Gone are the days when optimizing your website for mobile was an afterthought; now, it’s essential, not only from an SEO point of view but also for user experience.
In this article, we’ll look at why it’s become such a critical task and give some tips on how to do it effectively to promote your personal trainer business.
The simple fact is that more people are using mobile rather than desktop devices to access the internet, and this number will only keep rising. It’s estimated that 59% of traffic currently comes from mobile usage (see Forbes’ Internet Usage Statistics in 2024).
For the last few years, Google has used ‘mobile-first’ indexing to determine its rankings. This means it prioritizes the mobile version over the desktop version when crawling sites.
There are, therefore, two key benefits to making sure your website is optimized for mobile:
We’ve looked at SEO before (e.g., 8 quick SEO tips for personal trainers), and while much of this is relevant across devices, there are considerations specific to mobile SEO.
In addition to engaging with some of the more technical issues, we must remember that using a mobile device to access the internet is a different experience than using a desktop device.
The device's size, how we use it to search and navigate, and the tendency to skim through content all have a bearing on mobile SEO.
There are several different ways of creating a site that works on mobile, but the best by far (and the one recommended by Google) is responsive design.
This type of web design enables web pages to adapt dynamically to the user’s device and screen size.
It has several advantages, notably the fact that you only have one site to update and maintain and one URL to give out.
Page speed is a ranking factor (because it is so key to user experience), so it’s important to check that it works optimally on your site.
Various tools are available to help with this, such as PageSpeed Insights, flagging any issues that need attention.
Things that will improve loading speed include removing unnecessary code and plugins, enabling caching, compressing and optimizing images, and using a light theme.
Mobile content needs to consider screen size, navigation, and attention span. Keep sentences and paragraphs concise, split text up, and organize it so that it’s as quick and easy to read as possible.
Make sure that the most important information comes first and that the navigation is straightforward and mobile-user-friendly.
It’s all about being clear, relevant, and usable.
Google will cut off or rewrite titles and descriptions that are too long on mobile search results pages, so if you want your listing to display optimally, these must be the right length.
Title tags should be under 70 characters, and meta descriptions should be under 120.
To keep them short, include only one or two keywords and summarize the main point.
Titles and descriptions should be unique for each page to stand out.
Voice search is a rising trend with mobile users; your keywords should reflect this. It’s about using more natural, conversational phrases to match how people use voice search.
Long-tail keywords are perfect for this, as they are longer and more specific or niche phrases (and also have the SEO advantage of being less commonly used).
Check out HubSpot’s Top 15 tools for finding long-tail keywords.
As people increasingly use their mobile devices to conduct local searches, you could risk losing business if your site isn’t optimized for this.
For details on how to get started, read our article Does your personal trainer business need a local SEO strategy, which covers creating a Google Business Profile, soliciting reviews, identifying keywords, and localizing content.
Use Google’s free tools to check and monitor your site's mobile optimization. The most comprehensive tool is Google Search Console, which will help you identify and fix any issues. You can also use Google Analytics to compare your site's performance on mobile and desktop devices.
Implementing these tips will help your site perform better on mobile, improving your mobile search visibility, enhancing your users’ experience, and boosting your personal training business.
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