Winning in a  Mobile Search World #SearchStarsSE

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @orainti
Winning in a  
Mobile Search World

Since a few years ago, in a
galaxy not so far away….

Smartphones have become  
the primary digital device

Which shouldn’t be a surprise right?

We might be a bit addicted

Mobile phones are a primal need now

Like, very very primal
Would you be willing to give up your Mobile phone?

For good & bad, our behaviour 
has largely changed with them

Since 2014 Smartphones have driven  
the growth of digital time spent

Worldwide

20% of ecommerce transactions  
are performed from Mobile devices

http://searchengineland.com/report-nearly-60-percent-searches-now-mobile-devices-255025
Search is also mostly  
mobile driven now

As a consequence, Google is moving  
towards a Mobile First Index
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/11/mobile-first-indexing.html

Ranking signals will come from your 
mobile Website, not Desktop one
http://searchengineland.com/faq-google-mobile-first-index-262751

It’s already being tested, and  
likely to happen next year
http://searchengineland.com/googles-mobile-first-index-likely-not-coming-2018-earliest-277074

At some point Google will  
switch to a Mobile-Only Index
http://searchengineland.com/faq-google-mobile-first-index-262751

Sadly, many mobile sites are not ready…
(because they’re not really optimised)
ADSINTERSTITIALS

And they also hurt mobile user experience

Which also makes people to leave
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/three-ways-mobile-is-changing-canadians-expectations.html

Negatively inﬂuencing mobile conversions
http://www.monetate.com/blog/ecommerce-benchmarks-q4-2016

Causing a non-trivial  
mobile-desktop conversion gap

It’s time to learn some Jedi  
Mobile SEO Skills

I’m Aleyda Solis

I help companies to connect with them

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @orainti#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @orainti
Some of them brands you likely know

Today, I’ll help you too

A correctly
conﬁgured and
accessible Mobile
Website you
must have

THAT WAS YODA ACCENT, DON’T BLAME ME

Responsive Web Dynamic Serving Independent Mobile Web
There are 3 main Mobile  
Web Conﬁgurations

Responsive Web Design, that uses CSS 
Media Queries to reformat the same HTML

Dynamic Serving, showing different HTMLs
through the same URL based on user-agent
Desktop Mobile

Independent Mobile Site, that serves  
different HTMLs through different URLs
Desktop Mobile

Each of them have Pros & Cons
https://developers.google.com/search/mobile-sites/mobile-seo/
Responsive Web Dynamic Serving Independent Mobile Web
Same HTML for Mobile &
Desktop = Less
personalisation & speed
restrictions
Different HTML for Mobile &
Desktop through the same URL =
More difficult to correctly serve
and maintain
Different HTML for Mobile & Desktop
through different URLs = More difficult to
configure, serve, crawl and maintain

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintihttps://developers.google.com/search/mobile-sites/mobile-seo/
But they are all recognised by Google

As long as they comply with  
certain minimal conﬁgurations
https://developers.google.com/search/mobile-sites/mobile-seo/
Responsive Web
Don’t block images, css & js
resources.
Include the Vary: User-Agent  
HTTP header
Identify & serve the relevant Web
version to the right user agent
Implement Rel alternate & canonical Tags
between mobile & desktop URLs.  
 
Implement 301-redirects between mobile &
desktop to refer the user agent to the
relevant Web version
Dynamic Serving Independent Mobile Web

Google’s requirements won’t likely  
change with the Mobile First Index too

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintihttps://www.seroundtable.com/google-mobile-migration-24024.html
But if you’re looking to move from an
independent to a responsive site, do it now

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintihttps://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly
It’s then critical to verify if your site  
pages pass the Google Mobile validation

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintiGoogle Search Console
As well as if they trigger Mobile  
Usability errors in the Search Console

Use the Google PageSpeed API with URL
Proﬁler to validate all your pages easily
urlprofiler.com

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintiSitebulb
You can also use SEO crawlers to verify  
all of your mobile Website URLs

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintiDeepcrawl
As well as checking the relevant 
mobile Web conﬁguration

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintiGoogle Analytics
Use Analytics to identify the top mobile
devices already being used by your visitors

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintibit.ly/chromedevicemode
Emulate them using Chrome to check how  
your most important pages are shown
RIGHT CLICK + INSPECT

“Is your Mobile Web
effectively conﬁgured?
I already start sensing
the force….”

But also, all your
content should be
ﬁndable in your
Mobile Web too

>
It’s usual to ﬁnd Mobile sites showing
less content than the desktop versions

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintihttp://searchengineland.com/faq-google-mobile-first-index-262751
But with a Mobile First index you should
bring all your content & structured data

It’s ok to use expandable content
by using CSS in this case

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintihttps://www.seroundtable.com/google-prepare-for-mobile-first-index-24052.html
But critical to make sure your mobile  
Web content is accessible and indexable

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintihttps://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html
This is why bigger intrusive Mobile app
pop-ups & interstitials are penalised

To refer to apps, is better
to use app banners instead

Don’t do this!

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintihttps://www.sistrix.com/blog/pinterst-com-hit-googles-interstitials-update/
Or this might happen :(
GOOGLE POP-UP UPDATE RELEASE
BYE MOBILE 
VISBILITY

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintiScreaming Frog
Emulate the Googlebot for Smartphones 
and crawl your site w/ JS rendering

Verify if the mobile crawler sees the same  
than the desktop and the user
WHY ARE THESE
RESOURCES
BLOCKED?
HOW IS THE
MOBILE PAGE
RENDERED?

Are there errors, non-relevant redirects,
blocked or no-indexed URLs
WHY ARE
THESE URLS
RETURNING
ERRORS?
WHY ARE
THESE URLS
NOINDEXED?
ARE THEY
CORRECTLY
CANONICALISED?

Do the same with every content
element, from titles to main text
ARE THESE
TITLES
RELEVANT?
WHY THESE
PAGES DON’T
HAVE TITLES?

Do a parity mobile-desktop SEO audit
to compare the crawler behaviour
https://moz.com/blog/mobile-parity-audits

“If all your relevant content is
accessible & indexable on your
mobile site, you are half-way there”

But your Mobile
site content
should also fulﬁl
your mobile users
search intent

Grrroaargghh?
Including Chewbacca’s Mobile searches

How do you organise & prioritise  
your Mobile Web Content?

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @orainti#mobileﬁrstseo at #TuringFest by @aleyda from @orainti
Google Search Console
Identify the queries already attracting  
more visibility in Mobile search results

Which are those bringing the best rankings,
visibility and features to your competitors
Sistrix

Compare your mobile rankings
vs. your competitors
Semrush

Online Ideas &
inspiration
Opinions,
reviews & advice
Brand
discovery
Product, price &
features comparisons
Product
availability
Online offers,
promos & coupons
Take into consideration the queries
made across the customer journey

Buy Backpacks NikeNew
ACTION PRODUCT BRANDCHARACTERISTIC
Sell
Reserve
Register
Rucksacks
Shoes
Jackets
Purses
Pants
Shirts
Caps
Adidas
Guess
Levis
Cheap
For Women
TYPE
School
Subscribe
Exclusive Travel
BabiesRed
For Yoga
New York
LOCATION
Around me
Nearby
Online
Used
Establish the most popular terms patterns

More Generic
More Volume
Less Relevant
Less Conversions
More Speciﬁc
Less Volume
More Relevant
More Conversions
ACTION PRODUCT LOCATION
BUY BACKPACK NEAR ME
ACTION + PRODUCT PRODUCT + CHARACTERISTIC PRODUCT + BRAND
BUY BACKPACKS NEW BACKPACKS NIKE BACKPACKS
Action + Product + Characteristic
BUY CHEAP BACKPACK
Action + Product + Location
BUY BACKPACK IN NYC
Product + Type + Brand
NIKE SCHOOL BACKPACK
Action + Product + Characteristic + Location
BUY NEW BACKPACK IN NYC
Action + Product + Brand + Location
BUY NIKE BACKPACK IN NYC
Product + Brand + Location
NIKE BACKPACK IN NYC
Expand them to look for the most  
relevant & popular queries

Travel backpacks Backpacks Sale
Segment your queries based on their
categories, characteristics, locations…

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintiGoogle Keyword Planner
Lastly verifying which are  
more popular from mobile devices
Travel backpacks Backpacks Sale

To prioritise accordingly

“It’s about fulﬁlling
your mobile audience
search need with your
content information,
format & organisation”

Last but not
least, Your
Mobile Web
faaaaaast
should be

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintihttps://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/experience-design/mobile-page-speed-load-time/
Your site speed is critical to your  
Mobile users experience & conversions

As well as their well-being

Your users have a minimum
expectation of 2 seconds

The average is shockingly higher though
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/data-measurement/mobile-page-speed-new-industry-benchmarks/

And consequences are devastating

#winningmobile at #searchstarsSE by @aleyda from @oraintihttp://www.thesempost.com/google-mobile-first-index-page-speed-ranking/
Mobile speed is only getting more important  
with Google’s mobile ﬁrst index too

How long does the H&M mobile  
home page takes to load?

5 Seconds
https://testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com/

… What about Aftonbladet?

6 Seconds

… and the Let’s Deal site?

9 Seconds

Sigh. What about your own site?

Use Analytics to see which of your most
important mobile pages take longer to load
Google Analytics

Complement this data with the  
one of your own Mobile crawls

With Sitebulb you will get the pages and
resources affected, along recommendations

Verify this for your top pages with the  
Chrome Lighthouse integration

Obtaining directly the resources  
that need to be optimised too

Check out also these actionable resources  
to optimise your site page speed
https://makefastsites.com/ & https://pa.ag/iss17speed

The solution is to implement WPO principles  
to make your Mobile site to load fast
https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/insights/rules

But big sites have restrictive legacy systems  
& small ones little resources to improve it

That’s why Google launched AMP  
almost two years ago
http://searchengineland.com/amp-top-stories-now-live-243314

It uses a “simpliﬁed” HTML version with
optimised resources & cache to serve it faster

AMP should be published “parallely”  
to your current (slower) Web pages
https://amp.businessinsider.com/ 
game-of-thrones-gendry-olympian-running-meme-2017-8
http://www.businessinsider.com/ 

AMP is certainly much faster!
https://amp.businessinsider.com/ 
http://www.businessinsider.com/ 

Again
Original Mobile Page AMP URL Version

and again

AMP is also cached and pre-rendered  
by Google when shown in Mobile SERPs
Google AMP Viewer URL 
that is pre-rendered
Canonical URL of the Page
Content served from
AMP Cache URL

It’s faster than the Millenium Falcon

Although AMP usage is not  
a ranking factor (at least yet)

And Google won’t index AMP  
in a Mobile First Index

It has been made a requirement to  
be included in the News Carrousels

As well as shown in organic results
AMP article rich results 
Can be free-standing in the results
page, or embedded in a carousel of
similar result types. All AMP article rich
results are also rich results.
AMP non-rich results 
A basic, non-graphical search result
pointing to the AMP page.

All this has skyrocketed its visibility …

As well as the extra trafﬁc  
sites can get from using it
AMP Rich Results
AMP Non-Rich Results
Non-AMP Results
More Mobile organic visibility
and traffic from AMP than
non-AMP results

Incentivising its adoption, especially  
among big media oriented sites
Sistrix

Boom

However, I checked if Swedish news sites  
had implemented it, but I had no luck

So AMP is not a solution for your
original site pages speed, but a
“mobile Web speed add-on”

That’s why there are reservations: “AMP has a
good intentions… but sacriﬁce the open Web”

It also provides an inconsistent mobile user
experience when accessing from SERPs
#ampsuccess at #brightonseo by @aleyda from @orainti

You shouldn’t then use AMP as a silver
bullet Mobile speed solution but an
alternative in case you can proﬁt from it

Avoiding this type of experience
https://thirtybees.com/blog/amp-is-bad-for-e-commerce/

Use AMP when your own Mobile speed
sucks and you can’t improve it and/or
want to be included in the news
carrousel, doing the following…

Verify that your mobile Web functionality  
can be replicated by using AMP Components
https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference

The goal is to keep the UI and functionality
consistent with your AMP version
=

Avoiding this
<>

Don’t use AMP when you have an independent
mobile Web… otherwise you’ll have this
Desktop Web Parallel Mobile Web Version with M subdomain
AMP version under the M subdomain
Google AMP Viewer URL
Canonicalize to
Generates

If you don’t want to keep your users in AMP
you can refer your mobile Web version too

Verify the share and type of queries for which
AMP results are shown in your industry

Identify which of them are shown along SERP
features to prioritise and format your content

Validate your AMP implementation before &
after launch with SEO crawlers to avoid issues
https://sitebulb.com/

It’s usual to be overwhelmed by the  
increase of AMP issues when launching
SIGH

Prioritise to ﬁx critical issues ﬁrst, which will
be the ones preventing to be shown in SERPs
THIS

Track your AMP using AMP-Analytics and  
opt-in to measure your activity on AMP cache
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/amp-analytics/?hl=en

These are just the highlights to maximise
your results when implementing AMP

There’s more though: Here’s a complete
presentation about it
https://www.slideshare.net/aleydasolis/setting-amp-for-success-at-brightonseo

But time is (sadly) almost up!

There are more Mobile First questions
to address to maximise your visibility
https://www.slideshare.net/aleydasolis/setting-amp-for-success-at-brightonseo
What’s your
Mobile
Audience
Search
Behavior?
What’s your
site Mobile
Search
Visibility &
Traffic
Performance
?
What’s your
competition
Mobile Web
Search
Visibility?
Does your
site have a
Mobile Web
Version?
How Mobile
Search Crawlers
access to your
site?
What’s your
Site Mobile
speed?
Is your Mobile
Web Content
effectively
Rendered?
Is AMP
effectively
Implemented?
How do your
ranked pages
look in Mobile
SERPs?
What’s the
AMP impact
on mobile
visibility &
traffic?
What’s
your Mobile
Visibility
impact on
Conversions?

Here’s how to answer them
#mobileﬁrstseo at #TuringFest by @aleyda from @oraintihttps://moz.com/blog/mobile-seo-stack-tools

To obtain this mobile  
search visibility increase

these mobile search conversions

And this growth trend

Now is your turn

Tack

Winning in a  Mobile Search World #SearchStarsSE

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