All about Mobile First, or How not to lose position in Google in 2018-2019.

Visitors leave the site, so nothing and not buying? And how long have you assessed its performance on mobile devices? Perhaps your online store or landing page is simply inconvenient for phone users.

Today, about 53% of the world’s web traffic falls on mobile devices. By the end of 2018, this figure could grow to 60%. Do not pay attention to the mobile version of your site – a crime against the business!

In this article we gathered everything you need to know about Mobile First’s strategy when creating and optimizing sites, and also explained why it should be implemented in the near future.

What is Mobile First and why is it important

How Mobile First differs from the usual process of creating websites

Usually the creation of the site looks like this: programmers and designers develop a full (computer) version, and only then adapt it for mobile devices.

Mobile First implies the original creation of the mobile version. That is, first of all, web developers ideally customize the project for smartphones and only then adapt it for display on desktops.

With this approach, there is no feeling that the mobile version is cropped or underdeveloped – the elements do not run into each other, and all the menus and links work correctly.

Trend on Mobile First asked Google

The first steps to Mobile First were made in 2015. Google introduced a new ranking algorithm, according to which sites without a mobile version lost their positions in the search results.

At the SMX Advanced conference in 2017, the company went even further and launched the indexing on the principle of Mobile First. The search engine began to consider mobile versions of sites as the main ones, and the quality of their optimization should be taken into account when forming the issue.

Full transition to Mobile First will take several years, but it is not necessary to postpone adaptation of the site to this method. Do it before competitors – will be higher in the search.

About 50% of visitors come to your site from phones

If you look at your site’s statistics in Google Analytics, you’ll see that 50% of the traffic or even more is accounted for by mobile devices. Each year this indicator will only grow.

In 2017, several large-scale studies on mobile sites were conducted, here are the most interesting data:

• 60% of respondents said that they are unlikely to return to the site with an uncomfortable mobile version;
• 57% of users are sure that they will never recommend an Internet business with a bad mobile site;
• 80% of sites from the Alexa Rank rating have adapted mobile versions;
• 69% of the time in the network is the use of smartphones;
• Every hour from mobile devices, 68 million searches are performed on Google;
• 35% of mobile search requests are made from devices with 5.1-inch screens. The most popular display resolution is 720 x 1280 pixels.

Than adaptive and responsive designs differ from Mobile First

Adaptive design

The site in adaptive design consists of several layouts. In each of them – the structure of placing elements on the site for different screen sizes. The engine determines the diagonal, resolution and aspect ratio of the display on which the user opened the page, and loads the corresponding template.

For example, for devices with screens in the range of four to six inches (smartphones), one layout is created, from seven to eleven (tablets) – the second, and from twelve or more (laptops) – the third.

Responsive design

In responsive design, the layout of the site is adjusted to the width of the screen on which the person looks at the page. Even if the browser window changes by one pixel, the page automatically adapts to the new dimensions.

This approach allows you not to waste time creating a mobile version of the site. In this case, it will not be out of place to make sure that all the elements look fine on different devices.

Adaptive and responsive designs are similar – they both adjust to the size of the screens. The difference is that in the first case, the content can only be of fixed sizes provided by the layout, and in the second one it can dynamically change:

Mobile First

The problem of adaptive and responsive design is that most web developers, using these techniques, first create a site for computers and only then adapt it for mobile devices. As a result – on smartphones pages look worse.

Mobile First’s strategy is built from the reverse: first, the site is made for smartphones, and then modified for desktops. In this case, there is no feeling that the mobile version is incomplete.

Check-list: what should be the site Mobile First

Check if the mobile version of your site matches the following:

• Information is displayed correctly in both portrait and landscape orientation;
  All clickable elements work;
• There are no heavy images that slow the loading of the page;
• There is nothing associated with Flash on the site;
• There are no pop-up windows that cover half the page;
• Nowhere is the horizontal scrolling involved;
• Contact number is clickable or at least it can be copied;
• The fields in the registration form are short and simple, the autocomplete function is disabled (incorrect information can often be pulled up);
• All buttons are made using CSS, there are no image buttons;
• The size of the pictures varies automatically depending on the type of device;
• There is an opportunity to make a purchase in one click.

Adapt for Mobile First not only the layout of the site, but also the content – give preference to informative materials.

Image credit: PhotoMIX-Company

The post Complete Guide to Mobile First Design appeared first on SEO TECH GUEST BLOG.

Those who have not yet joined the work with smartphones and mobile devices, it is strongly recommended to keep up with today’s realities, since one should not lose such an excellent opportunity. Mobile marketing is not an easy task, that’s why we offer you to familiarize yourself with 8 basic tips for its organization.

1. Keywords
In mobile SEO, keywords are very important. But here you have to think outside the box, as the use of keywords in the context of mobile search does not quite happen as on a regular PC. Users in the search for a PC often use long key queries, with mobile search, preference is given to short ones.

2. Building a strategy for working with links
Work with links also can not be underestimated. However, there are no fundamental differences in the work with references from the PC strategy. To raise the rating here, you also need to place external links from trustworthy and authoritative sites, generate valuable content, establish links and post guest posts.

3. Social integration
There is one main feature here: social networks and mobile devices are closely intertwined. Today, most people prefer to use social applications, so that in any situation be inseparable from the digital world. There is a tendency that mutual integration only deepens. That’s why marketers need to embed social buttons on the site and strengthen their presence in social networks and Google+.

4. No need to worry about links
Quite recently there were discussions on the topic: do mobile versions of sites transfer the reference weight to their desktop counterparts. Disputes ended Google, which stated that Googlebot-Mobile and Googlebot index the desktop and mobile versions independently and separately, unless they are seriously suspected. Thanks to this, you can direct users to various mobile URLs, without fear of impact on attendance and rating of the desktop site. Google easily distinguishes mobile from the desktop version of the resource.

5. Actual and valuable content
The basis of any strategy is content. However, along with the keywords, mobile marketing requires short content. If you know that your content is interested in mobile device users, then you need to make the text as short and as brief as possible. It is necessary to concentrate on what is especially important for visitors from mobile devices, and also to try to abandon unnecessary details.

6. Independent resource design
If you need to create a mobile version of the resource, then the simplest way is to use the desktop version of the design in a reduced form. However, this is not a very correct decision. Some elements that are beautifully displayed on the desktop site, quite unexpectedly, can behave on the mobile version. It is best to leave only the necessary, removing all the dynamic elements. This will make it easier to view the site, both for search robots and for visitors.

7. Adaptive design
This design will solve most of the problems associated with mobile URLs, appearance and content of the site. Experts strongly recommend using adaptive web design, as it is most suitable for creating sites that will look great and work correctly on different devices, regardless of the operating system, screen sizes and other various factors.

8. Tools for working with mobile SEO
To optimize the desktop site uses a certain number of tools, respectively, and for mobile SEO will need their tools. There are various options, however, Google Search Console and Google Analytics can be the most effective solution for analyzing mobile traffic.

To read more news on search engine optimization and online marketing visit Affordable SEO Blog.

Image credit: rawpixel

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