Mobile SEO? Do we need it or not?

[seekjobs]

Hi Guys,

I am about to start to redesigning a new mobile website and am curious if mobile SEO is actually having an affect or not.

The site I am doing the redesign for, already has a very well optimized desktop site and has an existing mobile website with no optimization.

The mobile website is ranking well in Mobile search so I am curious why I I would need to optimize the new mobile website properly, especially when the mobile website has a canonical tag for its desktop counter part?

Love to get everyone's thoughts on this & where they see mobile SEO going in the next 12 months.

[SanketPatel]

Hi,

Ya, i think mobile SEO improve your traffic and ranking in mobile search pages.  You can make your webpages look better than desktop devices. You can track mobile users by Google analytics.  This strategy becomes more popular because many of people accessing our site form their smart phones so if we optimize our site for mobile SEO we can get maximum users and it is best for local business. so i believe it is good for us to optimize mobile website for more read this link it is bets note about the mobile SEO.

http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/beginners-guide-to-mobile-seo-11793

[TheeDigital]

Depending on your business I would think less of mobile SEO and more of building your local citations.  Remember that most people who are using tablets are using it for simple things such as finding a perfect restaurant or finding things to do.  Even Yelp is tied to Apple's new Maps system.
Make sure that you're on every review site possible such as Yelp, Urbanspoon, Google local, G+, and all the social networks that are relevant to your niche.

[Vizergy]

IMO the most important thing is to put yourself in the mobile searcher's shoes.  When someone is searching on a mobile device rather than a computer they tend to be in a different mind set - meaning, they are not at their desk at work, they are not relaxing at home; they are waiting for their food to arrive, or standing in an elevator or, god forbid, driving.  They want what they are looking for immediately, without any distractions or funneling to other things they 'might' be interested in etc...  keep it as simple as you can and get them directly to what they want.  As far as optimizing for search, sure and Sankel and Thee design have both given good advice (thumbs up to both of you guys) but optimizing for the users intent can not be overlooked.

[seekjobs]

Thanks for your response.

As i mentioned the site I am working on already has an existing mobile website but it only has the basic SEO on it to assist with Search Engines (eg meta data).

I can definitely see the value in having a mobile website to be able to deliver a excellent experience for users on a mobile device (and tablets) and leveraging the wealth of analytic's that come from the mobile traffic.

Currently I feel like this site I am working on is ranking in Mobile search based on the good optimization of the desktop website & our desktop site being mobile friendly!

I am curious if you guys feel that optimizing your mobile website for mobile search is actually having an impact on your rankings in mobile search or if your mobile sites are ranking based on the desktop website?

[Vizergy]

In the market I work (strictly hospitality) I would have to say that our mobile success, of which we have a good amount, is actually based on the desktop websites ranking very well and the sniffer delivering the mobile website to mobile devices.  Whether or not this will go on forever, I just do not know.

We expected strictly mobile search to take off in 2012 and optimized our mobile sites accordingly but alas, it is still the ranking of the desktop sites that is delivering the vast majority of mobile visits.... maybe 2013 ?

[seekjobs]

Thanks Billy,

That was my thought exactly.

I wasn't sure if it was worth the effort at this stage to vigorously optimize the our new mobile website or to at least put in the basic optimization best practices to be prepared for the mobile optimization and search to really take off.

[echo1]

Is your mobile site ranking as well / at all when searching from a mobile device?