Differences in Mobile and Desktop Search Results

It’s a little known fact that Google mobile search results (whether tablet, feature phone or smartphone) can be different results from those on Google from a desktop computer. SEO practitioners therefore need to take note, as at present, there are at least 16 known differences between smartphone results and desktop ones.

Many of these differences don’t affect core web search results and many users just aren’t going to notice or care that smartphone search results are slightly different than desktop ones. But, for those interested in the targeting of SEO, it’s not possible to ignore these if the aim is to get the maximum amount of traffic from the rapidly expanding source of mobile search.

One of the most interesting differences is that local results are more likely to appear, and higher up, in mobile results. So this makes Google+ Local optimisation essential if you have a local business, especially one with multiple outlets.

Another notable difference is that the clickthrough and bounce rates are more likely to vary in mobile listings. According to Google, this is because mobile users scroll more than desktop users, but there’s still a 90% drop off in CTR in mobile search results after position 4. So it’s very important to have a higher ranking within the mobile search results to attract a good volume of traffic.

More of these differences can be examined here, but the main point to consider is that mobile SEO is going to become increasingly important. So it’s necessary to be aware that these differences between mobile search and desktop search results exist, in order to ensure that a business’s SEO is performing at its peak on all targeted devices.

If you’d like to how the Web Marketing Workshop can improve the SEO of your business on all devices in the future, contact us for more information.

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