Is your website mobile friendly? Before you answer, understand that this isn’t the same as asking whether or not your website will load on a mobile device. Of course, it should load on a mobile device just like any other site does. What we are really asking is if it is optimized for mobile devices or not.
These days, your audience is no longer accessing your website from the same place. Instead, it is being accessed through all sorts of devices. They’re looking at your site through their laptops, tablets, smartphones, and even their watches. The only way to ensure that your website will display properly across all of these devices is to specifically optimize it for that.
In 2015, we saw a huge amount of websites to improve their mobile design. We expect this to continue in 2016 and onward. Eventually, we anticipate seeing mobile optimization become the norm for websites. Instead of creating a website on your desktop and optimizing for mobile, later on, the reverse will occur. You will be creating your website for mobile and eventually optimizing it for desktops, if at all.
The importance of mobile optimization will also impact SEO. Mobile searches are already treated differently than desktop searches across the same search engine platforms. This creates an opportunity to specifically target mobile SEO before it becomes a mainstream strategy.
Research has shown that the amount of web searches that are performed through a mobile device has increased by nearly 150% for the past several years. It is expected that this will continue to climb. Google is already accounting for this with their ranking algorithms. They are pushing sites up there mobile rankings that are optimized for mobile devices ahead of websites that are not.
As we all know, when Google makes an algorithm change, websites react accordingly. Now that it is known that Google is pushing up mobile-friendly sites for mobile searches, we are starting to see mobile optimization services pop up all over the place. Likewise, webmasters are seeking out these services more than ever before.
Another impact that the increased usage of mobile devices is having is with the voice search function. Since we’re using our smartphones to access the Internet so frequently, people are beginning to use the voice search function more often thanks to the built-in speakers that all of our smartphones have.
Part of the full optimization package will be optimizing for these voice searches. This will open up new long-tail keywords that would be more likely to be spoken rather than typed. To find these keywords you should think in a more conversational tone.
Voice search also requires some added optimization. For example, it will take some changes to your site if you want someone to be able to look up and call your phone number through their voice search function. It provides a more convenient way for them to reach the website or business. It also creates new opportunities where they can look up that information.