Can any experienced SEO warriors help me on this?

10 years ago

I know the answer is no because there was an article about mobile marketing in a pullout in The Telegraph about Digital Marketing I read and it was someone from Google who wrote it.

He wrote if you have two separate sites you need to do SEO on both of them because they are separate entities entirely and don't impact upon each other which makes logical sense.

I know nothing really about any Internet stuff so someone who does may pipe up and say otherwise but it was Google who wrote it which is the only reason why I am writing this.

Dan

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Matthew North

10 years ago

Originally Posted by SuzanneRe

I have a taxi firm that is interested in a mobile website. He has spent a lot of money and time with an SEO company, and says his website is just right now.

He is worried that the mobile website will ruin the work done on his SEO. I cannot see personally how it will.

But does any warrior know if there is any chance it would harm his sites SEO?

A desktop website targets desktop searches.. people searching from their home computers..

.. A mobile website has content optimised for mobile phones. If someone if looking for a taxi and goes to his desktop website and can't find the relevant, content needed to make a booking, they will leave the site quickly and go to your client's competitors. This increases bounce rate.. and reduce time on site.. two important factors in how google ranks sites.

In summary a mobile site will actually increase his SEO performance and not harm it.. make sure you put a proper redirect script in the header and host it on the same domain (m.clientsite)

If you are making responsive websites with the option of changing the content for mobile visitors this whole concern is moot.

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SuzanneRe

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Matthew North

A desktop website targets desktop searches.. people searching from their home computers..

.. A mobile website has content optimised for mobile phones. If someone if looking for a taxi and goes to his desktop website and can't find the relevant, content needed to make a booking, they will leave the site quickly and go to your client's competitors. This increases bounce rate.. and reduce time on site.. two important factors in how google ranks sites.

In summary a mobile site will actually increase his SEO performance and not harm it.. make sure you put a proper redirect script in the header and host it on the same domain (m.clientsite)

If you are making responsive websites with the option of changing the content for mobile visitors this whole concern is moot.

Hi Matthew

Your explaination makes complete sense. I never thought about the bounce rate.

I will use what you say to explain it to the customer, if you don't mind that is?

Thanks

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Slin

10 years ago

Yup

a proper mobile website will improve the rankings only. In fact it's one of Google's ranking factors

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iAmNameLess

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Matthew North

This increases bounce rate.. and reduce time on site.. two important factors in how google ranks sites.

In summary a mobile site will actually increase his SEO performance and not harm it.. make sure you put a proper redirect script in the header and host it on the same domain (m.clientsite)

Well, bounce rate really doesn't matter when it comes to your rankings. Many sites have extremely relevant content, with a 95+% bounce rate because it is an answer to their question, they have no need to look further. One could also argue that time on site is actually increased with a mobile device on a non mobile version than the average time on site with a mobile site, so those factors don't really mean much from a ranking standpoint in my opinion.

Google has said that responsive is the way to go now.

Originally Posted by Slin

Yup

a proper mobile website will improve the rankings only. In fact it's one of Google's ranking factors

It really isn't. In fact, Google has said their preference is that people have responsive sites now, not a separate mobile version.

All in all... I don't think the business owner has a legitimate concern unless the way you're building the mobile version is going to hurt him, or cause a bunch of dup content. If he's ranking well, then chances are half his potential traffic is on a mobile device, he's losing out on more customers that way right now.

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LastWarrior

10 years ago

Originally Posted by iAmNameLess

I don't think the business owner has a legitimate concern unless the way you're building the mobile version is going to hurt him, or cause a bunch of dup content.

Hello,

Are you sure that is what you meant? I mean isn't the purpose of having a mobile or responsive site to be so that smartphone users, etc, can view info easier on their phone? And that info would be pretty much "dup"? Stands to reason that the info should be near identical in a lot of ways.

LastWarrior

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SuzanneRe

10 years ago

I just wanted to say thank you to those who offered help.

The taxi business has said he would like to go ahead after all, so I am very pleased.

Thanks Warriors!

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Rus Sells

10 years ago

Glad you got the client, just keep in mind that the main reason people search for taxi's on a mobile device is because they want a taxi now.

Design the mobile experience around that!

Not for reading some blog post about the new meters they use. lol

Originally Posted by SuzanneRe

I just wanted to say thank you to those who offered help.

The taxi business has said he would like to go ahead after all, so I am very pleased.

Thanks Warriors!

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abnerhawkins

10 years ago

Originally Posted by SuzanneRe

I have a taxi firm that is interested in a mobile website. He has spent a lot of money and time with an SEO company, and says his website is just right now.

He is worried that the mobile website will ruin the work done on his SEO. I cannot see personally how it will.

But does any warrior know if there is any chance it would harm his sites SEO?

Why don't you make only one website that would be responsive instead of making it for web and mobile.

Thanks
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SuzanneRe 10 years ago

Originally Posted by abnerhawkins

Why don't you make only one website that would be responsive instead of making it for web and mobile.

He would not go for it as he thinks everything new will ruin his SEO. Although his website could look much better, IMO.

But also would not know where to start with designing a main website etc, never done it before. Would love to learn how to do this though, I think I would enjoy it.

Mobile is easier as you just take the information from one website and add to another. Plus I use templates as a base, so can get by with the small amount of coding I know.
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savidge4 10 years ago

Starting with this in no way a personal attack towards you, it is a stand against the idea that "Responsive" is an answer.

The very first thing that stands out with the post/ question is the idea that the final product would be for a Taxi Company. So I client gets on his / her phone to look up a taxi company to call. Your site is listed very well but is responsive design. Do you know that 33% of the time the person doing a mobile search will back out and look at another listing? Why you ask? NO PUSH TO CALL!

There is absolutely no benefit to Responsive Design except for less work on the designers end. The reality is the time is coming that Google will separate the 2 - Desktop and Mobile. Bing already has for the most part.

The ONLY real world solution in this particular case is a Mobile Solution!

Originally Posted by abnerhawkins

Why don't you make only one website that would be responsive instead of making it for web and mobile.
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