Letโs start with a little one-question quiz!
Where should we focus our optimization efforts?
A. desktop
B. mobile
C. voice
D. all of the above
If you answered (D) โ all of the above, youโre on the right track! Itโs true that with the rise of mobile-first indexing and voice search, desktop searches have decreased โ but that doesnโt mean they arenโt there.
The first thing you need to do is analyze your audience โ what route do they take to reach you? Keep in mind that todayโs users are constantly switching between devices โ desktops, smartphones, tablets, notebooks, smartwatches, etc. So, if your audience isnโt using a single device, your optimization strategy shouldnโt either.
Why You Should Optimize for Desktop, Mobile, AND Voiceย
Instead of optimizing for a specific touchpoint, itโs better to optimize for an entire journey.
When you analyze, you might find that 90% of your traffic is buy phone number list coming from desktop โ and only 10% is through mobile and voice. This realization may compel you to think that you only need to optimize for desktop. But there are two problems with this way of thinking:
1.ย What if these numbers are misleading?ย Itโs possible that people are visiting your mobile site or trying to find you through voice โ but if itโs not a good experience for them, they donโt come back. Maybe these numbers are just telling you where you need to improve so you can meet your customerโs needs. By ignoring these touchpoints, youโre essentially creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
2.ย What if these arenโt three separate audiences?ย Isnโt it possible that the people on desktop, mobile, and voice arenโt three different groups of people โ couldnโt they be a single group trying to reach you through world password day: the eight golden rules for secure passwords all three ways? Optimizing only for desktop may lead to some bad decisions and choices.
Today, people constantly switch between devices. Maybe they see something on TV, search for it on their smartphone, and then use their laptop to see a larger picture. Or, while on a journey, they may use their smartwatches to send signals to their other devices. So, instead of replacing their devices โ theyโre using them all together!
The Cross-Device Journey
The challenge is to keep in mind that audiences today operate between and across devices. If they canโt effectively use the device of their choice, you may ultimately lose their business.
Think of this journey as a chain โ what happens if you break it down by a single link? Letโs say you focus only on the desktop people because the percentage of mobile users is so low you donโt think they matter. You could lose the customer altogether. So be aware that this is a journey that happens across devices, and you canโt neglect certain pieces, or you will break the chain.
All of these devices are touchpoints in the customerโs journey โ and they give you credibility. People donโt just see your homepage, do a free trial, and then make a purchase. They might interact with your website, then read your blogs, and participate in the community. Youโre much more likely to convert if they hit you with three touchpoints.
So, the great thing about this journey is that if youโre on all these touchpoints when someone is searching โ it makes you more credible. They find you when they search on their desktop. They find you when they repeat the search on voice. They find you on a mobile search. The more times they see you in the chain, the more you seem like a credible source to them.
The SEO Challenge
Google realizes that they need to use the same core engine across botswana business directory all devices. So, the engine that powers search will also run on a TV. And they want to run on a laptop, desktop, phone, watch, and Google Home. They donโt want to write algorithms for each of these things.
Once all devices run off the same core engine, the things you do to rank well for desktop will also help you rank on mobile and voice and across all these devices. So, try not to break the chain. Eventually, all devices will benefit from the kind of optimization techniques that weโre already good at using.