Mobile SEO – What it Means

We’ve reached a point in time where the vast majority of webmasters and business owners are fully aware of the importance of mobile. What’s more, most also know to some extent that mobile SEO exists, matters and is different in many respects from standard SEO. Whether a business goes the SEO outsource route or takes care of all such matters in-house doesn’t really matter – getting it right with mobile SEO means a great deal more than just being aware of its existence. There are certain rules to follow and areas to focus on – so what does mobile SEO really mean at this critical 2014 juncture?Experience of the Mobile User  First and foremost, there’s a big difference between providing a site that can be accessed by mobile and actually looking at things from the mobile user’s perspective with a good deal of priority. It’s not just about whether or not they can actually get to the site in the first place, but also about their full experience when they get there. So in other words, a mobile accessible site isn’t just a basic box to tick, but should represent an area of keen focus.A Site That’s Mobile FriendlyIn terms of what it means to be mobile-friendly when it comes to a site, you must remember that it means so much more than offering a carbon copy of the standard site. With a PC or notebook you have a large screen, a keyboard and a mouse or trackpad. With a tablet or laptop however, you only have a touchscreen – is it still as easy to get around the site when you remove input devices from the equation? And what’s more, how about that 4-inch screen size – can everything be seen, read and accessed with ease? Making a site mobile-friendly isn’t easy, but it is essential.Loading TimesAlso, never forget that a smartphone or tablet PC probably won’t have quite the same power and raw grunt as a desktop PC. As such, it’s a good idea to speed up the loading times of all pages and make sure they aren’t too demanding in terms of memory, CPU speeds and so on – mobile users won’t wait forever for pages to load.Clean DesignIf a mobile user accesses a site and finds it to be overcrowded, cluttered and generally messy, there’s a pretty strong chance they won’t be back. Remember that with the small screen size you are working to accommodate and go for the cleanest and most uncluttered design possible, which is guaranteed to win over your visitors.Multi-Platform Compatibility Last but not least, there’s nothing in the world more annoying for a smartphone or Tablet PC user than finding out their choice of device or web browser is not compatible with your site. Say it’s an iPhone user that favours the Safari browser – it’s no good making the site a work of art for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer users and completely alienating millions of others. If you’re going to focus on mobile, be sure to focus on all of mobile and not just the odd bit here and there as it suits you.