A Mobile-Friendly Society

Google’s latest algorithm change has put mobile devices at the absolute forefront of the search engine optimization conversation. But do you know the mobile-friendly navigation best practices that will allow you to be a winner when all the search engine dust settles? If not, read on:

Think Of What Your Reader Will Be Using To Access Your Website

mobile-friendlyWhen designing your website to be mobile friendly, it is of the utmost importance that you understand the devices that your reader will be accessing the site from. This means not just trusting your web designer when they say that the website is “totally ready for mobile”. You need to test things out for yourself.

Everyone has a mobile phone these days. Heck, you’re probably reading this piece on one! So check your website out on your mobile-friendly phone with a reader’s point of view throughout the process. If you have a tablet already do the same. If not, you need to get yourself a mobile-friendly tablet. It’s an investment worth making.

Think Through Your Content Plan, And Build Your Link Structure Around That

One of the biggest reasons that mobile users navigate away from a certain website is because they can’t find what they’re looking for. Hence the term “mobile-friendly.” Unless a user was lucky enough to find the exact piece of content they were looking for within a Google search, chances are that the user is going to need to navigate through a few of your pages.

If you have just thrown up all of your pages willy nilly and hoped that a vague sidebar would keep things organized, then you’re wrong. Your website should be a constant flowchart of logical decisions that will lead a user to the content that they want to see (and any related content that might be of use to them).

This is one of those things that take time and effort, and a lot of people don’t like the grunt work that comes with streamlining the content on their website. It is guaranteed to boost every traceable metric for you though, so take the time now before you lose your readers forever.

Don’t Be Afraid To Get Handsy

There are very few people left in the world (if any) that are still using a mobile device that comes with a keypad. What does this mean for your website? It means that the site will be viewed on smart devices like an iPhone or a tablet. Your website, therefore, needs to be as touch friendly as possible. If a user can’t navigate your page because the buttons load too close together or because they have to constantly zoom in and out, then they’re going to leave.

Too little touch is a bad thing. Too much touch is a bad thing too. Your website must be clean and easy to access with as few taps and swipes as possible (and hopefully no pinches).

There you have it. If you put these three mobile-friendly navigation best practices to use, then you are guaranteed to shoot up the mobile rankings!