendly sites to mobile users.
Mobile optimization enhances your organic search results rankings and prevents your competitors from having an easy advantage over you. Google doesn’t prioritize criteria for flippant reasons. If they strongly suggest doing something, it’s best to listen. Search engines are constantly updating their criteria in order to keep up with the developing market. If your website traffic has suddenly tanked, update your website for mobile first, and then research what else you could be missing.
- Increases your potential customer base. If your website is optimized for mobile searching and you have a good SEO strategy that gets your page ranked higher in the search results, potential customers are more likely to find your site. First page search results have exponentially more traffic than results on subsequent pages, and it’s almost guaranteed that those pages have been optimized for mobile searching. It seems like a no-brainer to optimize for mobile, and that’s because it is. If your website isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re excluding more than half of users from ever becoming customers in the first place. Your customers are on mobile, so that’s where your business should be, too.
- Mobile searching is popular for a reason. In the “here and now” culture, people don’t want to wait to search for solutions or products on a stationary desktop at home. Instead, they prefer the instant gratification of searching what they want, when they want, and where they want. If the technology is available, why not use it? The recent upgrades in speed, connectivity, and screen size created the perfect combination to make mobile searching more convenient than desktop searching. Now GPS, internet browsing, social media checking, photo taking, music listening, goods purchasing, and calling capabilities are all handled on one small device that is much easier to carry around than any other single device. Mobile is here to stay; so don’t just get used to it, embrace it with open arms.
- It makes customers happy. People are more likely to leave a webpage on their mobile device if it’s not formatted to fit their needs. Most mobile users are on-the-go or in a rush, so they usually don’t have time to waste on broken websites. Plus, nobody wants to zoom in and out or scroll side to side just to read a webpage from their phone. However, if the words are easy to read and buttons are easy to push, customers will be more likely to return to the site. People remember good websites and they remember bad ones. Mobile optimization is vital for keeping your site off of the “bad” list.
- It builds up your reputation. Chances are you are not the only business in your area (or online) that offers the services you do. That means people have options. When customers have a negative or frustrating experience with your website, they can easily take their business to the next guy who may offer a more user-friendly interface. However, when websites are formatted to fit multiple platforms, and customers have a great interactive experience no matter what device they are using, your business is seen as relevant, professional, and trustworthy. Those three characteristics are invaluable to businesses and cannot afford to be lost through an outdated website. These days, people expect pages to be formatted for different devices. If yours isn’t, they won’t take you seriously as a business.
Mobile optimization is not only the future, it is the now. More and more businesses have taken the hint and updated their websites (and/or created apps) to meet the evolving needs of their customers. Don’t lose your customer base by falling behind in this growing trend. If you want to make future and current customers happy and get your page ranked higher in search engine results at the same time, mobile optimization can help make that happen. You can also view an onsite seo checklist that suggests ideas that can be integrated into your website to further promote organic search engine rankings.