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How to Mobile Optimize Your Site
Now that your site is setup for mobile visitors, it’s time to get your mobile SEO in order.
In this chapter I’ll show you how to ensure that Google and other search engines consider your site optimized for mobile.
Use Google’s Mobile Usability Test
This nifty tool found in the Google Search Console lets you know if your site has any mobile usability issues. To use it, head over to your GSC account. Then click on “Mobile Usability”. (This is in the sidebar of the new GSC)
And Google will let you know if mobile users have trouble using your site.
(For example, the tool may letcha know that you use Flash or that your font is too small for mobile users to read). You can also use Google’s Mobile-Friendly test. Just pop your URL into the tool…
…and get a full report.
As you can see, I passed. But the tool let me know that mobile Googlebot had trouble loading all of the resources on my page: Desktop Googlebot had no issue crawling these resources. But the mobile version couldn’t do it.
And with Google’s Mobile-first index now live, this is a potentially serious issue. And it’s something I wouldn’t have known about without this tool. Super duper helpful.
Let Google Crawl Everything
Do you block Googlebot from accessing Javascript, CSS or other important parts of your site’s code? This used to be no big deal. But today, this is a VERY bad idea. Unless Google can fully crawl your page, they can’t tell it’s mobile-friendly or not.
And if they’re not sure it’s mobile-friendly, good luck ranking in the Mobile-first index. How do you know if this is an issue?First, check out your robots.txt file. This tells Googlebot to not crawl or index certain parts of your site. This file is usually found at site.com/robots.txt. You can also see it inside of the Google Search Console.
While you’re there, click on “Google Index” —> “Blocked Resources”. This will let you know if you’re blocking Googlebot from crawling certain parts of your site.
If you’re not blocking anything important, you’re set.
Put the Kibosh on Interstitial Popups
I know: everyone HATES popups. I’m not going to get into that debate here. But I WILL tell you that Google also hates popups… especially for mobile users. Remember: Google’s #1 job is to show their users amazing content. And if that content is hidden behind a giant popup? It’s not all that amazing anymore. In fact, Google rolled out an update that specifically targets “Intrusive” popups.
So if you use a giant popup on your site, this could seriously impact your rankings.
How do you know which popups are OK?
How Does Your Responsive Site Actually Look? Check Out This Cool Tool
It’s one thing to see how Google views your mobile site. But nothing beats actually seeing your site on different devices. So if you use responsive design on your site, I recommend checking out this free tool. It’ll show you how your site looks on iPhones, tablets and more:
Use The Mobile Version of “Fetch as Google”
Like most people, I’m a visual learner. Sure, it’s nice to see a laundry list of potential Mobile optimization issues. But personally, it’s much more helpful to actually SEE how Google sees my page. That’s why I recommend spot testing a few pages on your site using the Google Search Console’s “Fetch as Google” feature. Just enter a URL of a popular page from your site into it:
(Make sure to choose “Mobile” from the dropdown box). And they’ll show you exactly what the Googlebot saw. You can even scroll down to see if Google missed anything (like images, videos, menus etc.).
Let Mobile Users See It All
Back in the day, people would block certain resources from mobile users. (For example, they might hide some content…or block javascript from loading) These people weren’t doing anything shady. Blocking these resources helped their page load faster on mobile devices. And it sometimes improved the mobile experience.
Here’s an example of what I mean:
See how you need to hit “Read More” to see all of the content? This might be a problem with Google’s Mobile-first index. Why? With Mobile-first, Google considers your page’s mobile version the “main” version. And if your content is hidden to mobile users, they may not index or crawl that content. Or they may weigh it differently.
In the meantime, here’s my take:
If you block or hide content from mobile users, Google will ignore that content or put less weight on it. Bottom line? Use your site on a few different phones. If desktop users see something mobile users don’t, I recommend getting that fixed ASAP
