Once upon a time, Google prioritised desktop computers, before mobile phones, but nowadays that’s all changed. Why? At least 60% of all Google searches occur on a mobile device, and in some industries it’s as high as 72%. For this reason, mobile phones are now the top priority for Google’s Search Engine and so having a mobile-friendly website is absolutely critical. What happens if your website’s not mobile-friendly? Your website goes to the back of the queue. You don’t want that to happen to your website, do you?
Why Should You Care?
When was the last time you heard someone say, ‘Just Yahoo it,’ or ‘Did you look on Bing?’ Never. Google reigns supreme with 95% of all internet searches (that’s 5.6 billion per day) happening through Google and most of those coming from mobile phones. If your website’s not mobile-friendly, it’s being viewed by Google as out of date, and getting cast aside by the few people who actually do find it as, ‘Too hard,’ or ‘Too old.’ If your website’s not optimised for mobile, we’d suggest the following changes:
#1 Get Responsive
Your website’s only mobile-friendly if it’s responsive, which means it responds to mobile phones by adjusting your website’s design/layout to suit the device it’s appearing on. Responsive sites are user-friendly, which means they’re easy to navigate and easy to use. If you’ve ever landed on a site on your phone and it looked disorganised, then you found you couldn’t read all the text, see all the images, or click the buttons, you know what it’s like to visit a website that’s not mobile optimised.
#2 1, 2, 3 You’ve Lost Me…
Load time, do you know yours? On the internet, first impressions are everything and seconds really matter. In just 3 seconds, you could lose someone, as they click elsewhere. If your website’s slow to load, your customers will probably go elsewhere and Google will deprioritise your site as being too slow. Google expects mobile websites to load in 1 second and if yours doesn’t, someone else’s will, so Google will prioritise that site instead. It might sound harsh, but just think how quickly you click away when a site doesn’t load… Google wants to prioritise sites that are a safe bet. Is your website a safe bet yet?
#3 UX is Key
User-experience (UX) is all about how people experience your website. Just as customers come first and know best in the real world, users come first online. If your content is hard to read, or your mobile site’s tough to navigate, users will go elsewhere, more than likely to your competitors. We optimise all of our websites for mobile readability by doing the following:
- Choosing a big, clear easy to read font e.g Helvetica, or Roboto, as they’re considered to be easy-to-read fonts.
- Avoiding overwhelm from too many words. We keep paragraphs short and sweet.
- Using contrasting colours, for the background and text. Black text on a white screen is easy to read.
Tip 4: Facebook, Instagram & Twitter
Make sure your site has buttons that allow people to easily link to your social media profiles. Our designers tend to place them at the top, or bottom of the mobile webpage, or we’ll have them at the side, so they stay in place while people are scrolling. It’s important that social media buttons are readily available as soon as people want to access them. Why?
Have you ever gone to a business’s Facebook to look at their reviews, or to check their most recent post to make sure they’re a trustworthy business? If yes, then you know how important social media can be. At Sky Media, we offer a Free Social Media WOF Report for Kiwi businesses, so speak to us and we’ll check to see if your social’s fit to fly online.
Tip 6: Local Search via Mobile SEO
Local SEO for mobile search is essential nowadays, because people searching from their smartphone are looking to complete an action immediately. Maybe that’s making a call to the local restaurant, or finding the address of a business they’re looking to travel to? As a result, it’s crucial to display well on mobile phones for local Google search results, so customers can easily choose your business from the first search at the top of the list. Easy access is everything online, so getting your website Google prioritised, means your site stays top-of-mind.
Maximise Your Local Mobile SEO Opportunities with D.I.Y Google My Business:
- Be sure to register with Google My Business and take the time to upload appealing images.
- Include the current name, address and phone number for your business. Remember to keep this updated and consistent. Specifying the type of business you run is also beneficial. You want to show up in results when people search for ‘your business’ + ‘your location’ e.g ‘Life Pharmacy’ + ‘Auckland.’
- Have a clear call to action = either ‘click-to-call,’ ‘maps,’ or ‘book,’ in order to make the most out of local Google searches.
Being Mobile-friendly’s Only the Beginning
So you’ve got a mobile-friendly site and now you’re fit to fly online. Congratulations! That’s Phase 1 complete, but it’s only the beginning. Now, it’s time to maximise opportunities by ensuring your website reaches the top of the Google search – Google’s 1st Page. This can be achieved in one of two ways:
- Google Ads – Sky Media’s fastest way to get on Google’s 1st Page.
- Google SEO – Sky Media’s #1 Google Search Engine Strategy – Get unlimited clicks for free!
Yes, with Google Ads you can get your site on Page 1 in a matter of days, while SEO (search engine optimisation) can get you there and keep you there for the long haul. Most companies see website progression from SEO in 30 days, with results in under 90 days. Our team manages to get 83% of all SEO Keywords to Page 1 of Google in under 6 months.
Speak with the team at Sky Media and we’ll identify your site’s current position on Google for free, then we’ll suggest some top-performing SEO Keywords that are highly likely to be beneficial for your business. Check out our Results Page and you’ll see that our high-flying clients all have one thing in common, they used our Supercharged SEO and Google Ads Combo to take their website to new heights online.