The Future Is Now–Why You Need a Mobile Version of Your Site Pronto
As 2013 comes to a close, many marketers are looking towards the future of search engine optimization, wondering what new SEO changes search engines like Google are going to make. One of the biggest changes that’s coming to the field of search engine optimization is the move towards more mobile Internet marketing strategies.
According to the Pew Research Center, 63% of of adult cell owners use their phones to go online, and 34% of cell Internet users go online mostly using their phones, rather than using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer. In Asia, it’s increased by 192.5%. Now, it accounts for a whopping 10% of all global Internet traffic. As mobile Internet’s usage increases, many industry leaders believe that it’s poised to overtake fixed Internet access in the relatively near future.
However, this “future” heavy rhetoric is a little misleading. Yes, mobile Internet will become hugely important in the next couple of years, and will ultimately become one of the biggest search engine optimization strategies used, but the fact of the matter is that mobile Internet is important
Many people take issue with having a mobile site, which is why they want to believe that it’s just a trend around the corner, and not a part of the present. The reason so many procrastinate setting up a “mobile site” is because they believe that it’s an entirely separate website. They think they’d have a desktop version and a mobile version.
While it is possible to have two separate versions of your site, there is an easier, more logical choice, which Google actually prefers (meaning you’ll get a search engine optimization boost in their rankings). This alternative is called responsive web design, in that it adapts to all different kinds of devices. The best way to get with the program is to use responsive design to create a stripped down version of the main site that’s optimized for mobile platforms.
In the recent past, many sites utilizing search engine optimization hadn’t braced themselves for the changes that Google made in the past few months, and suffered a serious loss in web traffic. Now, they’re looking more towards the future, ignoring elements of the present. Do not do this. If you use responsive web design to create a mobile platform, you’ll be ready for whatever comes next in the field of search engine optimization. If you have any questions about search engine optimization, feel free to ask in the comments.