It’s no secret that mobile optimization plays a part in SEO rankings, but many small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are left wondering whether they need a mobile responsive site, a dedicated mobile site, an app, or all three.
The good news is that, in most cases, a mobile responsive site will do just fine. The bad is that upgrading for mobile takes time and money most SMBs are reluctant to give, according to Jay Taylor, managing director at Leverage Digital.
“A lot of SMBs are resistant to upgrading their website to be responsive. They’ll all tell you that SEO is a priority, and they want to rank high in the search results, but they’re often not willing to take that next step,” says Taylor. “Responsive websites can be fairly expensive and take a bit of time to build out, but it’s not really an option anymore. In order to be competitive in Google, companies are going to have to have mobile-friendly websites.”
Small businesses aren’t the only ones struggling to make the move to mobile. Large companies seem to be confused by the best practices for optimizing as well. For example, the used car sales site AutoTrader.com seems to have itself in a bit of an SEO bind. A mobile Google search for “Used F150 Tampa” turns up AutoTrader’s desktop site ranked beneath a similar, mobile-friendly option. Clicking the link leads to a prompt to download the app, but if the user remains on the site, there’s a lot of uncomfortable pinching and tapping to search.
