Are you tired of showing up below your competitors in the search engine results page (SERP)? How do they get ranked so high, anyway?
The solution to hitting your SEO out of the park is easy: utilize mobile SEO and responsive design configuration.
If that sounds like gibberish to you right now, it won’t when you’re done this article. There are serious upgrades you can make to your marketing strategies and mobile design that will improve your Google rankings.
Keep reading to find out how to replace your competitors at the top.
What is Mobile Design and Responsive Configuration?
When your site is designed to be viewed from a desktop computer, visitors who look at it from a mobile phone will not have the same great experience.
The layout, sizing, plugins, and images on a desktop website will display out of order or prevent your page from loading on a mobile device.
By implementing a responsive configuration, your website will automatically alter all its features to suit whatever device it’s being looked at from.
Your desktop website will automatically adjust to be viewed on a mobile phone.
That is hugely beneficial to the success of your business and its Google rankings. Here’s why:
1. Mobile Searching is the Future
Did you know 60% of internet searches are done from a Smartphone?
That percentage is on the rise now that people are able to utilize the voice search feature on their phones and use their Smart Home devices for searching.
If you don’t adjust your website’s design to accommodate mobile searches, you will miss out on a ton of potential business.
People want to be able to search on the go, when they’re commuting, and when they’re multitasking other things.
Your website needs to accommodate the evolution in how we search.
2. User Experiences is Improved
As mentioned above, the format of your desktop website creates glitches and errors when loaded on a mobile phone.
If loading your page takes more than 3 seconds, that potential customer will go back to the SERP and choose your competitor.
Use a responsive design so that your pages load instantly, the font size adjusts automatically, and the layout is pleasing to the eye.
A responsive and mobile design leads to satisfied and happy customers who trust you because your website functions professionally.
3. Google Rewards Mobile SEO
Do you want to increase your ranking in the SERP, right?
The user’s experience is the number one most important thing to Google.
If you aren’t providing a great user experience (by not having a mobile design), Google isn’t going to show your page to potential customers who are searching on their phones.
By ensuring your website is responsive and targeting mobile searches, Google will reward you with a higher rank on the SERP.
How to Improve Mobile SEO
There are a few main tactics to focus your SEO on mobile searchers. Some are:
- Using keywords that searchers use specifically from their phones
- Breaking up walls of text into skimmable lines
- Avoiding plugins (like Flash) that notoriously don’t work on phones
- Not placing your menu options too close together
- Include an FAQ page that answers local search questions
- Utilize keywords that target voice searches
There are many more mobile SEO strategies you can implement to increase your Google ranking.
4. Local Searches
One of the most common things people search for on their mobile phones is “near me” inquiries.
“What’s the cheapest gas station near me?”
“What’s the best office supply store near me?”
If your business provides products or services to your local community, then ensuring those local searchers have a pleasant experience on your website is crucial.
A responsive design will make the best first impression on someone who clicks on your page. Mobile SEO efforts will allow you to show up in local SERPs.
5. Responsive is Easier
A responsive design allows you to only have one URL that adjusts to whatever device it’s being viewed from.
The other option is to use a URL for mobile and a separate one for desktop. That’s twice the amount of web design, content creation, and digital marketing.
It’s also twice as costly to pay professionals to complete those crucial tasks on both URLs.
Having a responsive design is simple and easy; only one URL means you only do the work once, which saves you money.
6. Increase Your Traffic and Sales
It’s not rocket science: when you rank higher in the SERPs, you have higher engagement on your website.
By implementing a mobile design, you’re already a step ahead of the rest because your user experience is amazing.
What a responsive design also does is provide potential customers with the criteria for them to trust you.
A mobile-friendly website won’t bombard them with popups that are hard to close on a small screen or have text so small you have to zoom in to read it.
Potential customers who have a pleasant experience on your website will be more likely to trust you with their money, and therefore, increase your sales.
How to Check if Your Website is Mobile-Friendly
It’s important to check what kind of configuration you currently have and assess how your website looks on a mobile device.
You can do this easily by using Google’s Mobile Page Tester.
Simply enter your URL and check out the results.
Interested in Learning More?
Choosing a responsive and mobile design is the best way to stay ahead of the curve.
It will allow you to create a positive user experience for the majority of searches which are done from a mobile device. It’ll also place your higher in Google’s ranking system which will allow you to be seen by way more potential customers.
There are so many benefits to using a responsive design. To learn more about improving your web design, check out our blog.
