Mobile Rank Tracking: Your Guide to Mobile SEO

Just due to the fact that your website ranks good connected desktop hunt results doesn’t mean it’s the aforesaid for mobile search.

Desktop and mobile rankings tin disagree owed to factors similar the idiosyncratic acquisition (UX), the searcher's location, and leafage loading speed. So, it’s important to spot however your tract performs connected some types of devices. 

Mobile fertile tracking involves monitoring and analyzing your website's presumption successful mobile searches. 

Here's wherefore it matters and however to bash it right:

Why Track Mobile Rankings?

Mobile fertile tracking shows you however good your contented performs for mobile searches—a cardinal root of website traffic.

Case successful point: according to Statista research, implicit fractional of each planetary website postulation successful Q4 2023 came from smartphones alone. And 76% of surveyed adults successful the United States use their phones to bargain products. 

Tracking your mobile rankings besides lets you place imaginable ways to fertile for Featured Snippets. Which get 35.1% of each clicks for searches.

Additionally, Google switched to mobile-first indexing successful 2023. Meaning it present uses your site's mobile mentation to crawl, index, and fertile pages.

So, if your website doesn't look bully connected smartphones, it whitethorn not fertile good successful mobile hunt results. In the worst-case scenario, it mightiness not look connected hunt motor results pages (SERPs) astatine all.

The result?

You suffer retired connected postulation and imaginable revenue. 

Further reading: Google’s Mobile SERP: Everything You Need to Know

How Mobile and Desktop Rankings Differ

Google collects your IP address, browser data, and different idiosyncratic data. And uses instrumentality identifiers to spot whether you’re browsing the web from your phone, tablet, oregon desktop computer. 

Why?

So it tin service up much applicable hunt results. Ones that relationship for antithetic searches and behaviors connected mobile vs. desktop devices. 

This includes:

Shorter content: Someone mightiness work a five-page nonfiction connected a desktop computer. But not connected small-screen smartphones. 

More ocular content: Visual contented is easier to devour connected smaller screens than text. 

In fact, our survey connected SERPs, traffic, and trends recovered that mobile users saw 12.5 times much images and 3 times much videos successful integrated (unpaid) hunt results than desktop users. 

More localized results: Google's John Muellernotes that a user’s determination influences mobile hunt results. This is due to the fact that mobile users are often connected the go. And look for products and services adjacent to them, similar “coffee store adjacent Stanford Street." 

Further reading: Website Ranking 101: How to Check & Improve Your Positions

How to Track Google Mobile Rankings

Instead of trying to manually show idiosyncratic mobile rankings connected your phone, usage a rank-tracking tool. 

These platforms marque it casual to way your mobile rankings for circumstantial keywords.

To get the astir retired of your mobile SEO fertile tracker, look for 1 that:

• Offers filtering features similar location, hunt engine, language, and instrumentality type
• Monitors your ranking show successful real-time
• Provides humanities data, similar keyword ranking show implicit the past 24 months
• Integrates with Google Analytics and Google Search Console
• Exports information successful aggregate formats (e.g., PDF, CSV)
• Gives mobile keyword suggestions
• Predicts aboriginal mobile ranking trends
• Generates elaborate ranking reports
• Notifies you astir changes successful keyword positions 
• Can amusement you competitors’ mobile rankings

For example, our Position Tracking tool analyzes Google mobile rankings for people keywords crossed aggregate locations successful existent time. And lets you specify the determination down to the metropolis and vicinity level.

Use Semrush's Position Tracking Tool

Enter your domain sanction (website address) into the designated field. You tin besides take a task name.

Then, click "Create project."

A pop-up model volition appear. Select your preferred hunt engine, instrumentality benignant (choose "Mobile"), people country, and language. If you person a concern name, you tin adhd that in, too. Click "Continue to Keywords."

Enter your people keywords into the designated box. Or import them from Google Analytics, a TXT oregon CSV file, oregon different campaign. 

If you don’t person a database of keywords, prime "Semrush suggestions" and fto the instrumentality take them for you.

Click "Add keywords to campaign" > "Start Tracking." And if you’d similar to person play ranking updates done email, cheque the container to the near of the text.

The mobile SEO fertile tracker volition analyse your tract and people keywords. This process takes a fewer minutes, but immoderate insights (e.g., the estimated traffic) volition beryllium disposable wrong 24 hours.

When it’s done analyzing, you’ll spot a summary dashboard that includes your website’s visibility successful mobile hunt results, rankings distribution, keyword data, and more.

After you reappraisal the summary, usage the pursuing tabs to excavation deeper:

• Overview: See your website's advancement successful Google’s apical 100 for people keywords. Toggle betwixt “Share of Voice,” “Visibility” “Est. Traffic,” and “Avg. Position”
• Rankings Distribution: See wherever you basal successful antithetic ranking brackets. Like the apical 3 and apical 10 results.
• Pages: See which keywords antithetic landing pages fertile for
• Competitors Discovery: Compare your mobile rankings to your competition. Learn their positions successful Google's apical three, apical five, apical 10, apical 20, apical 50, and apical 100 results.

And if you ever privation to adhd caller locations oregon devices to your campaign, conscionable click the "Devices & Locations” tab.

Further reading: Search Engine Ranking: How to Use Semrush to Track Keywords and Positions

Mobile SEO Tips for Better Rankings

Now that you cognize your existent rankings, however bash you amended them? 

Here are immoderate strategies to marque your tract much mobile-friendly: 

Improve Mobile User Experience (UX)

User acquisition encompasses the processes needed to amended a website, product, oregon work to amended conscionable consumers’ needs. It tin positively interaction marque perception. 

UX is simply a confirmed ranking signal and, therefore, tin power a website’s hunt motor rankings. 

Good UX plan translates to a usable, accessible, enjoyable, and utile website. Not lone does it lick a problem, but it’s besides elemental to recognize and keeps users happy.

Use a Responsive Design

A responsive design automatically adjusts your website to the user's instrumentality layout—whether connected desktop computers, smartphones, oregon tablets. It lets users navigate your tract much easily. 

Use a responsive template oregon prosecute a web developer to physique a customized responsive tract for your business.

Avoid Pop-ups

Pop-ups tin negatively interaction UX. And forestall hunt engines from knowing your content. 

Google recommends avoiding intrusive pop-ups and dialog boxes unless they're perfectly necessary. For example, adding a pop-up support container for tracking cookies. 

Use banners to amended UX.

For example, to debar a frustrating speechmaking experience, we usage banner ads to beforehand applicable Semrush tools connected our blog: 

Redesign Your CTA Buttons

Mobile devices person tiny screens. Which makes it hard for users to spot your call-to-action (CTA) buttons. 

For mobile, usage larger CTA buttons (around 44Х44 pixels) than connected your desktop website. 

Place CTAs successful a salient determination and usage contrasting colors, 3-D effects, and white space to marque them basal out.

For example, Netflix placed a large, reddish CTA fastener connected its homepage that stands retired connected the acheronian background. It’s 1 of the archetypal things you spot erstwhile visiting the website:

Use a simple, readable font similar Open Sans oregon Montserrat. And abstraction retired your links connected the leafage truthful users tin easy click connected them. 

Further reading: 30 Attention-Grabbing Call to Action Examples

Use Structured Data arsenic Part of Your Mobile SEO Strategy

Schema markup, oregon structured data, is simply a standardized codification format that helps hunt engines recognize your content. And changes the mode web pages look up connected SERPs.

For instance, this IMDB result’s structured information displays a prima standing and votes to users. Along with links to an occurrence list, the bid formed and crew, circumstantial formed members, and the show’s trailer.

Schema markup whitethorn amended your visibility successful hunt results and summation integrated traffic.

According to Google, Rotten Tomatoes got 25% higher click-through rates aft adding structured information to 100,000 pages. Other brands saw boosts successful website traffic, engagement, oregon league duration acknowledgment to it.

If you usage WordPress, instal a plugin similar Schema Pro oregon WP SEO Structured Data Schema to adhd this diagnostic to your site. 

If you usage a antithetic contented absorption system, spot our usher connected schema markup and however to instrumentality it. We’ll amusement you the nonstop steps you request to instrumentality to make and adhd the markup to a web page. 

Create a Mobile-First Content Strategy

Write and optimize your contented with mobile users successful caput to amended their acquisition connected your site. Here are immoderate tips to assistance you out:

• Conduct mobile keyword research, paying other attraction to shorter keywords, location-based keywords, and conversational keywords (for dependable search)
• Keep title tags nether 60 characters
• Craft mobile-friendly meta descriptions by keeping them nether 105 characters
• Use abbreviated sentences and paragraphs for amended readability
• Leverage ocular contented alternatively than substance to convey analyzable information
• Choose a single-column layout to marque your contented much scannable
• Keep your forms abbreviated and destruct immoderate unnecessary fields.

Important: Don’t hide to preview your contented connected antithetic mobile devices earlier hitting "Publish." And cheque however it looks connected antithetic browsers, specified arsenic Google Chrome, Opera Mobile, Firefox for Android, and Samsung Internet. 

Further reading: The Art of Content Optimization: The Complete 2024 Guide

Leverage Mobile Analytics

A mobile fertile tracker is perfect for monitoring keyword positions successful SERPs. But you mightiness request further information to amended your wide SEO efforts and admit wherever you autumn short.

For deeper insights, usage mobile analytics tools similar Semrush's Domain Overview oregon Google Analytics. 

They way your SEO show connected some desktop and mobile devices. So you tin larn much astir your people customers, however they usage your website, and their preferred content.

Domain Overview lets you way your domain show implicit time, showing your:

• Paid and integrated (unpaid) traffic
• Main competitors
• Top-performing keywords
• Research subdomains, subfolders, oregon leafage URLs 

Google Analytics focuses much connected idiosyncratic behavior. 

In summation to postulation data, it shows:

• Average engagement time
• Conversions
• Audience demographics, specified arsenic location, age, and gender

With these insights, you tin refine your selling and SEO efforts to scope much customers. Plus, you'll spot however you comparison to your competitors and place areas for improvement.

Optimize Your Images and Videos

Large images and videos tin dilatory down your website, affecting the idiosyncratic experience. That's wherefore it's important to optimize them for mobile devices.

According to a 2023 ToolTester report, the mean leafage load clip connected mobile devices is 8.6 seconds.

Here's what you tin bash to assistance your pages load successful that time—or adjacent faster:

• Use a plugin similar Imagify, ShortPixel, oregon TinyPNG to compress and optimize images for faster-loading pages.
• Display your images successful WebP format truthful they instrumentality up little abstraction and load faster. WebP images are 26% smaller than PNGs and up to 34% smaller than JPEGs. Use a escaped instrumentality similar CloudConvert, Pixelied, oregon TinyIMG to person PNG, JPG, and JPEG files to WebP.
• Enable lazy loading with Optimole, Smush, oregon a3 Lazy Load. These WordPress plugins tin velocity up your tract by loading images lone erstwhile they are astir to beryllium shown to the user, alternatively than loading each images astatine once. You tin instrumentality lazy loading for videos, too.
• Since astir radical clasp their phones vertically, sprout vertical videos for your mobile tract to heighten the idiosyncratic experience. They besides instrumentality up much surface abstraction connected mobile devices than horizontal videos, which assistance to drawback viewers' attention.
• Per Sharethrough, 75% of consumers support their phones connected mute adjacent erstwhile watching video content. Add captions, subtitles, and ocular cues to your videos truthful radical tin ticker them without sound. 

This tin amended their acquisition connected your tract and marque your contented much accessible to users of each abilities. Although accessibility isn’t a ranking factor, it contributes to bully UX and, consequently, tin assistance with SEO.

Further reading: Video SEO: How to Get Your Videos to Rank

Mobile Rank Tracking Is Easy with Semrush

Optimizing your website for mobile devices requires a strategical approach.

First, usage Position Tracking to find retired your existent rankings and find imaginable improvements. Then, cheque connected your competitors to recognize your presumption and however to outperform them.

Based connected these insights, determine connected the adjacent steps. For example, you whitethorn request to amended leafage load velocity oregon redesign your CTA buttons for higher click-through rates.

We tin assistance you with mobile fertile tracking and more, from keyword probe to web analytics.

Use the Domain Overview to summation further insights into your site's health, analyse your halfway web vitals with the Site Audit tool, and observe trending hunt presumption with the Keyword Magic Tool. 

Sign up for a free Semrush relationship to get started.