Today there is much talk about the trend of mobile SEO. Mobile is much more than a trend and mobile SEO is a necessity for businesses who want to thrive. Growing a business means staying on top of the market and the market is mobile. With cellphone owners now numbering in the billions, it would be silly to overlook the opportunities this presents. The search engines haven’t, and businesses shouldn’t either. Mobile SEO is a bit different than the kind of optimization that is so common. While you do want to optimize for all screen types, mobile specifically refers to the cellphone, so keep that in mind. It will help you make better decisions as you move forward. Below are some tips to help you master mobile SEO, or at least start off on the right foot.

Make Mobile-Friendly Pages

You may or may not have heard all the hype surrounding mobile-first indexing. Mobile-first indexing means that search engines look for mobile versions of a page first to be included in their index. It is also a major ranking factor. Of course, desktop page versions are still indexed but they are indexed behind mobile versions. What this means is that mobile-friendly pages are returned in queries first as opposed to desktop versions and they are ranked higher. So, if two of the same kinds of sites are competing for SERPs, all other things being equal, the one with the mobile version will win and get a rankings boost. If that’s not an important part of mobile-SEO, then nothing is.

Load Speed

A page’s load speed affects everything from conversion rates to bounce rates and indexing. Once thought to be irrelevant in SEO, Google’s algorithm now measures page speed as an important ranking factor. Page speed is different than site speed. Page speed is the amount of time it takes for a browser to receive the first byte of information from the web server. Everybody has clicked on a page that takes too long to load. What happens? You close it and move on to a faster page contributing to the bounce rate of the first page. A slow load time contributes to a poor user experience, which drags down your conversion rate. There are plenty of free tools on the internet to measure page speed, so take advantage of them.

Allow Java And Avoid Flash

If your site is already optimized, then mobile SEO isn’t a far stretch. Webmasters used to block Java Script, CCS and images because mobile devices couldn’t support their elements. Mobile has come a long way and modern devices have no problem with these aspects, so there is no need to block them. However, when optimizing for mobile devices it is important to avoid pop-ups and Flash for a smoother user experience. You will also want to ensure a smooth browsing experience on a smaller screen. Keep this in mind when setting up pages and tabs for mobile. People do a lot of browsing and navigating from their mobile devices and your page set up should contribute to a smooth user experience.

These simple steps will help you master mobile SEO and take full advantage of the current shift to mobile. Optimize your site for mobile-first indexing and user experience with mobile-friendly pages that load quickly. Take extra steps to ensure your pages display properly across different screen types and those who want to navigate through your site on a mobile device can do so with ease.