We’re pleased to announce that full mobile rankings are now available inside the Analytics SEO Platform. This means that you’ll be able to view your different search rankings based upon the device that someone is using to carry out the search.
Back in April 2015 Google released an update that started to penalise sites in mobile search which weren’t ‘mobile friendly’. This meant that some sites were more likely to rank differently in mobile search compared with desktop.
Google is getting cleverer
Google, and indeed other search engines are getting cleverer at becoming aware of the user intent behind a search. And as the perceived intent is being increasingly influenced by location and device, it was time for us to introduce full mobile rankings into the Analytics SEO Platform, giving our users the power to compare rankings in different mobile scenarios; and helping to ensure that you as a user aren’t missing out on any significant organic search opportunities.
How Google treats search from different devices
From a PC or Mac
A user searching for “Restaurants” in Google using their PC or Mac (desktop or laptop) will get generic results based upon their search history. This means that they can expect to see a list with the top 10 restaurants in their Country/City with reviews, directories other sites delivered all based upon their search history – as well as the base Google algorithm as a starting point.
Using a mobile device
However, a user searching for “Restaurants” in Google using a mobile device (mobile or tablet) will now start to see very tailored results that are relevant to their location as well as their history, plus of course the base Google algorithm. For example, searching for “Restaurants” on a mobile device while the user is physically in Twickenham, England will produce a list of restaurants in and around Twickenham, along with walking distance from the users’ location, with opening and closing times etc. This means that there is increased relevancy in search results displayed.
Using a real-life example
A small launderette business in Twickenham may have no desktop rankings at all. At present, if a user conducts a search on their computer for the keyword “launderette” they may well be served with a list of big launderette brands/chains and similar businesses and suppliers, but no sign of a small, local launderette.
However, when a user completes a search on their mobile device in Twickenham for the term “launderette”, that same small launderette business may well rank at position 1, also giving the searcher the precise location of the launderette and whether or not that launderette is open at that moment in time.
Using the mobile rankings feature inside the platform
The important thing to be aware of is that just because a business ranks well on desktop search, doesn’t mean that it’s going to rank well on mobile search – and vice versa. You now need to be aware of your rankings in various locations and on various devices. And the Analytics SEO Platform lets you do that.
How much do we charge for the mobile ranking feature?
We treat Mobile Rankings like any other search engine option currently available in the Analytics SEO Platform.
When using the platform, you will be charged from your existing keyword rank check allowance. For example, if you are monitoring 20 keywords over 3 search engines, and decide to add a single mobile search engine:
- 20 keywords X 1 mobile search engine = 20 additional keyword rank checks
If you wanted to monitor 20 keywords in 2 different mobile search engines:
- 20 keywords X 2 mobile search engines = 40 additional keyword rank checks
Clients that have used all their ranking keyword allowance would have to purchase/increase their allowance to monitor the additional mobile search engines. (The system will prompt you to do this if you attempt to increase your existing threshold.)
Additional things to be aware of inside the platform
- Mobile rankings are only available for Google. Bing, Yahoo. At present no other search engines are supported.
- Any AnalyticsSEO.com account type/package has access to Mobile Engines
- Note that there is no new module inside the platform. Mobile engines integrate seamlessly with existing desktop engines. They are managed in the same way as existing search engines in the systems.
- Users can choose between mobile and tablet engines. Both are considered to be “mobile devices”
- Ranking updates are available on a daily or weekly basis, as per all other desktop engines
- The ranking tables in the system will display a small “mobile” and “tablet” icon in the column to highlight that a mobile ranking result is being used
Additional questions you may have
Do you support using a sub-domain for mobile-friendly pages?
In search results, many websites use the alternative sub-domain structure “m.mysite.com” to try to rank for mobile results. This means they append a “m.” to their existing pages to signal a “mobile friendly” page – or where they decided to publish a mobile targeted variant of the desktop version of the page. We will also support this inside the platform.
Therefore, if your main website is “mysite.com” and your mobile site is “m.mysite.com” we will have no issues treating m.mysite.com as part of mysite.com.
Are any other modules affected inside the Analytics SEO Platform?
No. All other keyword related modules work the same way if you decide to set a Mobile Search Engine as your Primary Search engine.
Keyword Visits are estimated based on both desktop and mobile numbers, so it’s relevant for both scenarios.
The Universal Search Results module works in the same way, but Mobile Search Engine results should trigger more “places” related results – therefore there should be more map (Google Places) listings based on a location. This would happen if you decide to select “mobile” as your primary search engine.
The table below displays mobile rankings and desktop results at the same time. Note the difference.
Note that it would in fact be possible to setup just a mobile campaign, but it’s useful to also a desktop ranking to compare the mobile results against.
We hope that you are excited as we are to see the introduction of our comprehensive mobile rank tracking service. We look forward to hearing the stories of how the increased visibility is helping your business!
(Update 2023: Please note these screenshots reflect the old version of the user interface)
