Blog Post

In earlier days, Google used the desktop versions of any website to crawl and index the same. Based on that, the ranking and overall online visibility were allotted. However, lately, the demand for mobile-friendly websites has skyrocketed. Users want to access websites that are different from their phones, both Android and iPhones. After all, it’s more convenient and easier to read the content. Owing to this sudden paradigm shift, Google changed its methodologies and now uses the mobile versions of the websites for indexing and crawling.

That’s why you need to ensure your website is mobile-optimized. Only then can it deliver the same performance as the desktop version. Otherwise, the overall SEO results will be severely impacted, and you won’t get the desired ranking in the SERPs. Truth be told, mobile-first indexing is a pretty new concept to many professionals. The chances of making mistakes are quite high. That being said, we have articulated a detailed guide here explaining what practices you can follow for mobile-based SEO.

Mobile-friendly design and content

When you are designing a website, pay attention to its responsiveness level with respect to the device. For example, let’s assume you designed it perfectly to fit a smartphone’s screen. But when you try to access it through a tablet, there are discrepancies with screen adjustments. It can impact your mobile SEO since Google always recommends that websites be device-responsive. So, you should go with a mobile-friendly design that can adapt to different screen sizes. Ensure the quality and accessibility of the content don’t get compromised.

One of the SEO best practices for mobile-first indexing is designing appropriate content. Here are a few tips you can try.

1. Go for shorter paragraphs that are easier to read on a mobile screen.
2. Break up longer texts into paragraphs or bullet points while demarcating them with subheads.
3. Opt for larger fonts so that users won’t have to zoom the content for visibility.
4. Improve the overall readability and incorporate a visual appeal by adding blank spaces.

Make sure no intrusive pop-ups are showing on the screen as soon as the page loads on mobile. If that’s the case, Google will penalize you, which will further impact the ranking.

Optimization of mobile page speed

It doesn’t matter if your website has a stellar loading speed on desktops. Since we are talking about mobile-first indexing, your focus should be on the mobile page speed. That’s why below we have talked about a few steps you can implement to ensure optimal loading speeds.

1. Image compression: If the images are of greater sizes, compress them so that they can load at the same time as the rest of the on-page content.
2. Code minification: You should compress the HTML, JavaScript, and CSS files for the mobile website.
3. Content Delivery Network: Page loading speed greatly depends on the servers to which the website is deployed. So, make use of the CDN to distribute your site’s content across different servers during mobile app development. It will greatly reduce the page loading speed.
4. Lazy loading: You can also implement lazy loading, where the images and other non-essential content will load only during viewport.

Ensure content parity

Most professional digital marketing services providers pay attention to content parity. In other words, the mobile and desktop versions of the target website need to have similar content and consistent quality. If there is any discrepancy, you will start losing the incoming traffic, and the bounce rate will skyrocket in no time. Apart from the content, the metatags, title and header tags, and the meta descriptions also need to be similar for both the versions. Upload a consistent structured data markup while using correct URLs dedicated to the desktop and mobile versions of the target website.

Mobile-friendly navigation

One of the key practices to incorporate mobile-friendly SEO is to optimize the navigation. Avoid any type of complexity in the navigation workflow between the pages as that would confuse your visitors. If the website has a menu, ensure it’s visible, readable, and concise. It’s especially applicable for e-commerce websites where products have to be displayed properly. Check here the ways to amplify your business with correct SEO strategies. The buttons and links should be large enough to allow users to tap on them without having to zoom the page. It will enhance the user experience and reduce bounce rates significantly.

Technical SEO best practices for mobile

When it comes to technical SEO for mobile websites, there are certain specific considerations you have to make.

1. The viewport metatag should be correct. It will help in the optimal scaling of the website when accessed through mobiles.
2. Do not block the critical resources of the website in the robot.txt file. Otherwise, the Googlebot won’t be able to crawl and access them properly during indexing.
3. You also need to submit a separate XML map to Google Search Console. It should include the mobile website pages with clear indications.

Optimization of visual content

The visual content you are including in the website needs to be optimized thoroughly. Otherwise, the loading times will be impacted. Also, the core web vitals will take a hit, making it difficult for your website to rank higher. So, here are a few tricks you can try.

1. You can use the scrset attribute or the <picture> element in the<img> tag. It will cater to different image sizes according to the device’s screen dimensions.
2. The images and videos’ URLs need to be consistent for both the mobile and desktop websites.
3. When you are adding images to your mobile site, add alttext.
4. Ensure the visual content pieces are compatible with your website’s technical configurations to avoid any performance issues.

Conclusion

Understanding the importance of mobile-first indexing will help you grab the best market opportunities. But for that, you need to implement appropriate SEO practices targeted towards mobile devices. Otherwise, the websites won’t deliver the desired user experience or consistent quality. With this guide, you no longer have to worry about the SEO practices to be incorporated for making your website mobile-friendly.