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Question about setting up a mobile website with WordPress

by kalyn
5 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
Hello, the company I'm working for would like to set up a simplier mobile version of each of their store websites.

We've purchased a mobile WordPress theme that the owner of the company likes and I'm all ready to start building the sites.

My plan is to set up a folder on the domain and put the mobile site there. So for example www.storename.ca/mobile.

Then I hear there is a WordPress plugin that can detect if someone visits the main site on a mobile device and redirect them to the mobile version. The main sites are made with WordPress as well so I guess I'll just use that plugin to redirect mobile users to www.storename.ca/mobile.

I'm wondering though is this the best way to do this? I've seen some sites do a subdomain like m.sitename.ca. Is that better to do than something like www.storename.ca/mobile?

And finally, if I'm redirecting mobile visitors to a completely different website how would that affect the SEO of our main site as well as our mobile SEO?

Thanks in advance for the help.
#mobile #question #setting #website #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author UMS
    The main question is whether the mobile version of the site is going to be completely separate, ie: different content/graphics etc, or is going to be a mobile version of the main website.

    There are a few approaches to take:

    1. Use a Responsive WordPress theme. This means that you have one copy of the content and one theme, but if the site is viewed via a mobile device/tablet, the display will respond to the viewing size.

    This is the simplest set up as you don't need to maintain separate versions of the website.

    The downside is that responsive designs aren't optimized for mobile devices, so they can potentially be a little slow.

    2. Use a plugin like WP-Touch Pro, which detects whether a user is on a mobile device and automatically displays a mobile optimized version of the site.

    The advantages are that you only need to maintain one set of content.

    The disadvantages are that WP-Touch Pro won't easily handle WP themes that use their own shortcodes.

    3. Having a totally separate mobile site.

    You are much better off creating a sub-domain for this purpose so that the page structure and navigation is the same.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jay Moreno
    Hi Kalyn,

    Google recommends responsive from a seo standpoint since Google can find what its looking for on the same url

    However Google in the Mobile world ie under the GoMo Initiative tell us that a mobile optimized site is actually better than a responsive design for the end mobile user experience, a good mobile optimized sites are typically much quicker to load and and much less bloated in file size compared to those of a responsive design - actually this is the third recommendation for Google with regards to mobile seo...

    The second recommendation is to look at dynamic/adaptive designs that render different HTML with the same content based on the user agent or serve different content using the VARY header- similar to what WPTouch does when you view it on a mobile device it delivers the same content on the same url but in a way that is suitable for viewing on a mobile device

    Adaptive is the approach we take - however the downside is is its not as simple as saying installing a responsive theme, or developing a standalone site if you are doing this from the ground up.

    In fact the approach we take is to provide a responsive design for desktop and tablet devices and provide an adaptive design that works best on the broadest range of mobile devices - this includes smartphones, feature phones and even legacy mobile devices.

    In review of all this and going back to your question is for SEO mobile practices Google does like the content being served on the same url as it is less resourceful - however done properly a separate domain is also considered acceptable too.

    Bottom line if whichever way you choose to go understand the pros of cons of each.

    I personally think you get the best of both worlds with adaptive but everyone to their own
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    • Profile picture of the author kalyn
      We're doing a completely separate mobile site. Our main sites have a ton of content and are built using a ton of shortcodes. The sites were built before people really started making responsive themes so changing the theme isn't really an option right now.

      I completely agree on the responsive thing though, from now on if I make a site I'll make sure it's using a responsive theme.

      The mobile sites are basically going to be super simple with a map, directions, click to call buttons, some specials and that's pretty much it. So while our main sites have like 100+ pages the mobile sites will probably have less than 10.

      UMS, what do you mean by a subdomain is better so the page nagivation and structure is the same.
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