Mobile friendly content will soon be a requirement for websites. Mark January 10, 2017 down in your calendar because that's when Google starts cracking down on websites whose content is not "easily accessible" to mobile users. With mobile overtaking fixed Internet access, and Google's deadline fast approaching, marketers would be wise to ensure their content is mobile friendly.
Here are seven issues and some tools you can use to ensure your content works well in this environment.
Verify Your Site Has Mobile Friendly Content
MobileTest.me is a fast and simple way to check how your content appears on six popular mobile devices. Simply select a device and enter the URL. If you're already using a mobile responsive theme, all should be well on this front. Yet, there are still some points that still need to be addressed.
Avoid Interstitial Popups
The Google crackdown aims to improve the experience of mobile users when accessing content on the web. Sites that do not comply may experience a negative impact on their placement in the search engine results page (SERP). Google has specifically singled out interstitial popups as an important factor. These popups, often requesting a viewer to subscribe to an email list, block the original content from view. No surprise that the general public finds them extremely annoying. Unless there's a legal need (e.g. age verification), it's best to avoid using them.
Use Coschedule for Great Headlines
Ask any copywriter and they'll tell you there's an art to creating great titles. In the era of content shock, the title has assumed even greater importance as readers use it as a quick means to filter content. Coschedule has a neat headline analyzer that scores " your overall headline quality and rate its ability to result in social shares, increased traffic, and SEO value. "Using this tool also ensures your headlines have the right length for both character and word count. That's important because long titles can get truncated on mobile screens.
Write A Kick Ass Intro
Getting people to click on the title is only half the battle. Now that they're here, your job is to get them reading. The best way to do that is with an enticing introduction. The introduction should function as a summary of the post. Give them the gist of what it's about and encourage continued reading.
Construct Concise Paragraphs
Short paragraphs with liberal use of white space make for easy scanning. Since they usually focus on just one point, they're also easier to follow. Typically this means keeping the length to two or three sentences.
Use Simple Words
Hemingway Editor is a useful tool for bringing clarity to your writing. Paste your finished post into the app to find words and phrases that have simpler alternatives. It also rates the readability of your article and highlights sentences that are difficult to read.
Optimize Your Images
Images with large file sizes significantly impact page load speeds, another important factor in ranking high in the SERPs. Kraken optimizes images without visual loss, saving bandwidth and storage space, while decreasing your website's load time. It's available through a web interface or WordPress plugin. The plugin automatically compresses images as they are uploaded, creating a smoother workflow.
Creating mobile friendly content doesn't have to be expensive or time-consuming. A few inexpensive tools, coupled with some minor changes in your content production workflow can make all the difference in the world. Get going on these changes now to avoid getting penalized in the coming year.
