The latest data from Statista reveals that in 2023, the number of global mobile users has reached 7.33 billion, which means that 91.21% of the world’s population owns a phone today. It’s projected that their number will grow by 7.49 billion by 2025. These numbers showcase the deep penetration of these technologies into our lives. The only question is – what does this mean for businesses and their SEO efforts, in particular?
First of all, the growing number of users means an increase in traffic that comes from such devices. In the first quarter of 2023, as much as 58.33% of the entire web traffic came from smartphones and tablets. From the business perspective, this means that not meeting the consumers’ demand for responsiveness can make you lose over 50% of traffic and, respectively, plenty of opportunities to get your brand noticed by prospects. Also, it can significantly reduce the quality of the user experience (UX) you deliver. And finally, lower traffic and poor UX can lead to lower ranks in search engines.
This way, mobile optimization directly affects your SEO. In today’s world, there is no way to rank high in search engine results pages (SERPs) without investing heavily in mobile SEO. And in this article, we are going to prove it to you!
Understanding Mobile Optimization
This term is used to define the process of adapting your website design and content for all screens. The primary purpose of this process is to ensure that visitors can access the site from any gadget and receive the same good UX tailored to their screen size.
Speaking about web design, in particular, the design optimized for different screen sizes is called responsive. Responsive designs adapt to any screen and device to ensure that every visitor gets a responsive layout, high-quality images, fluid grids, etc. In terms of UX, this means a lot. Due to the growing number of smartphone and tablet queries, modern consumers are more likely to leave (and never come back to) a site that’s not mobile-friendly. And even if they stay on such a site, poor loading times and quality of content and design elements will simply ruin their UX, which will lead to a poorer reputation for your brand.
3 Ways Mobile Optimization Affects Your SEO Rankings
There are many ways to level up your SEO and rank higher in search engines. A few of the many effective SEO tactics include keyword analytics, website audit, on-page SEO, and link building. And you can handle these tasks easily with the help of the right tools. Just go to Top 10 SEO Software to find detailed reviews of the trending SEO software and find the best tools for your company, and your ranking will skyrocket after you leverage them. Still, your SEO strategy would be incomplete without SEO mobile.
There are three main ways how responsiveness affects your rankings:
- Search engine algorithms – To help users find easily navigable and readable websites on small screens, search engine algorithms use mobile-friendliness as one of the primary factors for ranking smartphone and tablet search results.
- Google’s mobile-first indexing – In 2019, Google adopted revolutionary mobile-first indexing. This indexing tactic implies that Google primarily uses your site’s version for small screens to rank its pages for search results given for smartphones, tablets, and even desktops.
- Local searches – When it comes to local queries, a large portion of them is conducted using smartphones for quick access on the go. Thus, if you want your business to rank high for such searches, mobile SEO is a must.
User Behavior on Mobile Devices
To use mobile SEO optimization efficiently, it’s crucial to understand the specs of user behavior on such devices. As of 2023, here are some of the key stats you should know:
- On average, people spend 4 hours and 48 minutes a day on their phones.
- Modern consumers spend more time on apps (3 hours and 28 minutes) than on browsers (51 minutes). Thus, delivering an app-like experience is the key to successful web pages and apps.
- Around one-third of users in the US made a purchase via their smartphone each week.
- 5% of consumers had a voice shopping experience in 2021, compared to 8.2% in 2018. The rise of voice search began a major trend for more conversational language in SEO mobile.
Benefits of Mobile Optimization for SEO
Now that you know more about mobile optimization and its effects, let’s move on to the most exciting part. So what exactly does it offer you in terms of SEO benefits?
Here are the key perks:
- Improved user experience and reduced bounce rates – First of all, if your website and all its features and elements work and look flawlessly regardless of the device, this will significantly improve your UX. As you already know, visitors tend to leave websites that aren’t responsive. Thus, it will also help you cut down on your bounce rates.
- Increased traffic and higher conversions – Thanks to responsiveness, your site will drive more traffic. And it will also boost your conversions since more and more users are shopping from their smartphones and tablets.
- Enhanced visibility and search engine rankings – If your site looks great on all screens, search engines will rank it higher both in mobile and desktop searches. Thus, you will not only rank higher but also become more visible to your prospects.
Conclusion
As you now know, mobile optimization is the act of making your site look and work great across all devices. In today’s world, with the amount of smartphone and tablet traffic, this process helps you increase your visibility, deliver better UX, and, respectively, improve your SEO and rank higher. And we believe that this trend will be here to stay as more and more consumers are switching to mobile.
So don’t miss out on all these benefits and prioritize mobile optimization for your website right now!