We spend about 5 hours a day on our smartphones. As we know, the mobile users are impatient. The researches have shown that more than 50% of users skip a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Hence, a mobile website should be optimized intelligently. Optimizing a website for mobile does not mean to hire app developer and give him the project. To optimize a mobile website, the knowledge of SEO is mandatory.
In this article, we will discuss some common mistakes that you should avoid while optimizing a mobile website.
Slow loading site
The website loading speed is one of the most important factors for SEO score. The more is the loading time; less is the SEO score. Not only the SEO score, but it also affects the website traffic. As per the Google research, 53% of the people skip a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Many factors are responsible for a slow loading speed of a website. Have a look:
- Host: This is the primary factor for a which determines the loading time of a page.
- Massive images: Images with greater size will take more time to load. Hence, such images increase the loading time of a page.
- Lots of ads: If your website has many ads, it will take more time to load.
- Widgets are also responsible for increasing the loading time of a website. Widgets include the comment area and social buttons.
- Themes: Themes with many different effects will result in slow loading speed.
The following points will help you boost your website loading speed:
- Resize and compress the images on your web page. Do not compromise on the quality of the images. Try to offer the best image quality with less size. Some tools are available on the internet that optimizes the images for free. You can use these tools. Riot (Radical Image Optimization Tool) is one of these free tools.
- Never go for a cheaper hosting solution. If you choose the cheaper hosting solution for your website, you may compromise with the loading time.
- Avoid embedding lots of ads on your website.
- Always use lightweight widgets and themes.
- Use Google PageSpeed Insights to check your website’s performance.
Snippet
The snippet is one of the main factors to consider while optimizing a mobile website. A snippet is a short description displayed below every link on Google. Snippet let users know which of the displayed links contain appropriate information. If you do not have rich snippets, users will not click on your website which results in less traffic.
Apart from this, the critical thing to consider is the number of characters in the snippet. Mobile version of a website is different than that of a desktop version. Try to keep the first 110 to 120 characters of the metadata standalone. This is necessary, as the Google truncates the information on the mobile searches.
Small Font Size
Font size is another factor that affects a mobile website. Tiny fonts make your content difficult to read. Hence, users have to zoom in or out several times and may irritate the users. As a result of which you lose the traffic on the tour website. Also, the tiny font sizes are not suitable for the SEO score. Also, it will also affect your bounce rate.
Hence, always use a reasonable font size which is neither too large nor too small.
Same keyword optimization for a mobile site as well as a desktop site
Most of the businessmen think that the users search with the same keywords on both mobile and desktop sites. However, this is not true for many cases. Due to the implementation of Artificial Intelligence on mobile phones, users like to use the voice search. Hence, the searches vary on mobile site and desktop site.
Tip: For mobile keyword research, also use conversational phrases and questions.
Forceful sign in or installation of the mobile app
Many websites use the forceful sign in or installation of the mobile app. Such websites do not load on mobile correctly until you sign in with your account. Such websites also prevent user to browse the content until he signs in or registers. Avoid embedding such features on your mobile website.
This is not a right way to increase your subscribers and to sell your mobile app. Such practices will not only irritate the users but also decrease your SEO score. Also, this will lower down your website traffic.
Unplayful Content
Put yourself in the place of a user. You are searching for some information on the internet. Finally, you land on a website that contains useful content for you. There, you find the video embedded on the page. However, as you play the video, the website displays a popup message that the video cannot be played on your device. Will you stay on that page or search for another website? You will exit that website and continue your search on the internet. Avoid such mistakes.
If you wish to embed videos in your website, use HTML5. The Google recommends it.
Ads cover the content
Do not stuff the ads on your website. As the mobile screen of all mobiles is not same, stuffing the ads will create a problem for mobile users that have a small sized screen. It is also possible that the ads cover the useful content. Even ads also cover the links in some cases on a mobile website.
Such practices affect your SEO score and make your website trying to rank on Google.
404 Errors
The 404 errors occur due to the mistake in typing the correct address of a website. Also, if your website has broken links, it also causes the 404 errors. Besides this, the broken links will affect your site ranking.
Poor mobile site design
Do not use the same design for both mobile and desktop sites. If you are using the similar designs, make sure that it is mobile friendly. Website design is one of the critical factors that are responsible for user experience. Poor website design will decrease the user experience.
Remember, your website will be loaded on different devices including mobiles and tablets. Always use space among the elements on your website, so that users will not tap on the wrong links.
Conclusion
No matter if you are an iOS app developer or the Android one. Optimizing a website for mobile does not require only the programming skills. You should also have good SEO knowledge. If you do not know about SEO, the chances of making common mistakes are high.
