Mobile first is the SEO mantra of the moment. Since Google openly declared quality to be a ranking factor with its Panda update, blog articles under 1,000 words are considered the gold standard. The idea behind this is that longer articles describe a topic in greater detail, allowing publishers to better showcase their expertise.
The purpose? To generate more shares and higher traffic rates, as well as to sharpen one's own expert profile in the perception of users and the target group, in order to improve rankings.
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Who reads on their smartphone?
Increasing access rates via mobile devices present a challenge for SEOs. After all, how likely is it that users will read a 1,000-word essay on their smartphone?
The answer to this question doesn't make it any better, because there is no universal answer. The willingness to read longer content on a smartphone depends on the market you serve, the topic you cover, and the context of the search queries.
In order to meet the requirements of the mobile-first mentality and users alike, you first need to know the habits of your target group.
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Understanding mobile habits
Mobile content marketing can only work if you have data about your readers' user habits. You should determine the following information before you tailor your content marketing to mobile devices:
- What percentage of your page views come from mobile devices?
- Do you use more tablets or more smartphones?
- How do they behave on your site? Compared to overall traffic and independently of it.
- Which content format and topic do they access?
- How long will they stay on your side?
- Do you prefer visual content above all else?
- What other websites and social media platforms do you use on your smartphone?
The better your understanding of your target group's mobile habits, the more successfully you can optimize your content for mobile-first naturalness.
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Create content for smartphones with these tips:
What are the three most important characteristics that content optimized for smartphones should have?
- Quickly understandable formatting,
- "something for the eye" and
- readable length.
1. Format your content to be smartphone-friendly
The font size in responsive website design automatically adapts to the device used to access the site. Nevertheless, you can improve the mobile friendliness of your content by using easily readable fonts and incorporating bright color elements.
Pay attention to the word count in your headlines. Headlines that are too long quickly take up most of the smartphone display because the words are stacked vertically rather than on a single line as on a desktop monitor. Five to six words is ideal. However, the word count varies depending on the font. If in doubt, check how it looks on your own smartphone.
Offer users who consume your content on smartphones an introductory summary of the content piece. This way, readers know right away whether the topic is interesting to them or TLTR. Alternatively, you can also integrate such a summary into the first paragraph.
Paragraphs and subheadings are mandatory. This is especially true for content that is optimized for smartphones. It also makes the article appear cleaner, more structured, and more streamlined than without them. You can break up this bite-sized presentation of your content by inserting CTAs and social media-shareable(!), highlighted summaries or quotes of key statements and visual elements to make it even better structured.
2. Utilize and optimize visual content
Users are more attracted to images than text, especially on mobile devices. That's why videos, infographics, and images are becoming increasingly important. In videos, you can present your content in a way that users can consume it effortlessly. However, only include purposeful visual elements that add value for the user.
Many graphics and video files consume large amounts of data. This slows down loading times and affects the overall speed of your website. And page speed is an important ranking factor, especially for AMP websites. By compressing files without loss of quality and making them responsive, you can ensure that graphics and videos load quickly.
The consumption of videos, even longer ones, on smartphones is increasing. To encourage users to watch your videos, they should include subtitles or a transcript. Did you know that 85 percent of videos on Facebook are watched without sound? This only works because of the text description of what is happening in the video.
3. Vary the length of your content
Long, in-depth content is essential for good SEO. However, from the perspective of a reader on a smartphone, it is just as important to publish concise, insightful articles. Mobile-friendly content offers a lot of added value in as condensed a form as possible.
Your website could include a blog version specifically for mobile readers. There, you could focus on summaries, under which you offer users a link to the long version of the article. If creating two versions of your content is too time-consuming, vary the length of your blog articles on a daily or weekly basis, or depending on the topic.
You could write a detailed tutorial, for example, applying the tips on format and structure from step 1. The next publication will be shorter.
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Old new SEO for mobile content marketing
When developing your mobile-friendly strategy, don't forget to revise existing content in line with the relevant criteria. This meets Google's expectations for dynamic, fresh, and up-to-date relevant content and keeps pace with the trend toward smartphone compatibility.
As more and more users access the internet on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, Google is consistently giving mobile content higher priority in its rankings. Content optimized for these new needs and expectations is crucial for the visibility and credibility of a website.
With our three tips, you can lay a solid foundation for your mobile content marketing. This will enable you to increase the reach of your content among mobile users and provide them with low-threshold access to your brand and offerings.
With all this optimization, don't forget that some SEO best practices still apply to mobile content marketing. Above all, focus on the reader. Write high-quality content for smartphone users, not (just) for search engines.
