How Mobile Searches are Changing the SEO Trends

Experts have been declaring every year since 2005 as the year of the mobile. It is not surprising that they would do this seeing as a good majority of the population today depends on their mobile phones for seeking information and communicating.

As we become more dependent on our phones and tablets to browse the internet, trends in SEO are changing to accommodate this. In fact, the widespread availability and use of mobile devices is leading experts to believe that mobile search will soon eclipse desktop searches.

Why is mobile search so different?

Many people familiar with the importance of SEO wonder why mobile search is so different from desktop search. It is different because mobile devices differ from desktop computers. They go with us everywhere we go. Users can perform various functions on mobile devices more easily than on desktop devices. 

How is mobile influencing SEO?

There are various ways that mobile devices are influencing SEO and affecting trends in the industry. The major changes that have resulted from mobile include:

1            Greater importance of local search

Internet users are placing greater emphasis on local searches than before. This is greatly as a result of the nature of mobile devices.

Because they are mobile, we take them with us everywhere we go. Many people cannot imagine leaving home without their smartphone. Mobile devices have the ability to broadcast signals showing our locations. Mobile searches take advantage of this and make searches more localized. Search results will provide information businesses within the locality for example.

Since more people are using their mobile devices to obtain information, search engines are making efforts to provide localized search results. These personalized search results are therefore translating into desktop searches as well.

This trend towards local searches resulted in the introduction of the Pigeon algorithm by Google. The design of this algorithm is to provide users with more personalized search results. As a result, local results receive greater priority. This has meant that local business owners are getting better listing on search results pages than they did before.

If you want to be successful at SEO Singapore in the coming years, it is important to incorporate local SEO to your overall strategy.

           Voice searches

Mobile searches have given rise to the widespread use of voice searches. It can be cumbersome using small mobile keys to type in a search. Thus, many people rely on using voice searches as it is a much easier.

The use of voice searches has greatly affected SEO trends. When people use voice search, they are more likely to speak naturally. They are therefore more likely to use more complex phrases. A person using voice search will for example search for “the closest place to my home to buy an iphone’. While a person entering text into the search engine will shorten their search and typically search for ‘buy iPhone in town’.

The use of long and more complex phrases for searches resulted in the introduction of the Hummingbird algorithm update by Google. The hummingbird algorithm update aims at providing more precise and better results. The algorithm is able to obtain better results from conversational searches (i.e. searches that use complex and long phrases).

The update focuses on the meaning behind the words used for the search rather than on keywords as was previously done by the search engine. The search engine considers the entire sentence as opposed to selecting specific keywords and providing search results based on the keywords.

The use of voice search and the introduction of the Hummingbird update have led to the return of long tail keywords. If you want to improve on your rankings, take time to use long tailed keywords.

3.       Reliance on suggestion tools

Mobile devices are great because they are portable. You can have them with you wherever you go. However, this portability is only possible because of the small sized screens and keyboards. This makes entering a query more challenging. The keys are quite small.

Many mobile users therefore rely on auto complete or suggestion tools such as Google Suggest to perform their searches. This means that to be successful at SEO, it would be important to ensure that you use keywords that match with the common suggestions provided by these tools.

Suggestion tools such as Google Suggest provide mobile users with the opportunity to perform searches that are more specific. Google Suggest for example provides suggestions for localized searches that include the name of the area that the person is in when making the search.

Long tail keywords that include local names are therefore vital for success. 

4.       Social media

Many people that use smartphones spend a good amount of time on social media sites. In fact, mobile users spend more time on social networks such as WhatsApp and Facebook than on anything else.

Social media is therefore becoming a driver for traffic. If you want to improve your SEO and drive more traffic to your website, be sure to include social sharing buttons on your website. It is becoming more important to be active on social media platforms if you want to gain that extra traffic and drive your figures up.

Admittedly, mobile has resulted in various behavior changes that are greatly influencing searches and search trends. Because mobile phones are affordable and easier to access, mobile search will more than likely out-shadow desktop search in the coming years. You can therefore expect to see many more changes in SEO trends over the years to come.

Even with all these changes, the basics of SEO still apply. It is still important to:

·         Have high quality content that is relevant to your target audience.

·         Ensure that your content is fresh. Keep updating your content.

·         Select the right keywords for your content. Ensure that they keywords are relevant to your content.

Review and update your strategy on a regular basis. The SEO industry is dynamic. Things never stay the same. Ensure that you keep up to date with the latest trends.