In an information economy where users are time poor and research hungry we need to take a mobile first approach to meet the needs of both users and search engines looking to align users informational needs with relevant search results. With limited space and a now mobile-first index how can we align our SEO strategy with this?

1. ”Optimising
SEO,in,a,
mobile,first,
world”,
Dawn,Anderson
@DawnieAndo from
@MoveItMarketing

2. WHO
IS
DAWN
ANDERSON
@dawnieando
dawn.anderson@@move-it-
marketing.co.uk
move-it-marketing.co.uk
linkedin.com/in/msdawnanderson
• SEO%&%Digital%Marketing%Consultant%6 Move%
It%Marketing
• Lectures%at%Manchester%Metropolitan%
University%Business%School%on%(Search%
(organic%(SEO)%&%paid%(PPC)%SEM)%&%
Integrated%Digital%Marketing%Strategy%
• Contributes%at%Search%Engine%Land,%Search%
Engine%Journal,%State%of%Digital,%Smart%
Insights
• Speaker%&%Trainer,%Search%Marketing%Expo%
(SMX),%MozCon,%Brighton%SEO,%SASCON,%
Ungagged,%PubCon,%State%of%Search,%
General%Assembly%– UK%&%International
• Over%11%years%online%marketing%experience

3. Mobile'first,is,a,
paradigm'shift
…,with,several,
interpretations

4. THESE%INCLUDE

5. AS#A#WEB#DESIGN#DISCIPLINE
First#coined#the#phrase#‘mobile?first’#
(Luke#Wroblewski)#and#now#at#Google

6. As#a#means#of#indexing#
(filing)#documents#in#a#
search#engine#(library)

7. AS#A#USER#
GROUP#
PERCENTAGE

8. It is after all about the Global
Mobile Majority

9. We are mostly going to look
at “as a means of indexing
documents in a search
engine” here today

10. As we know

11. Surely it makes sense for
Search Engine Results Pages
to also be made up of mobile
alternative web pages?

12. GOOGLE%
ANNOUNCE%
MOBILE-FIRST%
INDEXING%PLANS%

14. MOBILEGEDDON?
APRIL
21ST
2015
REMEMBER

15. Remember&Chicken&
Licken?

17. 2018

18. What%if%you%haven’t%been%switched?

21. Don’t&Jump&The&Gun
It#is#better#to#build#a#thoughtful#responsive#website#than#hash#
something#together#for#mobile6first#indexing…#according#to#Google#
Webmaster#Team

22. Let’s&explore&what&mobile2
first&indexing&means&and&how&
you&can&handle&it&for&your&
brand

23. Historically… mobile sites have
been crawled and then indexed and
ranked based on their desktop
equivalent
BUT NOW
Image credit: Moz / Bridget Randolph

25. CONTENT&PARITY&ON&MOBILE&&&DESKTOP&SITES

26. Check&parity&between&platforms&with&the&tool

27. How about…Tabs &
concertinas & mobile-first
indexing?

28. Ensure search engine
robots can access
content hidden for UX
using javascript
<div class="tab">
<button class="tablinks" onclick="openCity(event, 'London')">London</button>
<button class="tablinks" onclick="openCity(event, 'Paris')">Paris</button>
<button class="tablinks" onclick="openCity(event, 'Tokyo')">Tokyo</button>
</div>
Search'engine'
crawlers'’mostly’'
won’t'be'able'to'
access'these'tabs

29. Content&&&links&placement&may&matter&even&more&so
57%

30. Reasonable)surfer?

31. or#Iceberg#Syndrome?

32. Desktop(versus(
responsive(versus(
dynamic3serving(
versus(AMP(versus(M(
dot

33. CONTENT&MOVES&AROUND&ON&THE&PAGE&AS&DEVICE&
CHANGES
Recommended

34. How$about$
dynamic$serving$
web$pages?
“When a mobile user or desktop
user is detected different content
for each is delivered from the
same web page URL”

35. DO#YOU#HAVE#
SEPARATE#
DESKTOP#AND#
MOBILE#
SITES?
YOU$LIKELY$
HAVE$WORK$
TO$DO

36. • Ensure(both(the(mobile(and(desktop(sites(serve(
structured(data
• Ensure(Google’s(crawlers(can(access(the(mobile(
version(of(the(site((and(desktop(too(of(course)
• No(change(is(needed(for(canonical(links(on(mobile(
sites(at(this(point.
• Ensure(the(mobile(site(is(verified(as(a(separate(
property(in(Google(Search(Console.

37. Check&all&the&
alternative&types&
of&pages&and&sites

38. Check&which&
alternative&you&are&
telling&Google&to&
index

39. DESKTOP
ONLY?
IT WILL STILL
BE INDEXED
X
X

40. You$should$be$aware$
‘indexing’$and$
‘ranking’$are$two$very$
separate$things

41. DESKTOP(ONLY(&(CANONICAL(AMP?

42. AMP$PAGES$CAN$LOOK$‘VERY’$
DIFFERENT$TO$YOUR$OTHER$PAGES
YOU SHOULD SPEND SOME TIME
ON:
• Content&parity
• Internal&link&parity
• Navigation&configuration
• Call&to&action&parity
Check&everything&
twice…&at&least
Even&without&mobile<
first&when&you&add&
AMP&a&lot&of&traffic&
becomes&‘AMP’

43. AVOID&AMP&ERRORS

45. SPEED%ON%MOBILE%IS%‘OF%
THE%ESSENCE’

47. YOU$WILL$LIKELY$INCREASE$CONVERSION$TOO

49. USE$A$RANGE$OF$
TOOLS$TO$
IDENTIFY$ISSUES$
&$MEASURE$
SPEED

50. IDENTIFY(MOBILE(FETCH(TIMES

51. Combine Page Speed Tests

52. WORK%THROUGH%THE%
RECOMMENDATIONS

53. WORK%TOWARD%ACHIEVING%
BETTER%SCORES…%ACROSS%
MULTIPLE%TOOLS

54. MAKING'IMAGES'SMALLER'IS'
OFTEN'THE'QUICKEST'WIN'TO'
SPEED'UP'A'SITE

55. Source: https://www.designbombs.com/top-wordpress-caching-plugins-compared/
WORDPRESS(CACHING(COMPARISONS

56. Enable'gzip compression'via'caching'
plugins,'.htaccess or'via'
compression'plugins
MOBILE
NO
INTERSTITIALS
ON MOBILE
THANK YOU
YOU$SHOULD$BE$MOBILE-
FRIENDLY$ANYWAY

57. TAKE%THE%MOBILE,FRIENDLY%TEST

58. TAKE%THE%MOBILE%FRIENDLY%TEST

59. CHECK%FOR%MOBILE-USABILITY%ISSUES

60. Enable'gzip compression'via'caching'
plugins,'.htaccess or'via'
compression'plugins
MOBILE
NO
INTERSTITIALS
ON MOBILE
THANK YOU
YOU$NEED$TO$PRIORITIZE$
KEY$CONTENT$
(Keep$it$lean)

61. THERE%IS%LIMITED%REAL%
ESTATE%ON%MOBILE

62. CONTENT&PARITY&ON&MOBILE&&&DESKTOP&SITES

63. THE$
ATTENTION$
ECONOMY
Information*
overload
Too*much*
content
We*are*all*
researchers
Agile*task8
driven*
searchers
‘Noisy’*
information*
systems

64. The$modern$search$engine$user$is$time$poor$and$research$crazy

65. Enable'gzip compression'via'caching'
plugins,'.htaccess or'via'
compression'plugins
MOBILE
NO
INTERSTITIALS
ON MOBILE
THANK YOU
MOBILE'FIRST,IS,MORE,TASK,
DRIVEN

66. TOP$TASK(IDENTIFICATION

67. Don’t presume people are ‘on the go’

68. Compare device queries in Google Search Console

69. TOP$TASK$
IDENTIFICATION

70. AVOID&
ICEBERG&
SYNDROME

71. “The%Brain%processes%
visuals%60,000%times%
faster%than%text”%
– 3M%Corporation%
Research

72. Gestalt'
Principles
Proximity
Similarity
Closure
Good2continuation
Common2fate
Good2form

73. Our$minds$are$thought$to$understand$patterns$and$fill$in$gaps

74. We#will#look#
at#3#main#
principles
Proximity
Similarity
Closure

75. Gestalt'
Principle'.
Proximity

76. Gestalt'Principle'. Similarity

77. Gestalt'
Principle'–
Closure'2
Reification
– What'do'you'
see?

78. DO#EMBRACE#
ICEBERG#THEORY

79. First&coined&the&phrase&
‘mobile3first’&(Luke&
Wroblewski)&and&now&at&
Google

80. Enable'gzip compression'via'caching'
plugins,'.htaccess or'via'
compression'plugins
MOBILE
NO
INTERSTITIALS
ON MOBILE
THANK YOU
Search'engines'are'also'
redesigning'their'own'
‘websites’'to'be'mobile5first

81. Gestalt principles?

82. Mental'
chunking'&'
entity'adjective'
clustering

83. Providing)a)better)UX)EXPERIENCE

84. Enable'gzip compression'via'caching'
plugins,'.htaccess or'via'
compression'plugins
MOBILE
NO
INTERSTITIALS
ON MOBILE
THANK YOUFollow%their%mobile-first%UX%
lead

85. STRUCTURED(DATA(IS(THE(WAY(FORWARD

86. Spoiler…
It+always+was

87. CONTENT&PARITY&ON&MOBILE&&&DESKTOP&SITES

88. Disambiguate+
lean+content+
with+powerful+
structured+data

89. Mark%up%all%manner%of%
‘things’%with%special%
code%for%‘machines’%to%
understand
2017
2014
X 3 YoY
implementation

90. AREASERVED'SCHEMA

91. IMAGE&ALT&TAGS&HAVE&NEVER&
BEEN&MORE&IMPORTANT

92. Enable'gzip compression'via'caching'
plugins,'.htaccess or'via'
compression'plugins
MOBILE
NO
INTERSTITIALS
ON MOBILE
THANK YOU
THE$SEARCH$BOX$IS$ONLY$
ONE$OPTION$IN$MOBILE2
FIRST$INDEXING

93. MOBILE'FIRST,GOES,FAR,BEYOND,WEBSITES,TOO

95. Work%on%‘Google%My%
Business’

96. Voice&&&
Assistive&
Search
• Keep$sentences$short
• Understand$‘actions’
• Put$answers$at$the$
beginning$to$sentences$and$
paragraphs
• Most$results$from$
structured$data
• Tables$are$a$problem

97. Thank&You
@dawnieando
Dawn&Anderson
@DawnieAndo from
@MoveItMarketing