Mobile-First: Its Impact on SEO and How it can Grow Your Business |
Posted: April 29, 2019 |
In 2018, 52.2% of all website traffic worldwide was generated through mobile phones: It should be no surprise then that many of the best web design agencies have embraced what is called “mobile first design”. The mobile-first trend reached a new milestone when Google rolled out its long-awaited Mobile First Index on 26th March, 2018. While Google will still continue to review your desktop pages, it will start with your mobile presence first.
In short, your mobile-friendly website will be the starting point for your search engine visibility. Therefore, your mobile website needs to be as good as its desktop counterpart, if not better. After all, a majority of real estate related traffic comes from mobile devices! Let's see what mobile-first is and how it affects your search engine rankings (aka, how it can help you get to #1): What Is Mobile-First Design? Mobile-first design requires you to sketch and prototype a website or app for the smallest screen first; you can work your way up to larger screens as you go. There are no separate desktop and mobile versions. This approach makes sense as UX designers must focus on including the most critical factors in their design, owing to the limited screen availability. However, you have to make sure that the website will provide the same experience on desktop and other screens.
This approach often breaks the screen into multiple segments. On the other hand, progressive enhancement relies on using multiple fixed layout sizes. You have to create different layouts suitable for each screen size. Alright! Let's get back to mobile-first design. What This Means for SEO Google's move to prioritize mobile-first indexing is going to affect your current SEO to some extent. However, it won’t affect your search engine rankings for the time being. Still, from the SEO point of view, the following three factors will become more critical as time goes on:
Content is always king. However, as mobile-first design requires a minimalist approach, content also needs to be stripped down to the bare essentials. As a result, creating content for mobile-first design requires some strategic thinking. It also needs to go through multiple iterations before finalizing. Keep the following factors in mind:
Visual Hierarchy Visual hierarchy is a critical factor in an effective mobile-first design. As what should come as no surprise, mobile websites look and react differently than their desktop variants. If nothing else, the one element that should be perfect is the Main Menu. List down all the elements in this menu around the user priority. Think about the ones your users will want to check out first and arrange it accordingly. For example, Dove Men + Care focuses on simple, yet functional visual hierarchy. You can directly access some products from the homepage while easily scrolling down with one hand. The solutions link also allows you to quickly find a product using “Search” - instead of browsing several product pages. This is why this link is placed above the Products link Regardless of the menu style you choose, always use clear and easy-to-read typography. Additionally, be sure to use contrasting colors, shapes, and sizes for text, media, and graphics to make a particular component stand out visually. Find Alternatives to Hamburger Menu While the Hamburger Menu (which is typically located on the top left) remains popular for mobile website designs, try to find better alternatives; the click rates for Hamburger menus are low. With this in mind, many are moving away from this menu in search of more user-friendly options. If you have a limited number of sections, you can use tabbed navigation. You can display the tabs at the top or bottom of the page. If you have more than five sections, you can use "More" as the fifth option. It can be a Hamburger or a drop-down menu with the list of remaining sections. Alternatively, you can use scrollable or carousel navigation instead of tabs. For example, Medium uses scrollable navigation, in which users are able to browse through different elements using the arrows at both ends of the menu. The third alternative would be using a drop-down menu. These are best suited for clustering similar items together, but require vertical navigation. Other alternatives include swiped pages, labeled menu buttons, or slide out tabs. Quick and Effortless Checkout Process Mobile cart abandonment continues to outpace desktop. In 2017, it was 10.7% worse than desktop globally. A poor checkout process is one of the primary culprits behind high cart abandonment rate. You will need to set up an easy-to-use, yet highly secure checkout process for your mobile-first website design.
Use Click-to-Call Buttons Another element that will add value to mobile user experience is the click-to-call (CTC) button. CTC buttons make it easy for users to reach out to your customer care. You can add a button to directly schedule a call, start an online chat, or book an appointment. We have added a CTC button on our homepage, in addition to an online messaging option. Further, make it easier to locate your physical address using Maps. Don't forget to add social media sharing buttons to your site as well. The idea is to make the communication and sharing as easy as possible for the users. The Inherent Downside to Mobile-First Approach While it may sound perfect at first, the mobile-first design process comes with a few inherent flaws. Let's see what those are. The mobile-first design process is the exact opposite of the desktop-first approach. So, it feels kind of like driving backwards in a Formula One race. No kidding, right! While some web designers may find this to be a fun challenge, others may not feel up to the task. As you need to have a clear understanding of the entire process, you will be investing a lot of time and effort into learning new design methods and experimenting. The question is - can you sustain it in terms of work hours and dedication? It's Restrictive Designing a website for a screen about the size of your palm is pretty restrictive for someone accustomed to working on a desktop-sized canvas. Though responsive web design is tricky, it allows you to play around with your creative side. Mobile-first design, on the other hand, puts you under a lot of restrictions, starting with remarkably limited screen space. Difficult to Demonstrate the Complete Layout Web design is a lengthy process that includes several iterations until a concept is finalized. As a result, clients often want to see a demo of their website (usually a desktop version) before finalizing the design. Unfortunately, in the mobile-first process, you can't design the desktop version until the very end. Plus, mobile-first websites may look empty on a desktop. So, there is a lot of confusion involved in this process. The trust factor between the client and the designer becomes a critical issue here. Parting Words As you can see, many businesses are leaning towards the mobile-first design to accommodate the increasing number of mobile users. Do you want to take this approach as well? It's your call. However, as of right now, the SEO value of a mobile-first website should be enough to entice you to go this route. It doesn’t seem like mobile will be going anywhere any time soon. Do you still need help with working out the best choice? Ayokay is a web design company that offers custom solutions for many industries, including real estate. They have worked with clients across the globe.
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