PM Digital Blog

On-Page Optimization

As we move forward, Google’s Fast, Relevant, Comprehensive and Fresh mantra hangs in my mind as does an October 2011 post by Ryan Jones named Mobile SEO is a Myth. Although Jones goes to the extreme of arguing that a mobile site should be one and the same as your normal retail site, there are a few good points worth considering, including how mobile devices are just a mechanism for delivering a good web experience. Would you rate a TV show differently depending on the size of the TV used to display that show? I don’t think it’s true that the “…best Mobile SEO strategy is to not have a mobile SEO strategy…” but the thought ties in perfectly with Huffman’s point about how they judge the quality of Google’s own Mobile Search and “normal” Web Search sites using the same criteria: Fast, Relevant, Comprehensive and Fresh.

Fast is a technical point previously addressed. When we consider the Relevant, Comprehensive and Fresh requirements, fundamentals like content development and on-page optimization (TITLE, META tags, etc.) necessarily join the checklist of things that must be included in “Mobile SEO”, proper.

A second thought stemming from Huffman’s presentation is that they hope Google Search for Mobile delivers a “complete” experience for users. He gives examples of “complete” as i) inclusive of as much information as possible; and ii) information being presented in ways that are sensitive to the capabilities of access devices. Simplistically interpreted, this means mobile site owners should generally avoid things like Flash while leaning toward features created by HTML5 or jQuery – both of which provide more functionality within a device like an iPhone or Blackberry. Continue reading →

In listening to current and prospective PM Digital clients, the importance of mobile website development to the future of their businesses is a given but “mobile SEO” is sometimes mentioned with some hesitation. What is it, really? Meaning, when you’re challenged with increasing traffic and other KPIs delivered by your mobile site, what tactics are included in the solution set? What Is Mobile SEO?

First, let’s establish the near-term goal – improvement of your site’s page rankings for top keyphrases searched through Google. Specifically, we’re interested in improving page rankings for top keywords entered by mobile device users and returned via Google Search for Mobile. (Also consider YouTube and other major social sites to be worthy of individual, mobile keyword research and optimization.) Looking forward to farther-reaching goals and KPIs, let’s agree that we’ll save the advanced discussion of mobile conversion optimization for another day and set rankings, traffic and revenue as a good, default three KPIs.

With the appropriate keywords and target site(s) defined, let’s look to Google for advice on what should comprise “Mobile SEO”.

Technical Optimization

Starting in late 2009, Google’s Webmaster Central Blog began offering the basics of what they like to see in mobile websites, what we’ll call technical optimization:

• Help Google index your mobile site, November 13, 2009 – i) “…create a Mobile Sitemap and submit it to Google to inform us to the site’s existence…”; ii) “…If you’d like your site crawled, please allow any User-agent including ‘Googlebot-Mobile’ to access your site…”; iii) “…Check that your mobile-friendly URLs’ DTD declaration is in an appropriate mobile format such as XHTML Mobile or Compact HTML…”

Continue reading →