Expert SEO Technique: Mobile Search Optimization

Mobile search optimization is a relatively young field that is primarily the forte of cutting-edge expert SEO artists — but it’s spreading quickly, and it’s a good thing. Getting your mobile site up and running only to have no one notice is a huge disappointment, not to mention an epic RoI fail.  Here’s what you need to think about to get your mobile site search-optimized:

• Load Times:  Mobile sites need to be even more ridiculously optimized for total load time than desktop sites. Leverage browser cashing, content delivery networks, image optimizing, code minification, and any other advantages you can to get mobile pages to load ASAP.
• Don’t Block Content Forms: Today’s GoogleBot sees a site blocking Javascript or CSS or images, and it sees a site from four or six years ago, optimizing for phones that are beyond ancient in today’s digital arena. Let the content flow, and let Google see you for what you are.
• Attend to Your Format: Concepts like “above the fold” don’t apply in a mobile world of endless scrolling, but making sure that your page can handle being pinched, flicked, rotated, and otherwise abused as only touch-screens can is mandatory. Keep the ‘fat finger’ in mind when designing your buttons and links, as well: make everything easy to tap!
• Heavily Optimize your Titles and Descriptions: There’s no substitute for incredibly concise, high-information-density titles and descriptions when you’re reading on a small-screen mobile device, so make that a significant priority when optimizing for mobile search.
• Localize Like Your Life Depends On It: Mobile searches are almost all GPS-enabled, meaning that localized searches will consistently show up on the screens of people that are searching from somewhere nearby (i.e. the relevant people!)
• Use Metadata Everwhere: Simply put, the mobile search screen is small enough that any bit of extra space on that screen you can take up is a straight win in SEO terms. The more richly you structure your metadata, the more of it is likely to show up on a mobile search, which means more visible real estate you can take up on that tiny screen.
• A Few No-Nos: Don’t use Flash. Don’t use pop-up ANYTHING.  Both of these things will cause significant problems on a significant number of mobile devices.

Keeping your mobile site search-optimized: it’s an expert SEO guy’s dream. Don’t let it slide!