Branded3's Director of Search - Patrick Altoft - delivered this talk at 2013's Digital Marketing Show in London. This session covers details on how Google is evolving mobile search to offer the best possible results to their users and explains how brands can take advantage of this to drive a greater share of mobile & tablet traffic.

1. Creating a Future
Proof Mobile SEO
Strategy
Patrick Altoft – Director of Search

2. baynote.com/infographic/mcommerce-takes-off/

3. What Google wants
“The goal of many of our ranking changes is to help searchers find sites that provide a
great user experience and fulfil their information needs. ”
Matt Cutts
Our strategy therefore is to create a better search result for our clients than their
competitors.
This can be split into two simple to understand factors:
• Creating more authority & being a better/more reputable company
• Making better landing pages, specifically your primary pages

4. The current
Sentiment
Engagement
NEWS
DESIGN
BUILD
Quality
Structure
CITATIONS
is listening to…
CONTENT
CONVERSATIONS
Authority
BLOG
Satisfaction
SOCIAL
Relevance
Freshness

5. Great experience
A great mobile site experience is becoming increasingly important, and users will
keep looking for a mobile-friendly site until they find one that works for them. That
means your competitors will benefit if your site falls down on the job (and vice
versa).
• 61% of users said that if they didn't find what they were looking for right away on
a mobile site, they'd quickly move on to another site
• 79% of people who don't like what they find on one site will go back and search
for another site
• 50% of people said that even if they like a business, they will use them less often
if the website isn't mobile-friendly
http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/what-users-want-most-from-mobile-sites-today.html

6. Bad experience
It turns out that you can lose more than the sale with a bad mobile experience. A site
that's not designed for mobile can leave users feeling downright frustrated, and
these negative reactions translate directly to the brands themselves.
• 48% of users say they feel frustrated and annoyed when they get to a site that's
not mobile-friendly
• 36% said they felt like they've wasted their time by visiting those sites
• 52% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage
with a company
• 48% said that if a site didn't work well on their smartphones, it made them feel
like the company didn't care about their business
http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/what-users-want-most-from-mobile-sites-today.html

7. How does mobile search
work?

8. How does Google index & rank mobile sites?
When you search Google using a mobile phone you are searching the exact same
index as you would on a desktop
Google clusters the desktop & mobile versions of a page and consolidates ranking
signals, sending users to the most appropriate version depending on their device
Usually Google sends mobile visitors directly to the mobile version so they don’t
need to be redirected
Mobile user experience & lots of other factors will determine the rankings of the
domain to mobile searchers independently from desktop searchers
http://searchengineland.com/the-definitive-guide-to-mobile-technical-seo-166066

9. Tags

10. Don’t Frustrate
Your Customers

12. Storefinders

13. wtfmobileweb.com

14. idontwantyourfuckingapp.tumblr.com

15. Smart App Banners
This is OK

16. Mobile Path
To Purchase

17. Users are not arriving via your
homepage
http://www.google.com/think/researchstudies/mobile-path-to-purchase-5-keyfindings.html

18. Store locators are very
important

19. Having your buying guides
available on mobile is very
important

20. Mobile is growing
£1m/month from a mobile site

21. How can you use design
to improve your SEO?

22. How long do you have to engage a user?
3.8 seconds
Jacob Nielson – useit.com

23. Why is this?
•
We all can suffer from Analysis Paralysis
•
This is why we stereo type – we create mental shortcuts
•
The same rules apply to your site
•
This is why we find visualisations (such as info-graphics) so engaging

24. Your design 3.8 seconds to establish…
•
•
Relevance
Are you right for me?
Have you answered my
question?
•
•
Trust
Do you look credible?
Can I trust you with my
money?

25. Or else…
The user returned to
search. You did not satisfy
their objectives.

26. Return to Search
You have a few seconds to get
the visitors attention and
persuade them that they have
arrived at a site that will answer
their query
If they go back to Google that’s
a negative signal

27. Ensure your web design is
Responsive*

29. Google have issued clear
recommendations on what it
expects to see from mobile
optimised websites
https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details

30. You have 3 options…
Fully responsive
Dynamically served
HTML & CSS
Mobile version

31. It will massively effect your performance
+100%
MOBILE
CONVERSION
+51%
MOBILE
CONVERSION
+20%
CLICK
THROUGH RATE
+28%
TRAFFIC
INCREASE

32. Walmart.ca
Tablet first
Mobile orders up 98%
Conversions up 20%
bit.ly/17NK6KU

33. Each require very specific and different
methods of technical implementation.
Getting it wrong could put you in the
firing line for all sorts of issues.

34. Mobile SEO Summary
 Make you site as good as it can be, both in terms of
 Design
 Experience & Usability
 Focus on getting the technical implementation right
 Redirects
 Analytics
 Handling integration with apps
 Make it responsive (if appropriate)

35. App Indexing with Android KitKat
The future

36. How?
Easy ways to go mobile

37. Thank you!
Please email any questions to
patrick@branded3.com
or get in touch via
twitter.com/patrickaltoft