Mobile usability is no longer a debatable frill, it’s a requirement for success on the web. In this webinar presentation with Anne Ahola Ward, CEO of CircleClick, learn about the latest SEO trends and developments. She covers local search behavior, optimizing for AMP, and rich snippets.

1. Mobile SEO
By Anne Ahola Ward
#SEJThinkTank
@annebot @circleclick

2. About me!
➔O’Reilly Author
➔CEO of CircleClick
➔IBM Futurist
➔SEO SUPER FAN GEEK
➔Secret Canadian
➔Avid Tweeter (@annebot)
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@annebot @circleclick

3. Mobile SEO
Matters!
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Search is the most common starting
point for mobile product-based
searches.
#SEJThinkTank
@annebot @circleclick

4. ➔ 48% of mobile searches begin with search engines; 33%
begin on branded websites; 26% begin on branded apps.
➔ More than half of 100 billion monthly searches are
occurring on mobile devices.
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@annebot @circleclick

5. Poll 1
Is tablet SEO the
same as Mobile
SEO?
A. Yes
B. No

6. Mobile Search = not the same.
★ 62% of organic searches display different results on
desktop vs. smartphone.
★ This trend is only expected to increase.
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7. 7

8. What is it?
➔Nth Screen Technology is the merging of devices, people, and places to
create a shared interactive experience.
➔The search ecosystem expands to everywhere and is part of everything we
do.
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@annebot @circleclick

9. Mobile Tenets
★ Don’t develop for a platform think
“Nth.”
★ Be fast or go home.
★ Empathize with the user
★ Test frequently, not just the homepage!
★ The fold is no more…?
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10. About the
fold...
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11. The concept is
older than we
think.
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Turning pages have always been
effort. We stopped making scrolls
and switched to making books
when Buddhist monks took the idea
from India through Afghanistan to
China, first century BC.

12. What is visible on the
page without action is
what gets us to scroll.
Be worth the trouble of scrolling.
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13. 13
Most people start scrolling
before the entire page loads.
The most viewed area of
the page is just above the
fold, at about 550 pixels,
with just over 80%
viewership.
#SEJThinkTank
@annebot @circleclick

14. More than $3 billion in pizza has been
ordered via Domino’s mobile app alone.
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15. Local Search Behavior
➔50% of Consumers who do a local search on their smartphone visited a
store within one day.
➔30% of Consumers would rather buy in-store instead of online knowing they
are close to a store.
➔61% use the address or phone number in the ad. 67% of Consumers want
ads customized via city and ZIP code.
➔68% use the “Get Directions” or “Call” buttons.
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16. 16
Ok, cool. So
what do I do?
#SEJThinkTank
@annebot @circleclick

17. Mobile Considerations
1. Do I build an App or do I not
build an App?
2. Site configurations. Do I go
with dynamic or parallel URLS?
3. Responsive or bust.
4. HTTP/DOS (2)
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@annebot @circleclick

18. How to Optimize
Mobile
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★ Hosting matters - Check your CDN /
Choose packages wisely
★ Redirect? Then do canonicalization
right.
★ Is your business local? Invest in local
SEO.
★ Facebook Instant Articles (4/12)
★ Project AMP
#SEJThinkTank
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19. Poll 2
Have you deployed
Project AMP?
A. Yes
B. No
C. What's Project AMP?

20. AMP
Observations
★ Author field now required.
★ Verbose image information now
required, upfront.
★ There are WordPress
integrations!
★ Syntax may be a bit obscure to
your web developer.
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@annebot @circleclick

21. Rich Snippets
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Add structured data of the appropriate
type to your site, then simply test to verify!
There are generators that will even do it
for you.
Example snippets:
★ Product Snippets contain
information about a product. For
example: a photo, price, availability
and reviews / ratings.
#SEJThinkTank
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22. More Snippets!
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★ Review Snippets contain a review of an
item such as a restaurant, movie, or even a
recipe.
★ Video -- An online video, including a
description and thumbnail. These are extra
hard to get to index (at least intermittently).
★ News article -- A news article, including
headline, images, and publisher info.
#SEJThinkTank
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23. About Snippets
★ Using them doesn’t guarantee
they will be displayed.
★ Headlines should not exceed 110
characters (AMP guidelines).
★ Always, always test before
deploying.
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25. Help the machines
help you.
-
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Spend the time and resources on
mobile optimization.
★ Site structure and navigation
matters.
★ Take out the trash.
★ No pop-ups, no flash! Ewwww.
#SEJThinkTank
@annebot @circleclick

26. Onto the future,
now!
Emerging technologies and
platforms...
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27. Mobile Voice
Growing in popularity with text to speech
ZenithOptimedia found that 23% of survey respondents have used voice search
services, including Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Google Now and Microsoft’s
Cortana. Of those surveyed, 50% are using voice search more frequently now
than they did a year ago.
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28. Voice Search Musings
➔ Queries are conversational
➔ Optimize for ‘direct answers / rich answers’
➔ Assume mobile or wearable / connected home devices
➔ H/T Rich snippets, they will also help you out with voice
We can assume that search engines will want to use direct answers for voice
search. Accuracy improves continuously and exponentially with processing
power and machine learning advancements.
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29. Virtual Reality
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★ Futurists like me envision a world
where digital technology flows as
water into space taking shape around
our non-virtual existence.
★ VR monetization revenues are
expected to reach $4.4 billion dollars
by 2019
★ The Landscape is expanding...
#SEJThinkTank
@annebot @circleclick

30. Augmented
Reality
★ Input comes in the form of text, video,
images and audio.
★ ARISE - the first Augmented Reality
search engine (University of Illinois
research project).
★ Location is the strongest application
for AR search.
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31. Emerging Search Devices
Smart TVs; Smart Watches, Smart Wristbands
★ By 2018, smartwatches alone will move nearly 100 million units.
★ Beacons are delivering real-time product and service messaging through
Apple’s iBeacon, Google Eddystone, and Facebook Beacons.
★ Users will want more concise content such as discounts, coupons and live
concerts or events.
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32. 3 Takeaways
★ Speed is king, do the work and
reap rewards.
★ Don’t build an app just for the
sake of it.
★ There is no dominant platform,
always consider Nth possibilities.
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33. Thank you!!! Follow: @annebot @circleclick
Bibliography:
www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/
www.cmocouncil.org/facts-stats-categories.php?view=all&category=mobile-marketing
techcrunch.com/2015/10/08/mobile-searches-surpass-desktop-searches-at-google-for-the-first-time/
www.mediative.com/mobile-stats-for-2015/
https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/study/2343577/google-local-searches-lead-50-of-mobile-users-to-visit-stores-study
Edward Kundahl 2016 Digital Marketing Forecast: 7 Trends to watch for BusinessCreatorPlus.com
Ramon Llamas of IDC
Josh Schwartz, Scroll Depth
Amy Schade, Nielsen Norman Group
Google Developer documentation, blog
Wikipedia article on book binding
The internet as a whole, thank you!
P.S. Thanks to future robot overlords
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