When it comes to the survival for a website in the mobile-first index, a mere responsive site would not do well. But, there are many general and technical SEO aspects that one should consider and implement to the site for keeping it alive on the mobile SERP. This article is fully devoted to present our readers those necessary technical SEO aspects that contribute to the mobile SERP.
Mobile-First Indexing In SEO
Have you ever thought what exactly Google imply with mobile-first indexing? Well, it does not mean to make separate website indexing for the searches made on mobile by Google. So, if one uses a mobile-first indexing for a site or not, Google presents the site in search results through same web index.
Majorly, the only difference appears – rather in website crawling with desktop users, Google crawls sites for mobile users.
These users display that it has to be the android device; hence they expect from websites to optimise content for viewing on mobile on such devices.
Giving Users Mobile-Optimised Experience
Considering mobile users, elements Googlebot pays attention to base on the configuration of the website to manage mobile users. So, mobile-optimised experience should be delivered in following ways –
- Dynamic serving
- Distinct mobile URL
- Responsive website design
Working Over On-Page SEO
On-page SEO can make a huge difference in the SERP performance of a mobile website. The sites having a responsive design, it would not be a thing of concern because desktop and mobile pages would be same. But, if the site features distinct mobile URL or dynamic serving, you should double check the on-page SEO of your site.
Structured Data
Besides, simple on-site SEO factors, one should also pay attention to maintain structured data. Probably, your website already has embedded structured data for its desktop pages which will drive in great snippets to search result page of Google. In the absence of structured data for the mobile site, websites can even lose these snippets and the benefits its CTR convey.
Use of Hreflang Tags
Some of the people who are having an international site, somehow use hreflang tags that helps to show alternative content version of your site to different nations and languages. So, if it is your case too, then immediately update the hreflang tags for your mobile site version.
Google has already given a sign to expect adequate freflang tags to mobile and desktop sites. Therefore, if your website has separate URL for mobile, then ensure the hreflang tags on your site should point to the international content on your mobile version.
Pagination
For a better mobile user experience, sometimes sites do not paginate its content to mobile users in the way it does to desktop site users. Rather featuring links to internal pages, the mobile site can sometimes utilize infinite scrolling or no pagination for mobile users or present limited content only.
So, if you also follow same pagination practice, then it is the right time to fix it. Remember that poor pagination can indicate that Googlebot could not visualise beyond your home page having paginated content. When Googlebot fails to see the content, it would not crawl and even drop your site out from the index of Google.
So, there are so many technical things that need a review from your side for the mobile SERP survival of your site which includes internal link structure, a configuration of the site, quality surfer approach, redirects, crawling rate, robots.txt. and much more.
Considering these factors and implementing them to your current mobile SERP strategy would certainly improve ranking and overall website performance with the quality user experience.
A very good article on technical SEO. The tips and pointers shared are very detailed. Thanks for sharing. Keep posting.