Harmful Mobile SEO mistakes not to Ignore

In the world of SEO and digital marketing today, mobile is huge. Mobile has surpassed desktops in several areas in terms of usage. That’s why you can’t afford to make any mistakes when it comes to mobile SEO.

Here are some big but common mobile SEO mistakes that you should avoid.

Slow Website Speed

The justification for a sluggish website in 2021 should be disregarded. Slow-loading websites have a negative impact on user experience and search engine rankings.

Your website should load quickly and allow users to engage soon. This is particularly true for mobile devices, where it's assumed that consumers are always on the go and want information right now.

Websites frequently load more slowly on mobile devices than on desktop computers. Make sure to use free tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to evaluate the performance of your website.

You can take the appropriate actions to fix the issue if it takes a long time to load. For instance, reduce the number of requests and redirects, minify CSS and JS files, improve your hosting platform, use clever tricks like lazy loading, etc.

Google reports that 53% of users will leave a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. If Google continues to receive these unfavorable signals, your website may be demoted in the SERPs.

Poor Redirection

Websites with different desktop and mobile URLs or those that aren't properly optimized may experience problems with faulty redirection.

Every online page should, in theory, be entirely and flawlessly visible on mobile devices. Make sure that every desktop page has a mobile version if you have distinct versions for mobile and desktop.

If a mobile visitor accidentally navigates to your website's desktop version, they should be forwarded to the mobile version of that same page rather than being forwarded to the home page, which creates a subpar and annoying user experience.

Interstitials

Google despises banners, sign-up offers, and obtrusive pop-up advertising that disrupt the user experience, particularly on mobile devices. Google does not like it when users who arrive via search results are met with obtrusive interstitials on mobile devices. It is more likely to demote that website in favor of others that provide a more user-friendly experience.

During the shift from mobile search results, Google acknowledged in 2017 that "Pages whose information is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as high."

Any pop-ups that are not integrated into the webpage may be viewed as obtrusive and have an impact on how well a website is ranked by search engines. This is particularly true if the pop-up takes up a sizable portion of the website. You need to be much more cautious when using huge interstitials on mobile devices because of their smaller displays.

Avoid interstitials that are hard to close as well. If you close a pop-up window, you could occasionally be sent to another website. The reputation and SEO of your website might be harmed by deceptive tactics like these.

Poor mobile design results in a poor user experience, which in turn has a detrimental impact on the SEO performance and search ranks of your website. A typical error is utilizing viewports that aren't optimal for all devices or employing viewports with fixed widths.

Second, you should consider your website's mobile device design holistically. The website should be made for mobile devices first, rather than laptops and desktop computers, as the emphasis is quickly shifting to them.

Second, you also need to think holistically about the design of your website on mobile devices. Because the focus is shifting on mobile devices rapidly, the website should be designed for smartphones and tablets first, not for laptops and desktop computers.

This means avoiding common mobile design mistakes such as:

Hard to find call-to-action buttons
Hidden or inaccessible navigation menu
On-screen design clutter
The incorrect and conflicting use of colors
Incorrect use of whitespace

Depending on the nature of your company, local SEO may be crucial in bringing interested visitors and possible consumers to your website. Local SEO should thus not be disregarded. But when it comes to mobile SEO and mobile traffic, the significance of local SEO grows substantially.

Studies show that customers use mobile devices more frequently than desktops to search for local keywords. Therefore, if your company relies on local visitors and you have a mobile-first website, be sure to invest more time and money into locating relevant local keywords and optimizing your mobile-first website for local SEO.

Studies reveal that users search for local terms at a higher rate on mobile devices than they do on desktops. Any SEO plan nowadays must have a strong mobile component. You may mobile-optimize your website and raise your overall search rankings by avoiding the aforementioned faults.

Mobile is big in today’s digital marketing and SEO world. In many areas, mobile is now even bigger than desktop.

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