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Mobile Performance Means More: SEO 2019

Up To Speed on Mobile-First

The conversation about mobile-first indexing is not new to 2019 however so many businesses and SEO-related professionals are still trying to grasp the changes. All mobile-first indexing means is that desktop performance means less… and mobile means more. A mobile-first focus is also no reason to revert back to an m.dot mobile site. Most businesses I have been working with already have a far more mobile friendly and mobile responsive website than that. When ranking your website for SERPs, Google looks at over 300 factors. Therefore, there likely many items to improve on your current site before jumping into a new one. (speed, metadata, links, etc.) Considerations including a cost analysis, evaluation of internal and external factors, as well as other pros and cons is always recommended before making the decision to jump into a brand new website.

Regardless  of whether or not you improve your current site, or move into a newer version; KPI”s need to be adjusted to mobile. A business should not forget desktop, but the conversation needs to be replaced with mobile. This means you an expect to bring out your mobile phone in the next digital team meeting.

Read more from Google about Mobile First Indexing: https://developers.google.com/search/mobile-sites/mobile-first-indexing

Content, and the importance of it, is not going away. It may be that people continue to do deeper research on desktop, but that doesn’t mean that the content has less of an importance on mobile.

Digital Content for Mobile
So content is a pretty big area covering everything from text to lists, to blog and static, to social, data, voice, images & video. (More on those later.) In today’s digital environment, one must obtain a clear understanding of how content, SEO, and E.A.T (Authority, Expert & Authorship) all connect. Although most deep search into a topic area is done on desktop vs mobile, it’s still a goal to develop quality content which is #1 SEO optimized #2Intersting & Relevant #3 Supported by trusted links supported by different browsers and #4supports top categories on your website. (The top categories on your website are your key revenue generators.) Doing all of these four things will support E.A.T.

In addition, because Google is looking to match searcher intent to SERP’s, content that addresses niche topics is l likely to benefit your business in the long run. Websites that have really good in-depth content will always be more competitive. The challenge is that mobile content is more fragmented than desktop. Strategies such as deep linking can keep visitors on your business even if their research and journey is 100% mobile.

What you should know about deep linking: https://marketingland.com/what-mobile-marketers-really-need-to-know-about-deep-linking-237084

Mobile-First Display & Indexing Content
If a developer tells you that mobile doesn’t support the deep content of your desktop, beg to differ. The way that content is served up on mobile is slightly different due to the layout of the mobile platforms…but content is still available to the visitor. For example, “show more” is often a prompt seen on mobile to make deeper content visible to the mobile user. There are other methods used such as “hamburger menus” and “tab bars.”

In any case, you want both people and search engines to be able to find your content. So the question comes up, “how is mobile content indexed?” Content will be indexed for the mobile AND desktop versions of a page combined. Although mobile has priority, parity of content between mobile and desktop is crucial. If there is content on your desktop missing from mobile configured pages… it won’t be indexed. This includes text content, as well as metadata, and even images and alt attributes.

Organically, if your mobile website doesn’t rank for super common keywords or key phrases in your industry, you can still break through the clutter by creating content for local mobile search. This is because keywords are less competitive on a local level. Be sure that you have integrated the Google Map API and that your content is optimized with localized keywords where it makes sense. All of your mobile & desktop website pages should contain meta-descriptions, alt tags and headers specific to the content on each page. Lastly, longer meta descriptions are now an option, even in this era of smaller mobile devices for viewing search results.

Best Practices for Writing On-Page SEO on Mobile: https://searchenginewatch.com/2018/07/03/writing-seo-meta-descriptions-in-2018-best-practice-across-mobile-and-desktop/

Learn more about what The Leaning Tree Digital Marketing has to offer: https://leaningtreemarketing.com/

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Mobile Content for Local Search Results

Local Organic Search & Mobile Devices 

The increased usage of mobile devices for search is what has driven Google’s mobile-first indexing. At least 1/3 of all searches today are related to local inquiry from mobile phones. Local businesses are beginning to understand the importance of ranking high on mobile search- it’s how new leads are gathered and conversions transition into new clients or customers. Local organic SEO on mobile is absolutely required for any business who desires to gain a larger share of the market in which they are a part of.  Besides creating great mobile content, there are big challenges ahead.  Building from broad SEO implementation, there are additional moving pieces to manage. (Incorporating local schema markup, sitemaps, adding location citations, creating content that matches local user intent, optimizing location pages & Google My Business, attention to site speed, etc.)

Don’t forget that local organic searches on mobile phones focus on the  geographic area in which the search is being conducted.

An abundance of relevant mobile content that matches searcher intent… the better for you!

Mobile Content for Local Organic SEO 

Your optimized mobile site needs content more than ever.  Mobile sites may display content differently but mobile-first indexing has not changed the overall purpose of for creating content that aligns with more searches and relates to what people are looking for. Producing and optimizing local content is still one of the best ways to boost your visibility and achieve better rankings in local search results.

For your local businesses, the end goal for content should be to increase local organic visibility for a larger number of search queries. This should include tapping into more “long-tail keywords.” Don’t forget the importance of inserting local keywords into the beginning of on-page SEO for your local content. (Title Tags/Meta Descriptions.)

Ideas for Local Content

Through content, you can make your business a knowledgeable and trusted source; a leader in your local community, and within your industry.

Publish your great content strategically on different channels…

Go for the niche! Find areas of opportunity that competitors are missing, even if those keyword phrases don’t show as much search volume. It’s always interesting to look at the keyword phrases that driving people to your site, or to competitor sites. There are so many free tools out there that can generate great ideas. Depending upon the end goal of your mobile content strategy, you can turn to Facebook, LinkedIn and Google analytics for audience insights. Google analytics will also provide snapshots of current traffic data. Google’s keyword planner is an easy and free tool to measure search volume for keywords, and keyword phrases.

Local landing pages and business blogs are a great way to cover niches while supporting the top level pages on your website. Adding local reviews to relevant pages on your website is another great idea, and don’t forget PR. You can host local events, but many small businesses are more likely to attend or support local events. Although citations are correlated with local SEO, don’t forget the importance of link-building. If you support a local business or local event, be sure to ask them to place your logo and a link from their site to yours. Lastly, feel free to “piggy-back” on local news stories that may be relevant to your business. You can do this really easily through social media posts, tweets, and so forth.

What about a Mobile Responsive Website

If a business has available resources to invest, it may be worth looking into one of the newer platforms available to support a more mobile-responsive site. However, investing in a new website isn’t always the best solution, or the first necessary step. Before dumping a ton of money into a new site, have an SEO Strategist perform a website audit to determine areas that can be improved on the current platform. If the cost to optimize the current website exceeds what it would take to start from scratch on a more mobile-responsive site, then the business can make this decision with all the data at hand.

Local SEO on Mobile Devices

Local organic SEO on mobile should be the sole strategy for business. Google continues to shrink the real estate of local results.  Especially if your business is part of a super competitive industry, appearing in local search results on mobile is not only going to be the sole strategy, but it’s also going to be a continuous project. Your web developer may not have all the answers for you. Make sure you have the right Digital Strategist to do the job.

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Location Landing Page for Service-Related Multiple Location Business

What is a Location Landing Page?

Is it a location page? YES! Is it a landing page? YES!

It’s common to see service-related businesses with multiple locations not performing as well as they could in local search results.  At first glance, many of these businesses, such as law firms, insurance agencies, financial planners and home improvement specialties appear to have decent looking websites. However, what they typically have in common is that they are missing optimized location landing pages.

Having multiple locations doesn’t change local SEO ranking factors

Local SEO ranking factors have many moving parts. One piece of that puzzle is the “location landing page.”  A location landing page is a dedicated page on your website that is highly visible to search engines while providing all of the important information for website visitors to find and contact your business.  Aim to achieve clear connections between office locations and your services. These pages should also easily convert a web lead into a phone call, email, or forms submission to your business. Or, in the very least, provide directions to your business.

Again, if  you have multiple locations, a dedicated location landing page should be created for every one of your business physical locations.  Each page should be SEO optimized according to local ranking factors. Some of the most important ranking factors to keep in mind are:

  • Keep the name, address & phone of each location consistent across the web. Match each one with how they appear on your Google My Business location page.
  • Consider site navigation, architecture & page hierarchy when naming your new city page; ensure the city name is in both the URL and the Header of each page.
  • Title & Meta-Description unique to each location landing page & include city & state of each physical location AS WELL as service keywords you want to rank for.
  • Make your page relevant to your services and interesting to visitors by creating interesting and unique content. Keeping things unique for multiple locations can be a challenge, but
  • Ensure there are several ways to be contacted from these pages & don’t forget a Google Map with a marker and directions.
  • Use local citations such as Google My Business, Yelp, & Bing to start creating inbound links to each location landing page URL.
  • Ensure that each of your new pages are mobile friendly & have a fast load time.
  • Be sure to mention your locations throughout your website & add internal links to your new location landing pages.

Product vs Service Related Local Business Location Landing Page

Generally, businesses who sell products feature photos, descriptions and reviews to do much of the work of selling.  Businesses that sell services have more of a challenge to creative interesting and relevant descriptions, but are also encouraged to leverage and utilize reviews.  As long as your business has physical locations, and your goal is to optimize  local search results in those cities, there isn’t a difference in location landing page strategies or SEO ranking factors for this page.

Determine your customers search keyword intent and go from there.  (This will be some variety of your service keyword + city name.) Don’t get caught up in trying to stuff too much content / information into each of these pages.  Follow the bullets above. When completed, your location landing page should look and feel just a little bit like a PPC landing page.  It should have a strong message with super-tight context that grabs attention and clearly has contact information with easy accessibility to action.

Creative Ideas for Location Landing Page Content

  • Call This Location/Office Now.
  • Share a photo of the office location in this particular city.
  • When was this location established? Why?
  • What has changed over the years?
  • Has your office or the surrounding had renovations or improvements?
  • Is there parking here or nearby?
  • Does this office have a unique feature?
  • Does this office have a dedicated staff?
  • Is your business connected to this city by community sponsorships or events?
  • Do you have bragging rights connected to the city?
  • Can you provide alternative driving instructions or visual markers that would be helpful?
  • Do you have local reviews for your service? These are the best bragging rights! Add them!

Remember, the rest of your website provides more detailed information about your services.  You’re landing page should not look like another home page.  Be sure to have user-friendly navigation and include at least one link to a top-category page on each location landing page. If you do these things, along with the other elements highlighted, your local service-related business is off to a great start.

What NOT To Do on your Location Landing Page

  • Don’t cut & paste/duplicate content from other pages on your website.
  • Don’t make up landing pages for cities that you aren’t physically located in.
  • Don’t over or under-link this page. (And never purchase links.)
  • Don’t over-do the content to create clutter. This is a simple location landing page.

Hire Leaning Tree Digital Strategist To Create Your Location Landing Pages