Mobile SEO
Nicole Hess
Director of Strategy, Yogi, Adrenaline Junkie
@NicoleCherieH

“Mobilegeddon”
“Google’s Panda algorithm impacted at its
biggest point about 12% of the search queries.
Penguin was closer to 4% at it’s max.”
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-mobile-algorithm-big-20010.html 2

“Mobilegeddon”
Google, May 2015 –
“More Google searches take place on mobile
devices than on computers in 10 countries
including the US and Japan.”
Dr. Pete, June 2015 –
“In the US, only 3% of Searches Return Simple
List of Blue Links”
http://adwords.blogspot.com/2015/05/building-for-next-moment.html 3

“Mobilegeddon”
4

Google is Delivering the Experience + Content
Tailored to Searcher Intent
5
Weather
Music Info Cards (Tour Dates & Songs/Albums)
Hotel Booking Search
Flight Booking Search
TV Info Cards (with Season/Episode)
Song Lyrics
Food Nutrition Info
Health Condition & Drugs
Knowledge Graph
Definitions & Concepts
Videos – Play from SERP
Location/Business Cards
Restaurants & Menus
Map Queries
Car Insurance Search
How to Boil an Egg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4NkXZh-EjA
https://youtu.be/384xrKf6s98
“Now On Tap”

Responsive Web Design
@nicolecherieh 6

Mobile SEO for All
Business Case (Why x3)
 Consumer Data
 Website Data
 Search Data
Strategy (What)
 Mobile Site Strategies (Responsive, Adaptive and m.*)
 Technical
 Content
 Video
 Local
 Knowledge Graph
 Feature SERPs
 Schema
 Apps
Image @Student Affairs Collective 7

SEARCH BEHAVIOR DATA +
CLIENT CONSUMER DATA
Mobile SEO Business Case
@nicolecherieh 8

182M People in the U.S. have a Smartphone
http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/ 9
80%
90%
97%
50+
30-49
18-29
Use It Don't
Who is using Mobile Internet?

Search is Most Common Starting Point for
Mobile Research
http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/multiscreenworld_final.pdf 10

Do Customers Buy on Mobile?
11http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/15071-mobile-responsive.html

Your Website Data
Google
Analytics:
Traffic by Device
Google
Analytics:
Review Popular
Mobile Pages with
High Bounce Rate
@nicolecherieh 12

Your Keyword Data
• Google WMT
Search Queries
• Mobile Keyword
Rankings
• Adwords
13

Even More Data… Personas
• Google Consumer Insights
• Social Media Ads
Demographics
• Pew Research Center
• Nielson
• comScore
• UserTesting.com
@nicolecherieh 14

Client Signs Up for Mobile SEO and Requests:
@nicolecherieh 15

MOBILE SITE STRATEGY
Mobile SEO Strategy
16

Mobile Site Options
Responsive Dedicated (m.*) Dynamic / Adaptive
URL Structure
1 URL Different Desktop and
Mobile URLs
1 URL
HTML and CSS
Same HTML, CSS
and Content
Different HTML choice
on CSS and Content
Different HTML and CSS
depending on User Agent,
choice on Content
How content is
optimized for
mobile
Device does the
work
Delivered as is Server does the work
Delivery of
HTML and CSS
Use CSS to render
page
Mobile domain has own
code
User Agent detects
browser and serves
appropriate HTML, CSS
and Content
SEO
Consideration
Requires
optimization for
speed and delivery
Requires technical SEO
for URL structure
Requires accurate
recognition of User Agents

Responsive Web Design
Pros
• Same content, same URLs, less room
for error, less code to update
Cons
• Same content, probability for heavy
code, slow site
SEO Considerations
• Speed
– Optimizing CSS and JavaScript
– Optimizing Images
@nicolecherieh 18

Dynamic / Adaptive
Pros
• Same content, same URLs, optimize
HTML and CSS for device
Cons
• Same content, probability for heavy
code, slow site
SEO Considerations
• Vary HTTP header
• Detect by user-agent string
• Keep redirection consistent with
rel=“alternate” tags
@NicoleCherieH 19

Dedicated Site / m.*
Pro’s
• Mobile specific content, dedicated mobile
experience
Con’s
• Different URLs require specific technical SEO,
issues can arise when URLs are shared via
social media, email, etc.
SEO Considerations
• Rel=alternate, Desktop
• Canonical Tags, Mobile
• XML Sitemap notations
• Create Mobile XML Sitemap
• Offer a way to desktop
@NicoleCherieH
20

Technical Mobile SEO – m.* Redirects
@NicoleCherieH 21
Beware Faulty Redirects Setup
Beware infinite redirect loops
i.e. Googlebot-mobile > redirect to feature phone site >
redirect to smartphone site > redirect to desktop site >
(start all over again)

Technical Mobile SEO – 404s
If a page on your site doesn’t have a smartphone
equivalent, keep users on the desktop page.
@NicoleCherieH 22

TECHNICAL MOBILE SEO
Mobile SEO Strategy
23

Technical Mobile SEO
“After 1s or more, the user’s flow and
engagement with the initiated task feels
broken.”
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/loading-time/?wide=1 24

Technical Mobile SEO - Speed
• Server response time under 200 ms
• Start render time under 3s
• Minimize # of redirects
• Minimize # of roundtrips to first render
• No interstitials
https://www.filamentgroup.com/lab/performance-rwd.html
25
Aim for
This

Mobile SEO - Tests
26
Google Mobile-
Friendly Test
Google Page Speed
Insights

Technical Mobile SEO - Tests
27
Google Webmaster Tools WebPageTest.org (Also Google)
@NicoleCherieH

Technical Mobile SEO - JavaScript
SEO Check:
• Do not block JavaScript in Robots.txt file
• Ensure that no JavaScript blocks the rendering of
ATF content
Dev Check:
• Replace JavaScript libraries with leaner JavaScript
modules
• Defer the loading of JavaScript until the page has
started loading
• Minify JavaScript
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/09/improving-smashing-magazine-performance-case-study/
High Performance Browser Networking
28

Technical Mobile SEO - CSS
SEO Check
• Do not block CSS in Robots.txt file
• Use Gzip compression
Dev Check:
• Inline CSS and ATF CSS
• Identify and defer non-critical CSS
• Load the full CSS asynchronously, after rendering
• Minify CSS
29http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/09/improving-smashing-magazine-performance-case-study/
High Performance Browser Networking

Technical Mobile SEO - Images
• Responsive: Serves the same HiRes image scaled
down in size as the device gets smaller and
requesting a new image for each layout
• Adaptive: Developers have complete control over
what content will be served to what device
• M.*: Developers have complete control over what
content will be served for the domain
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/web-designer/what-is-
the-difference-between-responsive-vs-adaptive-web-design/
30

Technical Mobile SEO - Images
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ 31
Option 1. Optimize in Photoshop:
Make a photo 3% of its original size.
“Save for Web” + reduce “Quality” to
65 and this file shrunk from 213K
down to just 7.416K.
Repeat for all images on page.
Option 2. Let Google do it:

CONTENT, LOCAL, SCHEMA AND
BEYOND
Mobile SEO Strategy
32

Mobile Content SEO
33
Google’s Intent-driven SERPs
Know how your customers are going to use your content.
Late Night Delivery Photo Collage Cake Recipe Song Lyrics
http://adwords.blogspot.com/2015/05/building-for-next-moment.html

Mobile Content SEO
• Mobile Content Gap Analysis to define mobile
search queries and content strategy
– GWMT, Ranking Tools, Competitor Analysis,
Keyword Research
• Micro-moments: Snackable content geared
towards intent
@NicoleCherieH 34

Mobile Content SEO
• Micro-Moment: Shopping
@NicoleCherieH 35

Mobile Content SEO
• Micro-Moment: Planning / Services
@NicoleCherieH 36

Mobile Content SEO
• Micro-Moment: Inspiration, Entertainment
@NicoleCherieH 37

Mobile Content SEO
“Content Strategy for Mobile” by Karen McGrane,
A Book Apart Publishers
@NicoleCherieH 38

Mobile Content SEO
@NicoleCherieH 39
Ensure your desired content for page is crawlable via Emulator and Fetch
as Google

Technical Mobile Content SEO
• Select your breakpoints without hiding your content. “Don’t
simply hide content just because you can’t fit it on screen.” –
Google
• Must have an OnLoad JavaScript event for Googlebot to see
content; no links will be clicked to get content in single page
design – Google
• Avoid sideways scrolling
• Infinite scroll should break down to pagination with
Rel=“Next” Rel=“Prev”
• End pagination with the last piece of content
• Pagination should be included in Sitemaps
https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/layouts/rwd-fundamentals/how-to-choose-breakpoints
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-mobile-lazy-load-content-mobile-20759.html
40

Video SEO for Mobile
• HTML5 is preferred for video
players
• Google warns users of
incompatible sites
• No Flash
• Include transcript or text
highlights of video available on
all devices
• Mobile video strategy
http://localu.org/blog/a-guide-to-google-mobile-local-pack-results/ 41

Local SEO
• It’s getting tougher out there –
Local Pack is now usually only 3 results
• Optimize “Google My Business” Listing
• Use Moz.com/Local
(Best $84 you can spend)
• Publish Local Content
• Guide to Local SEO (Shameless plug)
http://bit.ly/nicole-local-seo-guide 42

Knowledge Graph SEO for Mobile
43
• http://www.greenlaneseo.com
/blog/2014/02/optimize-now-
entities-relationships/
• http://inbound.org/articles/vie
w/i-became-an-entity-how-i-
m-on-the-knowledge-graph

Schema SEO for Mobile
• Location, business info
• Reviews, ratings
• Event, ticketing
• Products
• Recipes
• Articles
• Person
• Email schema
@NicoleCherieH 44

Schema SEO for Mobile - Email
• Roughly 50% of emails are
read on mobile devices
• 54% of B2C Brands as of June
2015 do not have mobile
friendly promotional emails
• Email schema for Events,
Flight, Hotel, Rental Car,
Restaurant
http://marketingland.com/5-levels-mobile-friendly-email-design-time-graduate-137516 45

APP SEO
Mobile SEO Strategy
46

Monthly Usage of App vs Mobile Web
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2014/an-era-of-growth-the-cross-platform-report.html 47

App SEO
http://www.slideshare.net/Suzzicks/mozcon-mobilegeddon 48

App SEO
• Who? Hulu.com, Refinery29.com,
Techcrunch.com
• Deep links are a positive mobile web
ranking signal
• App screens to have a 1-1 content
parity with webpages
• Descriptive App names help
• Keywords in the App description help
• OnLoad event to trigger further
crawling to get more content, Google
will not click links
http://searchengineland.com/emerging-role-seo-app-discoverability-224543
https://moz.com/blog/mobile-app-search
49

App SEO
Should my business develop an App?
• Is it an experience that necessitates an app?
– Continuous Use: Facebook, Tinder
– Place of Use: Recipes
– On-the-Go Use: Car Rental Booking
• Is there an added value the App can bring?
– Multistep processes: Yelp, Geico
– Service: Uber, GrubHub
– Engagement: Games, PicStich
• What Persona is being targeted?
– Rural senior citizens
– Millennial urbanites
@nicolecherieh 50

RESOURCES
Mobile SEO
51

Technical Mobile SEO – Checklist
 Test your site to see if Google views you as mobile friendly or not
 Double check your CMS specific recommendations
 Determine mobile site solution and specific optimizations
 Rel=alternate, canonicals tags and XML Sitemap considerations for mobile site
 Set Meta Viewport for Responsive
 Vary HTTP header for Dynamic / Adaptive
 Check speed and load times (aim for a Start Render time of 3s or less)
 Server must render the response (< 200 ms)
 Optimize JavaScript and CSS (fit within the first fit within the first 14 KB of data sent)
 Optimize images
 Check redirects for unavailable content on mobile
 Check smartphone 404s
 Resolve blocking of JavaScript, CSS or image files in Robots.txt
 No flash content for mobile
 Check where you are sending searches (when don’t have a mobile page, send to desktop)
 Ensure you have proper advertising for apps (no interstitials)
 Ensure size of tap targets is optimized (between 12px and 20px of space between minor touch elements
and 32px-ish of spacing between major touch elements)
 Schema implementation (Mobile, Email) 52@NicoleCherieH

Links from Slides
• Slide 2 - https://www.seroundtable.com/google-mobile-algorithm-big-20010.html
• Slide 3 - http://adwords.blogspot.com/2015/05/building-for-next-moment.html
• Slide 5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4NkXZh-EjA
• Slide 5 - https://youtu.be/384xrKf6s98
• Slide 9 - http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/
• Slide 10 - http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/multiscreenworld_final.pdf
• Slide 11 - http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/15071-mobile-responsive.html
• Slide 24 - https://blog.kissmetrics.com/loading-time/?wide=1
• Slide 25 - https://www.filamentgroup.com/lab/performance-rwd.html
• Slide 26 - https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
• Slide 26 - https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
• Slide 27 - http://www.webpagetest.org/
• Slide 28 & 29 - http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/09/improving-smashing-
magazine-performance-case-study/
• Slide 30 - http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/web-designer/what-is-the-difference-
between-responsive-vs-adaptive-web-design/
• Slide 31 - https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
53

Links from Slides
• Slide 33 - http://adwords.blogspot.com/2015/05/building-for-next-moment.html
• Slide 40 - https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/layouts/rwd-
fundamentals/how-to-choose-breakpoints
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-mobile-lazy-load-content-mobile-20759.html
• Slide 41 - http://localu.org/blog/a-guide-to-google-mobile-local-pack-results/
• Slide 42 - http://bit.ly/nicole-local-seo-guide
• Slide 43 - http://www.greenlaneseo.com/blog/2014/02/optimize-now-entities-
relationships/
http://inbound.org/articles/view/i-became-an-entity-how-i-m-on-the-knowledge-graph
• Slide 45 - http://marketingland.com/5-levels-mobile-friendly-email-design-time-graduate-
137516
• Slide 47 - http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2014/an-era-of-growth-the-cross-
platform-report.html
• Slide 48 - http://www.slideshare.net/Suzzicks/mozcon-mobilegeddon
• Slide 49 - http://searchengineland.com/emerging-role-seo-app-discoverability-224543
https://moz.com/blog/mobile-app-search
54

More Resources
Learning
• http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/11/30/the-best-and-worst-of-mobile-connectivity/
• http://www.slideshare.net/Suzzicks/the-future-of-mobile-seo-smx-munich-2015
• http://www.slideshare.net/SearchMarketingExpo/dr-petes-guide-to-the-changing-google-serps
• http://www.slideshare.net/johnshehata/advanced-mobile-seo-john-shehata-c3-2014
• https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/layouts/
• https://www.google.com/think/multiscreen/whitepaper-sitedesign.html
• https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/input/form/
• http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/11/30/the-best-and-worst-of-mobile-connectivity/
• http://www.slideshare.net/SearchMarketingExpo/dr-petes-guide-to-the-changing-google-serps
• https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/layouts/rwd-fundamentals/how-to-choose-
breakpoints
• https://www.seroundtable.com/google-mobile-lazy-load-content-mobile-20759.html
Tools
• https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights_extensions?hl=en
• http://mobitest.akamai.com/m/index.cgi
• https://validator.w3.org/mobile/
• http://readwrite.com/2015/08/13/deep-link-tutorial-uninstalled-apps
55@NicoleCherieH