How to Introduce Mobile Website SEO to Your Online Business

May 25, 2011 by Dave Buesing

Introductions can be awkward. Not introductions like this paragraph, where I bumble through an unnecessary explanation before starting the article, but the kind where you take two acquaintances and say, “Hi X, meet Y!”

It can be a big risk. Sometimes, though, two friends are just destined to meet; all they need is an introduction. It’s a total no-brainer.

It’s starting to become a similar sort of no-brainer to introduce your company website to mobile SEO. After all, your online presence and mobile search have a lot in common: they both love lead generation, conversions, and probably The Cars.

Totally underrated.

Plus, if you think mobile search is still a long way off from becoming mainstream, think again. According to Nielsen, 31% of U.S.  cell phone users have smartphones. They expect smartphones to account for the majority of purchases by the end of 2011.

This explains Coda Research Consultancy’s prediction that cell phone internet use will increase 50-fold from 2010 to 2015. Ready or not, mobile is here to greatly impact your online success.

The Smartphones are coming.

How Do I Make Sure My Site Has Great Mobile SEO?

If you have a business website, you pay attention to SEO because it brings your company’s products to interested online searchers. Naturally, you want customers to find your site whether they’re searching on a desktop or an iPhone.

For the most part, standard best SEO practices are going to carry over to mobile search. Even if you have a specific mobile site URL, your efforts to create high quality backlinks and use targeted internal anchor text for your predominant domain are going to be just as effective across mobile platforms.

As an example, if your SEO has already led your business to show up for “show up in Google search” this will theoretically carry over to searches for that term on mobile devices. If you’re not showing up for “Chicago PPC Agency” on a desktop, you’re not going to magically appear on a smartphone.

The single best way to ensure the best mobile SEO? A comprehensive and dedicated SEO plan that leads to measurable search results

L2T Media Knows About Measurable SEO Results

Wait… If I Already Have Quality SEO Practices In Place, Do I Even Need to Do Anything For My Mobile Site?

Although your site’s search engine rankings will translate across mobile devices, this will mean next to nothing if your unique mobile site is not indexed properly or if the site presents a poor user experience. The following list represents the most important mobile tips to look for:

1) Create An Enjoyable Mobile Experience –

It is possible that your website is already smooth enough to translate onto the smaller touch screens of smartphones. If not, developing a mobile landing page may be necessary.

Make no mistake: this will be a challenge and unless your business is web development, you’re going to require outside help. That said, you can know what to look for in a mobile page.


- A Simple Layout

- A Page Designed For Chubby Fingers

- Highly Prioritized Content

- Easy Conversion Opportunities

- Very Fast Load Time


2) Make Sure Your Mobile Site is Properly Indexed –

If you create a mobile specific site, you’ll need to make sure Google is crawling the site regularly. To help ensure this you can create a Mobile Sitemap.

Once you’ve got a mobile sitemap in place, it can be helpful to have a dedicated team offer Google Webmaster Tools management to track errors across the sitemap.

If you notice your mobile site is still not showing up in search, there’s probably a more complicated issue you’ll want to discuss with your web provider or SEO agency.

3) Don’t Mix Up Mobile and Desktop Sites –

Now that you have slight variations of your website you don’t want to accidentally have desktop searchers wind up on your mobile site. Picturing the sheer amount of thumb smudges on monitors across the nation is horrifying.



You really don’t want these hands sliding across any monitors


To avoid this problem, Google recommends redirecting your standard URL to the corresponding mobile version of your site.  This way Googlebots can do the work of determining if a user is on a desktop or mobile device, and make the choice accurately.

In short, mobile website SEO right now is largely about getting your site visible to mobile searchers and in the most user friendly manner possible.

In many cases, a high quality website on a desktop will be just as effective on a mobile device. Plus, as smartphones evolve, specific mobile designs may become less necessary.

The one thing that will remain essential is that your site ranks well for targeted keywords related to your business. A working mobile site doesn’t do you a lot of good if you’re not ranking for the most relevant search terms available.

When you finally do introduce your business to mobile website SEO the two should already feel very familiar. It’s like Déjà vu all over again.