4 SEO Practices that can Boost Mobile Commerce

Along with the rise of mobile users, the number of mobile searches is also growing. Search Engine Land reports that this digit has reached almost 60% of all search queries, meaning that mobile searches have finally surpassed their desktop counterparts.

Precisely because of this, search engines are constantly setting the bar higher, striving to improve mobile searchers’ experience. For example, Google’s announcement of their transition to the mobile-first index has not only shaken the public, but also proven something we already know — that we’re living in the mobile-first era.

Sadly, it seems that many businesses still aren’t fully aware of this fact. Namely, recent statistics show that only 52.8% of B2B ecommerce sites are optimized for mobile use.

If you’re one of them, this will not only affect your SEO but your overall user experience, as well. Your users now have more opportunities to choose, which makes them less tolerant of sites that don’t meet their expectations. This is why 52% of them emphasize that a bad mobile experience makes them less likely to buy from a website.

To avoid this, here are a few simple practices that will boost your mobile ecommerce SEO.

Optimize your Site for Local Searches

Did you know that 95% of mobile users search for local information in order to make a call or find the address? To back this fact, statistics also tell us that 76% of all local searches result in a phone call.

Obviously, optimizing your site for mobile searches is a must.

You can ask for permission to use people’s location and use this information to provide website visitors with highly targeted offers. For example, based on their location, you can give them the information about the estimated shipping time, brick and mortar stores in their vicinity, or even give out personalized mobile coupons to drive them to your site.

You should pay attention to how your NAP (name, address, phone number) are displayed. Make them accurate, easy-to-spot and, most importantly, clickable. Your users don’t want to switch between a few apps to make a phone call. If they wish to call you, they will want to do so immediately. In addition, add a map to show your users where your physical stores are and help them find you effortlessly.

Finally, optimize your website content for the right keywords. To make sure your local searchers find you, add the name of the city or the area your business serves, as well as the names of some other places in your vicinity. For example, if you’re a dentist in New York, your ‘local’ keywords should be something like: dentist New York, New York dentist, dental clinic New York, etc.

Take Advantage of Voice Search

In today’s era of AI and VR, the importance of voice search is on a steady rise. In 2014, Google emphasized that 55% of teens and 40% of adults used this feature every day. Of course, ever since then, these figures have been constantly rising. In 2017, voice search was listed out as the third most prominent SEO trend. And, with the implementation of the mobile-first index mentioned above, it will definitely become an obligatory part of your SEO campaign.

When optimizing your site for voice searches, you need to know that they resemble the everyday conversation.

When making search queries on our computers, we use short keywords because they save our time. For example, if you’re looking for affordable leather boots in Melbourne, you’ll search for something like: ‘affordable leather boots Melbourne’, right?

But, on mobile devices, we’re actually talking to a virtual assistant, which gives us the opportunity to conduct more natural searches. That’s why your search query would be: “Where can I find cheap leather boots in Melbourne?”

Precisely because of this, your keyword strategy needs to be more conversational and to imitate how we talk and ask questions in real life. Think about the types of questions your customers would ask if they called you on the phone and optimize your content for such phrases.

Another awesome way to optimize your site for these conversational, long-tail keywords is to create an FAQ page. Instead of short, branded keywords you’ve been using, go with more natural-sounding questions and answers.

Boost your Speed

Poor page loading speed enhances your bounce rates. Your customers expect your site to load in less than 2 seconds and, if it doesn’t, they will ditch it. Worse yet, Kissmetrics also emphasizes that “a 1-second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions.”

One of the most effective ways to prevent this is to implement Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs). Even this is a pretty recent concept, it is expected to completely revolutionize the way we browse the web from mobile devices.

Namely, to boost mobile searchers’ experience, Google decided to cut most elements that slow regular mobile pages down, including third-party JS, cookies, ad networks, and so on. As a result, they’ve designed pages that load minimal data and provide your customers with an unbelievably fast browsing experience.

Most importantly, AMPs will improve your SEO efforts significantly. Not only that they will reduce your bounce rates, but they will also skyrocket your visibility, click-through rates, rankings, and customer retention. This fact is backed by an example of The Washington Post, which publishes more than 1000 articles in AMP every day and claims that it has boosted their CTR by 50%.

Audit your Site’s Performance Regularly

The only way to know whether your SEO practices work is to keep track of the right KPIs, such as your traffic, conversion rates, click-through rates, customer lifetime value, customer acquisition cost, and so on.

Now, monitoring, collecting, and analyzing all these metrics manually would eat up a lot of your time and prevent you from focusing on some other aspects of your SEO strategy. So, to make this process simpler, you should use reporting tools that will help you create automated SEO reports. With their help, you will be able to track only those metrics you are interested in, monitor them from one place, and customize them however you want.

You should never forget to pay attention to your rivals, as well. Use competitor price tracking tools like Prisync to adapt your offers to even the tiniest pricing fluctuations. On the other hand, with SEO tools like Ahrefs, QuickSprout, and SEMrush, you can observe your competitors’ SEO strategies and replicate the most effective ones.

Only by keeping pace with the latest industry trends, monitoring your competitors, and auditing your site regularly will you be able to make your mobile SEO efforts impeccable.

**About the Author: Emma Miller is a digital marketer and blogger from Sydney. After getting a marketing degree she started working with Australian startups on business and marketing development. Emma writes for many relevant, industry related online publications and does a job of an Executive Editor at Bizzmark blog and a guest lecturer at Melbourne University. Interested in marketing, startups and latest business trends.