Getting Mobile-Friendly To Survive The Next Mobilegeddon: Analysis of Google Mobile Update Winners and Losers as well as the Most Important Mobile Ranking Factors 2015 by Searchmetrics, by Marcus Tober (Founder and CTO of Searchmetrics

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Getting Mobile Friendly
To Survive The Next Mobilegeddon
Marcus Tober
Mobile

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Made with love in Berlin
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Our secret sauce is our software

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Game over…

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DISRUPTION OF TECHNOLOGY
Mobile
Desktop Laptop
Tablet
WORK ENTERTAINMENT ALWAYS

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Let‘s go back in time!

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71%
68%
29%
32%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
After
Before
mobile-friendly
not mobile-friendly
*Basis: Searchmetrics Research Cloud SERPs 1-3
Share of Mobile-Friendly URLs
Mobilegeddon,
April 21st, 2015

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Share of not Mobile-Friendly URLs
27%
26%
36%
30%
29%
37%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
SERP 3
SERP 2
SERP 1
Before
After

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Share of Mobile-Friendly URLs
64%
66%
68%
70%
72%
74%
76%
78%
80%
82%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
POST Mobilegeddon PRE Mobilegeddon
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝑃𝑂𝑆𝑇 = 0.00
𝜌 𝑃𝑅𝐸 = 0.01
MOBILE

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Average Position Change of URLs
-0,21
+0,20
not mobile-friendly mobile-friendly

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“#Mobilegeddon Loser“

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Domain
Mobile/Desktop Ratio
04/26/2015
mobile
friendly
Mobile/Desktop Ratio
September 2015
mobile
friendly
boxofficemojo.com - 64% NO
Mobilegeddon Loser US – developments

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-64%
Mobile
Update
-67%
User Experience

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Domain
Mobile/Desktop Ratio
04/26/2015
mobile
friendly
Mobile/Desktop Ratio
September 2015
mobile
friendly
boxofficemojo.com - 64% NO - 67% NO LOSER
dict.cc - 44% NO
Mobilegeddon Loser US – developments

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-44%
-67%

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Domain
Mobile/Desktop Ratio
04/26/2015
mobile
friendly
Mobile/Desktop Ratio
September 2015
mobile
friendly
boxofficemojo.com - 64% NO - 67% NO LOSER
dict.cc - 44% NO - 64% NO LOSER
reddit.com - 36% NO
Mobilegeddon Loser US – developments

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April 2015
?

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SAME URL ≠
Mobile
Desktop
Rankings
…1…
…2…
…3…
…4…
…5…
…6…
…7…
…8…
…9…
…10…

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September 2015: still not mobile-friendly
But:

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MOBILE SEPARATE URL =
MobileDesktop
Rankings
…1…
…2…
…3…
…4…
…5…
…6…
…7…
…8…
…9…
…10…

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-36%
Mobile
Update

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Mobile
Update
MOBILE SEPARATE URL

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Domain
Mobile/Desktop Ratio
04/26/2015
mobile
friendly
Mobile/Desktop Ratio
September 2015
mobile
friendly
boxofficemojo.com - 64% NO - 67% NO LOSER
dict.cc - 44% NO - 64% NO LOSER
reddit.com - 36% NO - <1% NO m.reddit.com
last.fm - 31% NO
Mobilegeddon Loser US – developments

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-31%

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April 2015
Not mobile-friendly
September 2015
mobile-friendly
last.fm

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Domain
Mobile/Desktop Ratio
04/26/2015
mobile
friendly
Mobile/Desktop Ratio
September 2015
mobile
friendly
boxofficemojo.com - 64% NO - 67% NO LOSER
dict.cc - 44% NO - 64% NO LOSER
reddit.com - 36% NO - <1% NO m.reddit.com
last.fm - 31% NO - 1% YES RECOVERED
songlyrics.com - 47% NO
Mobilegeddon Loser US – developments

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-47%

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Domain
Mobile/Desktop Ratio
04/26/2015
mobile
friendly
Mobile/Desktop Ratio
September 2015
mobile
friendly
boxofficemojo.com - 64% NO - 67% NO LOSER
dict.cc - 44% NO - 64% NO LOSER
reddit.com - 36% NO - <1% NO m.reddit.com
last.fm - 31% NO - 1% YES RECOVERED
songlyrics.com - 47% NO + 4% YES RECOVERED
Mobilegeddon Loser US – developments

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April 2015

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April 2015

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September 2015
+10%
- 8%
- 2%

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Mobile vs. Desktop
RANKING FACTORS
2015
MOBILE
Mobile Desktop
≠

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Presence of Unordered Lists
35%
40%
45%
50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
75%
80%
85%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Mobile Desktop
𝜌_𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝=0.07
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 = 0.08
MOBILE

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Number of Interactive Elements
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Mobile Desktop
RANKING FACTORS
2015
Menus, Buttons, etc.
𝜌 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 0.10
𝜌 𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 = 0.08
MOBILE

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Number of Backlinks
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Mobile Desktop
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 0.28
𝜌 𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 = 0.11
MOBILE
ØDesktop = 2.500
ØMobile = 1.500

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LINKS?
Where we‘re going, we don‘t need LINKS.

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https
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Mobile Desktop
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 = −0.03
MOBILE
𝜌 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 0.05

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Number of Internal Links
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Mobile Desktop
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 0.09
𝜌 𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 = 0.03
MOBILE
ØDesktop = 132
ØMobile = 86

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Filesize
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Mobile Desktop Mobile 2014
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 0.15
𝜌 𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 = 0.09
MOBILE
ØDesktop = ~22,000
ØMobile = ~16,700

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Sitespeed
0,95
1,00
1,05
1,10
1,15
1,20
1,25
1,30
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Mobile Desktop
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 0.04
𝜌 𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 = 0.08
MOBILE

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Keyword in Title
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Mobile PRE-Mobilegeddon Desktop
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 0.00
𝜌 𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 = −0.04
MOBILE
ØDesktop = 76%
ØMobile = 62%

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Word Count
0
200
400
600
800
1.000
1.200
1.400
1.600
1.800
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Mobile 2015 PRE-Mobilegeddon Desktop 2015 Mobile 2014
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 0.07
𝜌 𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 = 0.02
MOBILE
ØDesktop = 1.140
ØMobile = 812

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# Keywords in Body
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Mobile PRE-Mobilegeddon Desktop
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 0.07
𝜌 𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 = 0.02
MOBILE
ØDesktop = 8
ØMobile = 5

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Proof Terms
40%
45%
50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
75%
80%
85%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Mobile Desktop
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 0.03
𝜌 𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 = 0.01
MOBILE
ØDesktop = 78%
ØMobile = 75%

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Relevant Terms
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Mobile Desktop
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑘𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 0.15
𝜌 𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑒 = 0.09
MOBILE
ØDesktop = 49%
ØMobile = 46%

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Semantic Content Optimization
It is all about the consumer intent and not keywords anymore
Basis: Searchmetrics Suite – Feature: „Content Optimization“

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Keyword Device Distribution

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Example for Keyword Device Distribution

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Redirect
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
POST Mobilegeddon PRE Mobilegeddon
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝑃𝑂𝑆𝑇 = −0.04
𝜌 𝑃𝑅𝐸 = −0.07
MOBILE

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Ø Font Size Entire Page
12,00
12,50
13,00
13,50
14,00
14,50
15,00
15,50
16,00
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
POST Mobilegeddon PRE Mobilegeddon Desktop
RANKING FACTORS
2015
𝜌 𝑃𝑂𝑆𝑇 = 0.03
𝜌 𝑃𝑅𝐸 = 0.02
MOBILE

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Why MOBILEGEDDON?
LOADING…
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text
of the printing and typesetting
industry. Lorem Ipsum has been
the industry's standard dummy text
ever since the 1500s, when an
unknown printer took a galley of
type and scrambled it to make a
type specimen book. It has
survived not only five centuries, but
also the leap into electronic
typesetting, remaining essentially
unchanged. It was popularised in
the 1960s with the release of
Letraset sheets containing Lorem
Ipsum passages, and more recently
with desktop publishing software
like Aldus PageMaker including
versions of Lorem Ipsum. Lorem
Ipsum is simply dummy text of the
printing and typesetting industry.
Lorem Ipsum has been the
industry's standard dummy text
ever since the 1500s, when an
unknown printer took a galley of
type and scrambled it to make a
type specimen book. It has
survived not only five centuries, but
also the leap into electronic
typesetting, remaining essentially
unchanged. It was popularised in
the 1960s with the release of
Letraset sheets
Faulty redirects Slow websites Interstitials Not responsive Too many links

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In a nutshell
RANKING FACTORS
2015
MOBILE
≠
Fewer words
mobile-friendly?
Fewer links
Loads faster
Bigger fonts

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