A section of site owners, especially those with sketchy knowledge of SEO tend to treat mobile SEO as a separate facet of the optimization activity and that mobile search results page rank can be improved to draw more traffic from wireless device users by using special techniques. However, the fact is that there’s almost little or no difference between mobile search results and web results.
A comparison between standard web search and searches on mobile devices will show no major differentiation in search results order. However, there’s one aspect of the mobile search domain worth considering. It’s mobile search engine transcoding. To explain it in brief: while using Google web search on a wireless device, search results pages will appear similar to those on a standard computer, but when you click on a listing, the search engine shows that particular page via its renderer sans images, JavaScript and style elements deemed unnecessary in order to make it less heavier, but inadvertently less catchy as well.
Just to elaborate on this point further, formatting for mobile viewing carries certain disadvantages for site owners like sub-standard design of pages, absence of user tracking (with JavaScript removed as well), lack of corporate colors, poor usability, especially when a webpage is heavy and includes many navigation links at the top (what it means is that users need to browse through a maze of page links until they access the desired content).
There are exceptions for the necessity of. Before we find out what exactly to do for avoiding this transcoding, let us first know the fact that this re-formatting won’t happen in each and every case. Firstly, it invariably depends on the type of device in use. Google will apply formatting for mobile view only on those with lesser capabilities that may lack sufficient memory to deliver a full page including all its JavaScripts and CSS’es. So, the transcoded view and normal page view will be according to the mobile device from which the search is being done.
Secondly, Google will analyze the content of page to work out whether it’s ‘lean’ enough for viewing on mobile. In most cases this regards pages designed specifically for wireless devices, like for instance eBay home page (as denoted by the mobile phone icon). Interestingly, Google discards formatted view for pages, which are simply light-weighted, not intentionally formatted for mobile viewing with near-perfect XHTML structure.
Mobile SEO is definitely advantageous. First and foremost, you may prevent top search engines like Google from transcoding target pages, and thus make them more usable and look better for users. This will obviously cause greater pageviews and improved conversion rates. You can also track mobile users through Google Analytics by installing Analytics-for-mobile code. A nice-looking mobile phone icon may well lead to rise in CTRs for marked search results.
