The right picture is very useful on mobile and responsive websites. But images that are too large, too numerous and unnecessary simply slow down page load times and get in the way of the users reading and doing what they need to do. The problem: the size of webpages sent to mobile phones has quadrupled in just five years. The main cause: images, which account for 68% of total page weight. With mobile page speed a confirmed ranking factor in Google’s last mobile-friendly update, and Google’s mobile-first index looming large on the horizon, it’s in the interests of developers and SEOs to optimize their mobile site speed as much as possible. That means figuring out how to trim the fat from all those huge, cumbersome images. This column will explore the issue and causes of delays in mobile page speed (i.e. how quickly pages load on a mobile device) and how to test webpages for problems with speed. The next column will look at methods to reduce the … [Read more...] about How to optimize your mobile site speed: Testing for issues
Conducting usability testing
6 Usability Tips to Maximize B2B Website Conversion
B2B marketers invest a substantial amount of time, effort, and money drivingvisitors to websites. Making sure the site adheres to basic usability principlesis critical to maximizing online marketing results and alleviating obstaclesthat prevent prospects from taking the desired actions. Below are six, easy to implement usability tips to ensure that visitors get themost from your site and you get the most for your search marketing investment. Answer prospects’ basic questions first During the usability studies I’ve conducted, one of the most often repeatedcomplaints I’ve heard is about having to wade through marketing fluff(as in I don’t bother reading this marketing fluff). Your visitorshave little patience to read through your carefully crafted marketing message.They simply want to get to the content they need with a minimum amount of effort. Upon clicking through to your website, visitors immediately want to validate that: They are in the right place. They … [Read more...] about 6 Usability Tips to Maximize B2B Website Conversion
Mobile optimization as a competitive advantage
In 2016, the inevitable happened, and mobile overtook desktop as the primary device used to access websites. This didn't come as a huge surprise because, as far back as 2015, Google reported that more searches were conducted on mobile than on any other device category. In many industries, this may be conservative and, at the agency I head up in the UK, Bowler Hat, our B2C clients are seeing up to 85 percent of all site sessions conducted on mobile devices. Suffice it to say, mobile has well and truly arrived. Yet, while responsive design has been around for a while now and is fairly well-established, the majority of sites tend to fall down on usability. That is, the majority of sites are still built for desktop and then dialed back for mobile. That form-fill that was mildly annoying on desktop is an absolute pig on mobile. Even if it is responsive. This is not good enough in the mobile-first world we are racing toward in 2017. In this article, I am going to look at how you can ensure … [Read more...] about Mobile optimization as a competitive advantage
6 Critical Metrics to Add to Your SEO Campaigns
A reputable and experienced SEO professional will tell that you if you can measure something, then you can find ways to improve it. That certainly applies to your SEO campaigns, since initial optimization efforts may not bring the results you were hoping to get. Marketers and business owners who are new to search optimization tend to fall into a common trap where they get stuck on a single metric, like staring intently at search rank and wishing for it to move. A narrow focus on just one or two metrics will blind you to other areas where a campaign could be doing well, or on the flip side, not performing at all. There’s a lot of data within your reach on ranking, traffic sources, links, and user behavior that you should pay attention to as you launch and manage campaigns. There’s no single metric that provides all the answers, and every website prioritizes different metrics based on the brand’s goals and the types of campaigns going on. Tracking multiple metrics at … [Read more...] about 6 Critical Metrics to Add to Your SEO Campaigns
Why and how to comprehensively test the mobile usability of your site
Testing with Google’s mobile-friendly and page-speed tests is a good discipline, but if you really want competitive edge on the mobile web this is just the starting point. Google has done an excellent job of promoting the importance of the mobile-friendly website, with its mobile-friendly test and search algorithm that prioritizes mobile-friendly sites in search results. Now it is putting web performance – i.e. how fast your site loads on a mobile device – in the spotlight with its new business-focused mobile web testing tool, which is based on a revamped PageSpeed Insights tool. Is this a sign that performance/page speed – like mobile-friendliness – will become a more significant factor in mobile search rankings? Perhaps. Probably. But that shouldn’t be your sole motivation for testing and fixing. Your site should be fast and lean on a mobile device because that means a better usability and user experience (UX). Testing your webpages with … [Read more...] about Why and how to comprehensively test the mobile usability of your site