:: By Travis Bliffen, Stellar SEO ::
As many Web professionals are aware, Google recently announced that mobile-friendly sites will be getting an extra boost over their non-mobile counterparts, meaning that those who are still not mobile, have waited long enough.
There is, of course, much more to consider than just that.
Last year, Google rolled out the original mobile-friendly update coined by the industry as "Mobilegeddon" but when the dust settled the update had made an underwhelming impact. Some speculate that the update was throttled or scaled back due to the sheer number of sites that were not mobile friendly at the time. After recently announcing that the mobile update will be given more weight in the ranking algorithm, we can all agree that the chatter about limiting the impact was most likely accurate. Since mobile is going to be even more important in 2016, here are a few ways to take advantage of the growing mobile audience.
Having a conversation about making sure your site is mobile friendly would have been eye opener in 2013, today is should be common knowledge so we are going to discuss what else you should be doing to set yourself ahead of the pack in the coming months.
In 2015, Amit Singhal of Google announced that mobile searches had officially surpassed desktop searches. Even with that information, many businesses have failed to create sales funnels optimized for the mobile user. To develop an effective mobile funnel you should consider how mobile searches differ from desktop and the intentions of those searching. In general, mobile funnels should be short, concise and hyper-targeted.
The "everybody needs an app" craze has calmed down considerably but there are still a ton of businesses that have apps that are really more of an annoyance than an asset. Before you have a new app developed or you continue to promote your existing app ask yourself these two questions:
- Does my app make it easier to purchase a product or service?
- Is this app improving our ability to serve customers?
If you cannot answer yes, may be time to ditch the app and integrate those functions into your website.
If you are still on the fence about whether or not to build a better mobile experience for your users, Google has given us another glimpse into the future. The Accelerated Mobile Pages Project (AMP) is an initiative to provide users with instant information. If you are not familiar, I suggest taking some time to read more about AMP so that you can understand if and how it could benefit your business.
In today's massive digital landscape it is easy to feel pressured and pulled into every direction. As we close out the first quarter in 2016, the challenge for each of you should be to set aside some time to evaluate your marketing strategies channels and determine if they are providing you with a return on investment (ROI). If not, streamline your process and shift funds to channels that are producing. Keep it simple stupid (K.I.S.S.) is something most of us were taught as kids but it is easy to get "shiny object" syndrome and over-complicate how we reach our ideal customers.
As a business owner, marketing firm, in-house SEO or someone considering your own business, take a long, hard look at what isn't working and replace it with more of what is. Ensuring you are waiting with open arms for mobile traffic is just one way you can simplify and improve in 2016, unless your industry does not attract mobile traffic.
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