[Hot] Mobile SEO: Three Key Optimization Tips
Search Engine Land recently posted a report from BrightEdge, the "SEO and content performance marketing platform," which revealed the platform's 1300+ customers now receive 57% of all traffic from mobile sources, like smart phones and tablets.
Only two years ago, Search Engine Land notes, Google announced that mobile queries exceeded desktop queries in ten countries, including the US and Japan. The numbers from BrightEdge, which concur with recent numbers from StatCounter, represent a definitive trend: Mobile is the new search frontier.
As Google notes: "This presents a tremendous opportunity for marketers to reach people throughout all the new touchpoints of a consumer’s path to purchase."
And in the intro to its report, BrightEdge notes specific opportunities for buyers: "The shift towards mobile disrupts the traditional buyer’s journey by highlighting new opportunities to answer questions faster, buy easier, and find physically proximate resources."
Obviously, these opportunities also apply to online businesses. Below we take a closer look at three specific techniques for mobile optimization.
Semantic Search
BrightEdge's first opportunity, "to answer questions faster," is really a nod to recent search engine algorithms, which use "semantic search," to analyze and interpret the intent of user queries.
The dictionary definition of "semantic," "relating to meaning in language or logic," essentially describes semantic search in a nutshell: Search engines like Google analyze each search to discover logical connections (over time) between language and intent.
The more you search, then, the more Google understands what you're looking for. This is apparent, for example, in Google's autocomplete, which presents a list of useful queries related to the words you type in the search bar. This list changes respective to your prior searches. The goal for the search engine, of course, is to extract personalized answers quickly. Instead of revealing sites based on simple keywords, search engines answer questions and solve problems.
In part, semantic search is a response to the surge in mobile usage and the attendant surge in"voice-based" queries. A voice-based search has a different goal than a traditional search. Instead of "browsing," per say, most voice searches ask a question or state a problem.
The opportunity here is to optimize your content to answer specific questions or problems. Instead of writing an article about "denim repair," strive for specificity--answer a specific question, or solve a problem, related to denim repair: "An Easy Way to Fix Holes in Your Jeans and Other Garments," for example, earns a spot on the first page. The value here is not the title, per say, but the content on the page, which provides a step-by-step tutorial with images.
Read: Two Simple Questions to Inspire New Content
Easy Shopping
BrightEdge's second opportunity for buyers, "to buy easier," presents a unique challenge for online businesses as well as brick and mortar shops: How can you leverage the power of mobile search to your advantage?
Online shops can make buying easier by streamlining website design and offering simple payment options--like Amazon's 1-click ordering. As The Telegraph noted last year: "Industry data suggests technology is finally catching up with [the] impulse-buying urge." Obviously, facilitating the impulse requires a Mobile-Friendly website.
Read: Mobile SEO in 2017: Six Key Questions
Brick-and-mortar shops can take ques from larger retailers, like Target, which offers its "Cartwheel" app for shoppers to choose coupons while shopping. Other retailers, like Sears, have taken advantage of mobile browser's tendency to "showroom"--using a device in-store to comparison shop and research products and features.
In an article about "M-commerce", Search Engine Land noted that Sears was "actually encouraging showrooming on their mobile sites by providing mobile searchers with a price scanner which allows them to compare prices of items they’re looking at to items for sale at Sears."
Local SEO
Local businesses are poised to take advantage of BrightEdge's third opportunity for buyers, "to find physically proximate resources."
We know that the physical location of a searcher is a prime determinant in discovering local locations, but a local business must take a few essential steps to guarantee inclusion in local results. Make sure your keywords are hyper-specific to your location and business. And always make sure your Google My Business account is accurate and up-to-date.
Read: What You Need to Know About Local SEO
Need Mobile SEO Help? Call Stepman's SEO!
We believe that ecommerce is now a mobile game! To navigate the new rules of mobile SEO, you might need to hire an SEO specialist like Stepman's SEO. If you sell a high-quality product that deserves customers, you also deserve a well-optimized mobile website.
Do not let the changing search landscape compromise your sales. Now, more than ever, you need the astute wisdom of a professional search engine optimization professional.
Stepman's SEO is now offering a free mobile website audit. Contact us today to learn how you can improve your website's mobile performance: 215-900-9398.
Only two years ago, Search Engine Land notes, Google announced that mobile queries exceeded desktop queries in ten countries, including the US and Japan. The numbers from BrightEdge, which concur with recent numbers from StatCounter, represent a definitive trend: Mobile is the new search frontier.
As Google notes: "This presents a tremendous opportunity for marketers to reach people throughout all the new touchpoints of a consumer’s path to purchase."
And in the intro to its report, BrightEdge notes specific opportunities for buyers: "The shift towards mobile disrupts the traditional buyer’s journey by highlighting new opportunities to answer questions faster, buy easier, and find physically proximate resources."
Obviously, these opportunities also apply to online businesses. Below we take a closer look at three specific techniques for mobile optimization.
 |
| Like the California Gold Rush, which peaked in 1852, the new mobile frontier presents opportunities for early adopters. |
Semantic Search
BrightEdge's first opportunity, "to answer questions faster," is really a nod to recent search engine algorithms, which use "semantic search," to analyze and interpret the intent of user queries.
The dictionary definition of "semantic," "relating to meaning in language or logic," essentially describes semantic search in a nutshell: Search engines like Google analyze each search to discover logical connections (over time) between language and intent.
The more you search, then, the more Google understands what you're looking for. This is apparent, for example, in Google's autocomplete, which presents a list of useful queries related to the words you type in the search bar. This list changes respective to your prior searches. The goal for the search engine, of course, is to extract personalized answers quickly. Instead of revealing sites based on simple keywords, search engines answer questions and solve problems.
In part, semantic search is a response to the surge in mobile usage and the attendant surge in"voice-based" queries. A voice-based search has a different goal than a traditional search. Instead of "browsing," per say, most voice searches ask a question or state a problem.
The opportunity here is to optimize your content to answer specific questions or problems. Instead of writing an article about "denim repair," strive for specificity--answer a specific question, or solve a problem, related to denim repair: "An Easy Way to Fix Holes in Your Jeans and Other Garments," for example, earns a spot on the first page. The value here is not the title, per say, but the content on the page, which provides a step-by-step tutorial with images.
Read: Two Simple Questions to Inspire New Content
Easy Shopping
BrightEdge's second opportunity for buyers, "to buy easier," presents a unique challenge for online businesses as well as brick and mortar shops: How can you leverage the power of mobile search to your advantage?
Online shops can make buying easier by streamlining website design and offering simple payment options--like Amazon's 1-click ordering. As The Telegraph noted last year: "Industry data suggests technology is finally catching up with [the] impulse-buying urge." Obviously, facilitating the impulse requires a Mobile-Friendly website.
Read: Mobile SEO in 2017: Six Key Questions
Brick-and-mortar shops can take ques from larger retailers, like Target, which offers its "Cartwheel" app for shoppers to choose coupons while shopping. Other retailers, like Sears, have taken advantage of mobile browser's tendency to "showroom"--using a device in-store to comparison shop and research products and features.
In an article about "M-commerce", Search Engine Land noted that Sears was "actually encouraging showrooming on their mobile sites by providing mobile searchers with a price scanner which allows them to compare prices of items they’re looking at to items for sale at Sears."
Local SEO
Local businesses are poised to take advantage of BrightEdge's third opportunity for buyers, "to find physically proximate resources."
We know that the physical location of a searcher is a prime determinant in discovering local locations, but a local business must take a few essential steps to guarantee inclusion in local results. Make sure your keywords are hyper-specific to your location and business. And always make sure your Google My Business account is accurate and up-to-date.
Read: What You Need to Know About Local SEO
Need Mobile SEO Help? Call Stepman's SEO!
We believe that ecommerce is now a mobile game! To navigate the new rules of mobile SEO, you might need to hire an SEO specialist like Stepman's SEO. If you sell a high-quality product that deserves customers, you also deserve a well-optimized mobile website.
Do not let the changing search landscape compromise your sales. Now, more than ever, you need the astute wisdom of a professional search engine optimization professional.
Stepman's SEO is now offering a free mobile website audit. Contact us today to learn how you can improve your website's mobile performance: 215-900-9398.