Mobile Optimization is No Longer a Choice, it's a Necessity

With nearly 60 percent of U.S. adults owning smartphones and 40 percent owning tablets, it is clear that Google Glass and the rumored Apple SmartWatch, it is vital that enterprises properly configure and optimize their websites for mobile use.

BrightEdge, an enterprise search engine optimization (SEO) platform, has announced the release of their Mobile Share Report. The report outlines the benefits of having a properly configured mobile website and the negative results of not having one.

According to the report, smartphones account for 23 percent of organic search traffic with that number increasing by 50 percent every year. Considering nearly a quarter of organic search stems from mobile devices, it would be reasonable to assume that enterprises have done their preparation and made sure their websites are optimized for mobile use. Surprisingly though, the report states that 27 percent of websites are still not properly configured for smartphones resulting in a loss of 68 percent of their smartphone traffic.

For those that believe their non-optimized sites are doing fine just how they are, the report discovered that if the site is optimized enterprises could see up to a 200 percent increase in smartphone traffic. That's hard to ignore no matter how well your current site is doing.

"With smartphone website traffic growing at 10 times the rate of desktop, mobile websites are quickly becoming the cornerstone to content marketing and customer engagement," said Jim Yu, CEO and founder of BrightEdge. "We know that mobile will play an integral role in the future of marketing and want to help brands navigate the challenges that mobile presents. This report will help businesses understand the best ways to create mobile-optimized sites in terms of traffic and search rank, boosting customer engagement and, more importantly, ROI."