As if you were in any doubt the rise of the mobile generation is upon us, even here at expired- domains where our website is heavily data driven we receive many requests to make the site more mobile friendly, so yes we know the demand is there but how does this equate to the modern day search engine optimization we are all learning to live with.

Well here is the lowdown most organic searches these days produce a different set of search results for smartphones than desktops (As much as 62 percent according to research). A major driver of this difference is that mobile results are location heavy, you know you are out and about and search a business search engines want to show businesses located near your position, especially if they have high ratings and reviews — particularly for queries with local intent such as “coffee shop” or “dry cleaner.” But how is this relevant to websites and domains like mine that are purely internet based?

Even from my business and experience which is selling expired domains, it has become extremely apparent that there is a big demand for a mobile friendly experience regardless of location and search engines such as Google and Bing are now adapting their treatment of websites to represent this changing environment.

Crucial to improving your mobile user experience lies in choosing the best way to configure your mobile website. Many websites have now become outdated and are misconfigured for mobile search or not configured properly at all, resulting in a loss of potential mobile traffic but also being penalized by the Search Engines in the SEPR’s.  A website’s mobile SEO rankings may vary slightly depending on which mobile configuration has been implemented, but the biggest effects are user experience and site maintenance.

1. Responsive design involves serving up the same content and URLs across all devices, just altering the layout and formatting to fit the user’s window size (accomplished with CSS). This is Google’s preferred mobile configuration, and it works well if your mobile users have similar intentions as your desktop users.
2. Dynamic serving involves using the same page URLs but changing the content dynamically, depending on what device is being used to access your website. This works well if mobile users and desktop users have different motives, but requires the use of an HTTP “vary response” header so search engines don’t think you’re trying to hide content.
3. A separate mobile site requires maintaining two separate websites with different URLs and different HTML content on each. This configuration can be best if mobile users have very different needs than desktop users, but site maintenance involves twice the work and you run the risk of creating duplicate content for search engines

When it comes to your mobile SEO strategy, user experience (UX) is the single most important factor for success. An awesome mobile design welcomes visitors and helps them engage more fully with your site. It can also impact your site’s rankings in a tie-breaker situation, since search engines prefer to serve mobile-friendly websites, all other things being equal.

Simple is best when it comes to mobile strategy

How many times have you ever visited a website from your smartphone that made you zoom and reposition the screen just so you could see it and then give up and move onto another website.  A poor user experience like this causes most people to leave the site and find another with a more optimal mobile user experience. When it comes to mobile search, less is more. Make every word count with relevant and focused content:

• Optimized with the mobile perspective in mind.
• Easy to access with clear and functional navigation options.
• Large enough to read in a font that is legible on a small screen.

So a quick hint whether you are buying those domains to develop websites, or to add to your portfolio and merely add a parking site don’t forget those important and ever growing mobile customer base.  Here at expired domains we are working on improving our responsive design, and will have a new format available to both our mobile and desktop visitors in the coming days, so keep an eye out.. In the mean time as always check out our awesome site for finding expired, expiring and dropped domains today! Go to expired-domains