Ecommerce Mobile SEO
While mobile compatibility is becoming increasingly important across the web, your mobile needs and recommendations will vary depending on your industry and customers. Your mobile site should be functional and it should be easy enough for your customers to purchase from you on their phone or a tablet. Even if people are unlikely to purchase when they are on their phone (such as if you have really expensive or complicated products), people are likely to be searching and browsing your site with future purchase intent.
There are three options for mobile sites (responsive, mobile site, dynamic service. All three of these options have the ability to perform well in organic search though responsive design is Google’s recommended solution. Both responsive design and dynamic serving have a distinct advantage over a separate mobile site – all links will be concentrated on the same URL, reducing potential link dilution. One important point to consider when deciding how to build out your mobile site is the use cases for each device. One such use case is the user is in a store trying to see if they are getting a good deal or to read reviews to verify what a sales person has told them. Though this user is not likely to buy right at this moment, they have a very high intent and if you have a competitive price, they are likely to come back and buy from you. This means that features like “email this product to me” are important as are cross device retargeting efforts (and inherently adding user data to your analytics accounts). You should talk to your customers to understand why they are on your site when they are mobile to create a mobile experience optimized for your customers. An important mobile design consideration for ecommerce sites is balancing text and information on a mobile device. While having a lot of information on category and product pages is beneficial for search and helps consumers pick a product, it is important to consider the way in which the information is displayed on a phone or mobile device. With such small screens, it can be difficult to navigate significant amounts of text on a page to find a product on a category page or the price, rating, or pictures on product pages. You should design your mobile pages with a good understanding of your customer, their needs, and use cases in mind. With a clear understanding of your customer’s mobile intent and mobile needs, you can develop a mobile experience to facilitate a purchase, whether it is on their mobile device on a computer at a later point in time.
Action Items
Review analytics to understand how users are interacting with your mobile site
Survey mobile visitors to better understand their use cases and objectives on mobile
Audit your current mobile site (if applicable) to determine shortcomings
Develop a strategy to improve your mobile experience