You see a lot while going about your day, and there’s no end to what it might remind you to do. You see an ad for a car and remember your brakes have been squealing. You see water dripping off a tree’s leaves and remember your tap has been leaking. In these moments, will you wait until the next time you’re at a computer to look up the nearest auto shop or a plumber in your area? In all likelihood, you’ll pull out your phone and search then and there before you forget.
Smartphones are an increasingly common way to access information online. Optimizing your site for mobile searches can dramatically improve your online presence and lead to valuable new business, but how do you do it? In this blog, the team at LinkNow will explain the importance of optimizing your site for mobile devices and some key techniques for doing so.
Why Do You Need To Optimize Your Site for Mobile Searches?
It’s difficult to overstate the importance of a mobile-friendly website design. Any time you can make it easier for search engine users to view your site, it’s a massive advantage for your business.
Let’s take a look at some of the key reasons why:
Most Searches Are on Mobile Devices
As smartphones become increasingly ever-present, the percentage of searches that come from them also increases. In 2024, mobile searches make up the majority of all searches and have consistently outranked those on desktop since 2020.
Depending on who you ask, mobile searches currently account for 55 to 65 percent of searches. If your site doesn’t work or perform well on mobile devices, you’re missing out on many potential visits.
Mobile Searches Are More Goal-Oriented
Mobile users are more likely to be in a hurry. You’re most likely to use your phone when you’re out of the house and the computer isn’t an option. That experience tends to align with wanting quick, easy information. If you’re out and remember you need to visit a mechanic, you’re not going to spend much time browsing different ones and comparing rates. You’re already out; you might as well find a quick and easy fix.
These unique circumstances make it important for your site to be especially easy to navigate. You want a user to be able to quickly find the information they want and progress to booking a service within seconds. A clunky site that a user can’t easily progress through can cost you valuable business.
Mobile Optimization Is Important for SEO
The primary goal of a search engine is to get its users the information they want as soon as possible. Search engines are constantly evaluating the pages on your site to see if they’re effectively accomplishing this goal. Recognizing the upward trend in mobile searches, search engines also concern themselves with how your pages perform on mobile devices and prioritize pages specifically designed to do so.
There are a few key metrics that search engines use to judge how mobile-friendly your site is, including the following:
- •Load speed: Mobile devices can have more difficulty opening large sites and files, and mobile users are more likely to want immediate results.
- •Button size: Larger buttons are more accessible for those with larger fingers, mobility issues, or difficulty using mobile devices.
- •Text readability: Mobile devices tend to have smaller screens, which can make it difficult to read a page’s text. Easy-to-read fonts are crucial.
- •Navigation structure: Small screens and awkward hand positions can make it more difficult to navigate a mobile site.
Additionally, poor mobile layouts have a compounding effect. Users are more likely to exit a page if it fails to load quickly or looks hard to use. These quick exits lead to a high bounce rate, or the percentage of users who quickly leave a page. Search engines rely on this metric to judge how helpful your site has been to past visitors and will judge a site with a high bounce rate as unhelpful.
How To Optimize Your Site for Mobile Searches
It’s important to optimize your site for mobile, but how do you do it? Let’s look at some ways you can ensure your site is helpful and easy to use for mobile visitors.
Loading Speed
Mobile devices are typically slower to open pages than desktop or laptop computers. Mobile devices tend to have slower, less powerful processors, and their internet connections can vary in strength from place to place. These factors make it crucial for your mobile site to be easy to load without being bogged down with unnecessary elements.
Here are a few tips you can use to lower your site’s load speed:
- •Compress your images and videos to reduce file size.
- •Set your site to load the information at the top of the page first so users can begin reading while the rest of the page loads.
- •Enable internet browsers to cache elements of your site, including images, for a specific period so that your site loads quicker on revisits.
- •Optimize your code to remove unnecessary characters.
Mobile Displays
Mobile displays need to be simpler than their desktop counterparts due to the limited space on the screen. The text needs to be easy to read, and the layout needs to be uncluttered and easy to navigate.
To optimize your site’s display for mobile, consider the following tips:
- •Use a mobile-friendly font large enough to read without pinching and zooming the screen.
- •Check that your text isn’t accidentally on the wrong background or going off the page, forcing the reader to scroll sideways to read.
- •Make sure headings are clear and accurate so users can easily locate the information they’re looking for.
- •Ensure any pop-ups are short, contain easily actionable content, and can be easily closed.
- •Choose a design that can quickly and easily adjust to different screen sizes.
Mobile CTA Buttons
Call to action (CTA) buttons are those “Call Us” or “Book Now” buttons you see that invite you to take further action. For mobile sites, CTA buttons need to be large. Large buttons go a long way to eliminating any issues a user might have with clicking the button, whether it’s an unresponsive screen or difficulty using a smartphone.
Additionally, they need to be easy to identify as clickable buttons and brief in their wording. Mobile users want quick results, so it needs to be easy for someone to find the action they’re looking for. You don’t want a visitor to come to your site looking to book a service only to leave when they can’t find out how.
Mobile Forms
Similar to CTA buttons, mobile booking or contact forms also need to be easy to navigate.
Guidelines for mobile forms include the following:
- •Ideally, the user shouldn’t have to scroll to see the whole form.
- •Keep the number of sections the user must fill out as low as possible.
- •Make sections large enough that users can easily click on each one.
- •Make the “Submit” or “Book” button large and easy to see.
Navigation Structure
Smaller screens and the natural placement of your hands when holding a phone can make navigating mobile websites awkward. That awkwardness means you have to take special care to avoid some pitfalls that can quickly lead to a frustrating user experience. Fortunately, most tips for creating an easy navigation structure are fairly straightforward.
Clear, brief, and consistent page labels allow users to understand where to go and easily locate themselves on the site. Menu buttons also need to be comfortably reachable. Menus you can only access from the top of the page can be especially annoying if you can’t scroll up enough to bring them close to the bottom. For this reason, many mobile sites prefer side menus.
Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly With a Digital Marketing Company
Optimizing your site for mobile searches is critical to succeeding in your digital marketing strategy. With that said, it’s not always easy to find the time and sort through the complexities of web design. When you need a helping hand, contact the team at LinkNow. We design, maintain, and update websites for small businesses across North America, and our services extend to optimizing your site for mobile searches.
Contact us now to book a free consultation and get started.
