Mobile SEO is a big deal. It’s the first thing people think of when they think about SEO, but it’s not just about ranking in Google anymore but improving engagement metrics and boosting conversion rates.
It is a game-changer. It can help your website rank high on Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) and easily drive traffic to your site. But like any other task, it comes with its challenges and pitfalls you should be aware of before you start.
Mobile SEO Mistakes
Mobile SEO Mistakes is a term that has been used since 2015 and gained popularity after 2019. With the prevalence of mobile devices, it is no surprise that this mistake is happening more often than ever. This post aims to shed light on what Mobile SEO mistakes are and how they can be avoided.
Mistake 1: Not Optimizing Your Site for Mobile-First Indexing
The mobile-first indexing process starts with a crawl of the site’s mobile version and then crawls the mobile desktop of the site.
Mobile-first indexing means Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking.
Mobile-first indexing is a change in the Google algorithm that will make it easier for users to find relevant content on mobile devices. It will also be more effective for SEO campaigns.
Mobile-first indexing is not a new phenomenon, as it was implemented on July 1ST, 2019.
Meta robot tags instruct web crawlers on what to do with the content they find on a website. In other words, meta robot tags are instructions that tell a web crawler how to behave when it visits a given website.
The meta robot tag is a way for site owners to control how search engine crawlers crawl their content and how it is displayed on search results pages.
There are two meta robot tags, the “robots” tag and the “meta” tag. The “robots” tag tells the crawler which parts of the site should be crawled, while the “meta” tag tells it what to do with any page it finds. These two tags control all aspects of a site’s content crawling and presentation in search engine results pages.
Using the same meta robots tags on the mobile and desktop versions is highly recommended.
Mobile sites should be a duplicate of the desktop site. They should have the same content and features but also consider that people are browsing on their mobile devices.
However, for the navigational experience, mobile and desktop sites are different. Therefore, they should offer a different experience to the user. For example, mobile sites should have more streamlined navigation and focus on mobile-friendly design relevant to the user.
Lazy loading is a technique that reduces the time it takes to load a webpage by delaying the loading of certain content until the user requests it. This technique is often used on websites with many graphics, videos, and other media files.
The primary content should be loaded immediately when the page loads. This will allow users to access important information immediately and not wait for all the content to load before they can use your website.
Don’t lazy-load primary content upon user interaction, as Google will only load content that requires user interactions. Instead, make them visible to Google so they can be indexed.
Structured data is the way to go. It is a new way of designing your website and ensuring it is up-to-date. It will help you rank higher in Google search results and make it easier for your customers to find what they are looking for.
You will need to use a schema markup generator to ensure that your mobile and desktop sites have the same structured data.
Schema markup generators can help you create structured data from scratch or an existing website or webpage.
You can create the structured data using a generator by following these steps:
- Open schema markup generator.
- Enter your website’s URL and click “Start.”
- Check the generated code to make sure that there are no errors.
- You can now add this to your website by copying and pasting it into the “HTML-CSS” panel in the editor of your webpage.
Images are an important part of any website. They can be used to communicate the message you want to convey, attract visitors and increase conversion rates.
The quality of your images will have a direct impact on how well your website performs. So, it is important to use high-quality images optimized for the web.
If you have a lot of images on your website, then it would be better if you use a tool like Adobe Photoshop or Gimp to optimize them before uploading them.
The Google Search Console is a tool that Google uses to help web admins and site owners monitor their sites. It helps them identify errors, fix them, and get the site ranking better in search engines.
Google Search Console has a feature called “Mobile-First Indexing,” which means that Google will use your mobile version of the site as the indexing to rank your site in search engine results for mobile searches.
If you are not yet using it or if you have been using it, but there are still some errors, then this email from Google might be something that you want to check out:
Mistake 2: Not Using a Mobile-Friendly Site Structure
A mobile-friendly site structure is a must for any website. It helps to increase the number of visitors and convert them into customers.
Mobile-friendly site structures are simpler and faster to navigate on a smartphone or tablet. They also have a clean, uncluttered layout that is easier on the eye and more user-friendly.
This is because the majority of people are using their phones to browse the internet and if your site does not work well on a phone, you are missing out on potential customers.
In order to make sure your site works well on a phone, you need to have easy navigation and make sure all buttons are clickable without having to zoom in or out. You also need to make sure there are no long pages with too many links or pop-ups.
In other words, responsive web design is a technique that allows the layout of a website to adjust to the size of the browser window. It has become an essential part of modern web design because it ensures that a website will be readable and usable on any device.
An important aspect of designing a mobile-friendly website is the use of JavaScript. JavaScript is used in many ways to make a website work well on mobile devices, including ensuring links work properly and creating animations.
Never hesitate to understand the mobile responsive design guidelines by Google Search Central.
Use of JavaScript
Using JavaScript in responsive web design is not as common as HTML and CSS, but it is still an important consideration for developers. For example, JavaScript can provide additional functionality or create animations on a website.
JavaScript-adaptive
The JavaScript-adaptive in responsive web design is about manipulating a webpage’s content and layout according to the user’s browser size. This can be done by detecting whether a browser supports certain features, such as CSS3 media queries or JavaScript, and then adjusting accordingly.
Mistake 3: Using Non-Mobile Friendly Images
Images are a key part of any content strategy. They can illustrate points, help tell a story, or connect emotionally with the reader.
However, most people don’t realize that not all images are optimized for mobile.
For example, when you upload an image to your blog post or website, it will automatically be resized for a mobile screen, and this can lead to pixelated images and blurry text.
This is where responsive images come in handy. They allow you to create one image that will adapt its size and quality depending on the device it’s being viewed on.
In conclusion, we recommend using responsive images for your content to look its best across all screens and devices.
Mistake 4: Block CSS, JavaScript, or Images
Many people do not know how to properly optimize their websites for search engines. As a result, they make mistakes that can be easily avoided by following simple guidelines. One of the most common mistakes is blocking CSS, JavaScript, or images from crawling.
This is a big mistake because these are some of the most important elements for any website. These files are used to provide the user with an optimal viewing experience, and they also help search engines index your site better.
Mistake 5: Using Flash
Google has already said goodbye to Flash, indicating that we should not use Flash in web designing or development. The death of Flash is a relief for many. It was a pain for web designers and developers, but it also negatively affected the end user.
Google announced that it would stop supporting Flash in 2019. This decision was made to ensure that the company’s products will be more secure and faster loading in the future.
Google announced that it is going to abandon the Flash vector-graphic animation technology. There are many reasons for this decision. However, the main reason is that the industry has abandoned Flash, which is incompatible with most smartphones, tablets, and computers.
Flash has a lot of Bugs, and it is considered insecure. Moreover, HTML5 has replaced Flash.
Flash was one of the most popular animation tools in the 90s. Still, as time passed, it started to lose popularity for various reasons, such as being less compatible with mobile devices and browsers.
Mistake 6: Using Pop-Ups
Many websites show interstitials or overlays that partially or completely cover the contents of the page the user is visiting. These interstitials, commonly seen on mobile devices promoting a website's app, mailing list sign-up forms, or advertisements, can make for a bad user experience.
Pop-ups are a common way to generate more revenue from your eCommerce store. But they can also be a big mistake if not designed for mobile users.
The most common problem with pop-ups is that they are too large for the screen and cover up the content, making it hard to read. This is especially true on mobile devices where screens are smaller, and pop-ups take up a larger percentage of the screen.
Pop-ups that are too small can also be problematic because they will not be noticed by users and won’t generate any clicks or conversions.
Mistake 7: Large First Contentful Paint
Large First Contentful Paint is a technique in web design where the designer creates a large, content-filled area on the screen that is visible to the user as soon as they visit.
This technique creates a sense of familiarity and trust with the user. It also helps them understand what they can do with the site and what it offers.
The first thing you should do when you see an LFCP page is a scroll down. This will give you an understanding of how much content there is on the page and whether or not it’s worth your time to continue scrolling.
The first painting of a website is the content. It should be as small as possible and load faster. You need to follow certain guidelines to accelerate the speed of FCP.
Mistake 8: Not Optimizing For Voice and Local Search
You’re making a big mistake if you’re not optimizing your website for voice and local search.
Voice Search
Voice search is on the rise, and it’s predicted that by 2034, 60% of all searches will be voice-based. Search engines are now primarily voice-driven.
Voice search is a new way to find information, and it is more natural than typing on a keyboard. Voice search also benefits people who are uncomfortable with typing or have physical limitations.
Therefore it is necessary to understand the applied techniques to make website voice search friendly.
Local SEO
Local search results may be displayed on cards with text and images. As such, they may be more engaging and easier to read than the traditional text-only result listings.
Local search cards can also provide additional business information, like their hours of operation, phone numbers, and website links. Therefore it is mandatory to focus on Local SEO.
Local search is also a growing trend, and with Google My Business, it has never been easier for businesses to market themselves locally.
Mistake 9: Not Having A Mobile-Friendly URL Structure
A mobile-friendly URL structure is a requirement for any modern website.
This section will discuss the importance of having a mobile-friendly URL structure on your website.
The first thing to understand is that simply having a responsive design is not enough.
Responsive design means that your site will adjust to the device’s size and make it easier for users to interact with it.
But if you don’t have a mobile-friendly URL structure, your site will still be difficult to navigate on smaller screens.
Mobile Friendly URLs
Mobile-friendly URLs are a must for any website. If you don’t have a mobile-friendly URL structure, you’ll lose out on potential customers using their mobile devices to search and navigate the web.
If you’re unsure if your website is mobile-friendly, use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool to find out.
The test tool will analyze your site and tell you whether or not it’s mobile-friendly or not. It also provides tips on how to make your site more compatible with mobile devices.
Google Search Central has guided how to make separate URLs for mobile-friendly structures.
To help our algorithms understand separate mobile URLs, we recommend using the following annotations: Add a rel="alternate" tag pointing to the corresponding mobile URL on the desktop page. This helps Googlebot discover the location of your site's mobile pages. On the mobile page, add a rel="canonical" tag pointing to the corresponding desktop URL.
Mistake 10: Not Optimizing Your Site Content
In the past, a desktop was the only way to access the internet. However, this is no longer the case. Today, more people are accessing the internet on their mobile phones than ever. It’s estimated that by 2024, 70% of all internet traffic will come from mobile devices.
Regarding content marketing and SEO, you must ensure your site content is optimized for mobile devices.
The following tips will help you do this:
- Make sure your website has a responsive design
- Use a text size of 16px or larger
- Keep your paragraphs short
- Use bullet points and numbered lists
Final Words
Mobile SEO mistakes happen when optimizing a website for mobile devices. These mistakes can be as simple as forgetting to optimize images, not using keywords in the right places, or not properly using responsive design.
These mistakes negatively affect rankings and click-through rates because they make your website less accessible to people searching for relevant content, which means you are losing out on potential customers.
Though Google has pointed out these common mistakes, web designers and SEO experts usually don’t bother to understand and avoid them, resulting in losing a huge amount of traffic and conversion.
Sharing is Caring
