With the
dramatic increase of people using smartphone, tablets, and other mobile devices
to access the web, and perform online searches, online marketing must cater to
the mobile web just as much as it addresses desktop computers. If people are
searching for your webpage, or your business, from a mobile phone, how does
your page rank in the mobile search results?
How Search Engines Approach Desktop
Version of Websites
The major
search engines use web crawlers that systematically scan and catalogue millions
of websites. The individual pages and content are then indexed and stored in
databases. When a user completes a search, the keywords and phrases used are
compared to the content that has been indexed.
SEO companies
will do in depth keyword research in order to create quality content that will
be considered relevant and valuable to the search engines in order to receive
higher rankings. While the process used by search engines is similar when it
comes to the mobile web, there are a few factors that differ, and ways that
websites can greatly improve their mobile search rankings.
Search Results Tailored to the Mobile
Web
You may find
that if you perform the same search on a smartphone and a desktop computer, the
results will not necessarily be identical. In order to provide higher quality
search results for mobile device users, Google announced the implementation of
a new highly sophisticated web crawler to be used specifically for smartphone
searching. This new web crawler was called Googlebot-Mobile, and it has already
been making a big difference in the ranking of mobile websites.
One of the
ways that mobile searches will often differ from desktop searches is that
websites that have mobile versions will often be given priority over website
that have not been modified to accommodate these smaller devices. These
websites may be completely separate mobile versions of a site, or they can also
be websites that have been created using responsive design.
Why Responsive Design is the Right
Choice
There are
many reasons why responsive design is a wiser decision than creating a second
mobile version of the website. First of all, when there is a second copy of the
website that is optimized for mobile use, this will often mean that you have
two different websites that have a lot of duplicate information. This
duplication may send a signal to the search engines that the information is
spam, and the website rankings could drop as a result.
Responsive
web design refers to websites that have been designed to automatically
transform the layout in order to respond to the device that is being used to
view the content. During the web development process, the website is given
specific instructions as to how to reformat when being opened on a mobile
device. This often leads to a website that is much more easier to load and to
navigate from any smartphone or tablet, which is much appreciated by the reader
on the go.
Using
responsive web design also solves the problem of duplicate information. Instead
of having a mobile version and a desktop version of a website, there is only
one website in existence with one URL. All of the content is exactly the same,
only the format and layout is changed.
Creating a
website using responsive web design is actually a lot simpler than one might
imagine. While there are independent web developers who will create these
designs, there are also many premium WordPress templates
that will have this technology already included. Investing in a theme with this
innovative feature will likely provide great returns.
About author
Anny Solway
is a dedicated writer at ThemeFuse – a web studio that creates original WordPress themes, that can be used out of the box. She loves to share
blogging and technology tips.
