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How Mobile Phones Changed the SEO and User Experience Game

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To survive in the online world, your website has to stay on top and ahead of all competition on search engine result pages. A website should be user friendly with fast access to its informative sections. Page load times and security are also essential features that are included in Google’s list of its favorite websites, otherwise known as search rankings. The aspects listed above are some of the most fundamental features that keep users engaged when they are visiting your website.

Consider the following scenario. It is quite normal for someone to take a quick look at nearby stores while on their way home from the office or see nearby restaurants that they might want to check out. The appeal might be found in the signage, the building, the location, or things they have heard about the place. All of these indicators are noticed quickly, which allows the person driving by to process the information quickly as well.

When the customer goes to try the store or restaurant, he expects certain standards. Fast service, convenient layout, and an overall pleasant experience. The same can be said for websites. The name might bring them in or the allure of the headline of the page, but when the user is on the site, their expectations shift dramatically towards the experience.

Websites want to be able to quickly get their message and point across to the user without slow load times, which in turn creates a bad browsing experience. This is especially the case when websites are being displayed over mobile connections, which most are these days.

Most users find it very annoying and, in some instances, upsetting when served a bad user experience on a website. It won’t take long before the user finds another website with similar information to your site. While the new website might have less information, the user will be happy and satisfied that they are able to quickly browse through the site because of the good speed and optimization techniques the website is equipped with. Trends even show that faster websites produce better business success.

How Mobile Phones Changed Internet Browsing and SEO

Search engine optimization has transformed greatly from when it was first used by websites and online platforms to fetch better rankings on SERPs. Back in the day, people only used desktop computers and all online tools were developed based on the requirements of desktop platforms in order to give the audience a better user experience. After desktops, laptops and tablets came along, and now mobile phones with easy accessibility to the internet are widely available.

Mobile phones enabled people to share emails and send instant messages right from the palm of their hands. Then, social media captured our imaginations and became a huge mobile phone browsing driver. In turn, more content from websites was being shared on these platforms and mobile traffic saw a huge spike. Today, more than 50% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices.

As this happened, Google continued improving its search strategy and introducing new search technologies and launched new innovative algorithms to determine search rankings. The algorithm’s formula was set by Google for improved search results and to provide better rankings to websites that provided an incredible user experience regardless of device.

As you know, it is very important for websites to stay on top of search pages and, therefore, website owners will try everything possible to stay ahead of search engine changes.

With the rise of mobile technology, it is evident that one of the most essential website technologies you must have is Google AMP and Facebook Instant Article capabilities to improve your website page load speed and deliver a seamless user experience. Page speed is now an important factor in SEO page rankings.

What is Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)?

Simply imagine web pages that can load in no time. Google, along with a group of publishers and technology companies, developed the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project. It is an open-source HTML project focused on loading web pages faster and with much greater speed. By capturing the AMP code of your web pages, or individual posts, you can accelerate the speed of your web page while it loads and can provide instant page results to users for easy browsing.

So, once AMP is enabled, the next time your target audience visits your website, they will get the information of their choice instantly, without delay, using AMP technology. Quicker load times lead to a customer that is happy and satisfied with the experience your website provides them, similar to the customer trying out the restaurant for the first time.

What about Facebook Instant Articles?

Similar to Google AMP, Facebook also has its own technology for instant article delivery known as Instant Articles. When you upload your content on the Instant Article publishing tool, the content is loaded immediately for your viewers. Both Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles are developed for mobile pages catering to mobile users.

How Do I Configure My Site with AMP?

Google AMP offers a range of web tools to create a common base between websites to meet the goal of faster page loads. AMP is an open source platform to help all publishers and developers take advantage of the faster mobile experience. Along with the text content, AMP code also works with photos, videos, and GIFs. Articles optimized by AMP have already started appearing on search result pages that have been optimized organically.

AMP also offers caching of your content. Thus, 3rd party platforms can easily have access of AMP content for its users. Even Google offers its own Google AMP Cache for the already published content on the web. Most of the prominent publishers and content platforms like LinkedIn, Mashable, New York Times, and Pinterest are participating in the instantly loading content feature of AMP. WordPress also has its own WordPress AMP plugin.

In conclusion, the AMP technology leads to faster page load times that can result in increased engagement on your website. Technology is changing almost everyday. Currently, AMP technology is not widely applied so it is seen as a great opportunity for businesses to take advantage of.

There is a lot that is going to happen to mobile web technology since it is the technology that will rule the future. From an SEO and user experience standpoint, it is necessary that website owners apply updated technologies that will help deliver faster, simpler, more secure, and easier to navigate services for users that are and will continue to use mobile devices.

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Written by Robb Fahrion

Robb Fahrion is a Co-Founder and Partner of Flying V Group. Robb has helped over 350+ companies build their businesses online and is responsible for building Flying V Group into one of the premier marketing agencies in the United States. Robb and his team have managed over $10M in marketing budget and continue to accelerate the growth of clients' businesses. A love for business and competition is what fuels Robb to create dynamic marketing plans to help his clients grow exponentially.

November 26, 2018

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