How to optimize your SEO strategy for mobile search

Internet usage patterns are constantly evolving and mobile searches are gaining ground on desktop searches. With the arrival of Mobile-first, mobile optimization is becoming a priority. How to improve your mobile SEO by optimizing your strategy offsite and onsite is what we will see in this article. And to go further in the implementation of your mobile SEO strategy, do not hesitate to call a web agency .

Offsite strategy: focus your SEO on mobile search

With nearly 50% of searches made from a mobile (and this number continues to grow) and Mobile-first indexing that places the mobile version of a site as the reference version to make its rankings, it is now essential to consider mobile search in your offsite strategy.

What is the difference between mobile search and desktop search?

E volution of mobile and desktop searches between October 2009 and October 2016 (source: mobile vs desktop traffic )

Use micro-data and enrich your tags

To improve your visibility and get a better PageRank, the use of micro-data html is now essential. Invisible for the user, they make it possible to organize your information so that the indexing robots better understand the detail of your contents and notice them to improve your SEO.

Dozens of tags exist in the html language: tags h1, h2, h3 ..., meta description, title, script, div, embed, strong, etc.

Here is an excerpt of html code from a website showing the different tags used:

While the user reads a "classic" and aesthetically successful web page, the indexing robots have access to this type of coded information. It is therefore important to heal your markup scheme to meet the expectations of the engines that will automatically move your page in the rankings.

Some structured data can also enrich your code to the delight of the engines. The rich snippets for example, are very popular: they are the stars, the opinions, the photos, the dates, etc. which sometimes appear in the search results and highlight them.

Target the right keywords for mobile search

The keywords for mobile search are hyperlocal and vocal:

• " near "

• " I want to go "

• " where is the bank ? "

• "The bank in Paris"

Use tools to improve your semantic markup

You can improve the processing and presentation of your content by search engines using the tool "  schema.org  ", the markup tool of Google or the tool Technicalseo . These tools help you to enrich your code with structured data in order to help engines better understand your content and analyze it as close to what you present to visitors, but in its own language.

Presented in this way, the information on your page becomes very clear for indexing robots and gives you a better ranking in the search results.

Before uploading your tags, we advise you to check their validity using Google's structured data test tool .

By using the Schema markup, you put every chance on your side to improve your SEO and take a step ahead of your competitors. Still very few companies use semantic markup for their sites, do not miss out on this excellent SEO technique!

Onsite strategy: improve the UX (user experience) of your mobile version

With Mobile-first indexing, it's now the mobile version of your page that will be considered the reference version. Users will only stay on your page if they can easily use it on their mobile. Here are some tips to test the effectiveness of your mobile version and improve the user experience.

Measure the effectiveness of your mobile version

To find out if you have a good mobile version of your site, we recommend using Google's Mobile-friendly test tool . This tool tests the accessibility of a page to a smartphone or tablet. By simply entering the URL of the page, you will know if it is easily accessible on mobile and in case of failure, the tool will tell you the points to correct to improve your mobile version.

Improve the loading speed of your mobile version?

Google recommends a download speed of less than one second on mobile versions to provide the best user experience for users. The bar is high, but the Test My Site tool allows you to measure the performance of your site on each device type according to its loading speed. It also tells you what to fix so that people can access your page as quickly as possible.

source : https://testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-us

Some tips to improve the loading speed of your site:

• Enable compression

• Take advantage of browser caching

• Minimize resources

• Optimize images

• Give priority to visible content

Make your mobile content more readable

• Use a font between 14 and 16 pts.

• Write short paragraphs (1-2 lines per paragraph).

• Make sure that the line length is between 50 and 60 characters.

• Make a strong contrast between the text and the background (smartphones are often used outdoors, low-contrast text will be unreadable and the user may quickly abandon the page).

• Use HTML5 for video and animated content (avoid Flash, it is not compatible with mobiles).

• Use the Viewport Content tag to adapt your page to the device used by the user.

3 quick tips to improve the UX of your mobile version

• Integrate small header images.

• Fan your page using many spaces between text, buttons, and design elements.

• Place the social sharing buttons (FB, twitter ...) as a tab bar at the bottom of the page: to help you, you can use the Sumo tool .