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Since the portion of Internet traffic that comes from mobile devices is always increasing, your company should be aware of what mobile search engine optimisation is and how you can make sure your site is optimised for mobile searches.

In short, mobile SEO is the practice of attaining search engine rankings for mobile devices. Many search engines, including Google, have mobile specific sites that are coded slightly differently than the sites users access from a computer. When it comes to mobile SEO, your task is to attain rankings for keywords that mobile users enter into the search bar and then make sure readers have a positive experience on your mobile site.

Why Mobile SEO Matters

According to Mobile Marketer, 30 percent of online searches come from mobile devices. As smartphones become the norm and as gadgets like tablets and e-readers become more affordable, mobile Internet searching and browsing is becoming more practical and popular. Chances are, at least a portion of your market contributes to that 30 percent of mobile searches. Your site may be fully optimised for computer searches, but with the growing popularity of mobile Internet use, you can’t afford to skip mobile SEO.

Taking the First Mobile SEO Steps

Create a Mobile Version of Your Site

Yahoo’s mobile site has a different layout than its desktop site.

Your mobile optimisation efforts won’t do much good if your site isn’t mobile friendly. Your users need to be able to easily navigate your site when they find it, otherwise they will leave, looking for what they need elsewhere.

Make it Short and Simple

Some companies have a different version of their website for mobile users. If your desktop site is content heavy and has a complicated navigation menu, you may consider making a more simple version for mobile users so they don’t get lost in your content or frustrated with your site, which will hurt your brand and increase your bounce rate.

Use Mobile Keywords

If you use Google Webmaster Tools, you can find out what kinds of keywords bring people to your site while on their mobile devices. The mobile keywords for your site may be very different than the keywords that bring desktop users to your site. Know what these keywords are and then use them in your mobile SEO campaigns.

Make it Fast

Mobile Internet use is sometimes very short and fast. People who search for things online are sometimes traveling or looking for a quick answer, so it’s vital that your site loads quickly. You can use free tools at MobileMoxie to find out how fast your site loads on all kinds of mobile operating speeds.

MobileMoxie offers free mobile SEO tools that let you see how fast your site loads and what it looks like on different operating systems.

Don’t Forget Social Media

Social media is likely already a part of your digital marketing plan, so be sure to include it in your mobile SEO efforts. Most people use social media on their smartphones pretty heavily, so you can use that audience to help increase the traffic to your site. You should also include social sharing buttons on the mobile version of your site, since users often share content from their phones.

While mobile SEO may be similar to desktop SEO, it has its differences. Things like different keywords and a slightly different audience can make a big difference in how you approach site optimisation for mobile devices. The key is to find out what your mobile audience is looking for and then deliver it efficiently.

Attention social media mavens! Klout has altered its algorithm and thus thrown all Klout scores up in the air, prompting many (me) to wonder if this change came about after the role of selecting arbitrary numbers, I mean Klout Scores, was passed over to a new monkey.*

Too harsh? Well, I for one put little faith in the algorithmic prowess of Klout if it took them this long to recognise that Barack Obama is more influential than Justin Bieber!

Many have seen their Klout scores rise by double figures, while others (Justin Bieber for example) have seen their scores fall. As always Klout are keeping their algorithms under wraps, as revealing how they calculate it would make the entire process null and void, if it isn’t already. Just head over to Twitter to see the negative, and often hilarious, reactions to these changes.

So does this change mean users are suddenly more (or less) influential?

In this video released on the Klout website, Klout CEO Joe Fernandez explains how this is the most comprehensive update yet and outlines some of the changes that they’ll be rolling out in the coming months.

The changes seem to be a move in the direction of creating a social hub through which users can interact, which wouldn’t be entirely unlike the social media sites that Klout is attempting to measure. The new site design seems to feature a push to encourage users to invite their Facebook friends to Klout – could they be hoping to create a social media network?

The only interesting factor I could gleam from the updates was the introduction of moments, which will offer comprehensive insight into which pieces of shared content are successful. This, in some ways, would shed some light onto the complex and heavily guarded secret of the algorithm. More importantly it would offer brands and businesses a new social media metric to measure success.

Content marketing is big business at the moment, and getting the balance between what to post and when is a huge challenge for marketers. Klout’s updates could help by shedding some light onto what is successful and give marketers the opportunity to figure out why.

Klout could become a useful tool to be used in addition to sites such as Crowdbooster and Post Rocket  to help optimise content and increase engagement. Unfortunately, users will have to wait until these new changes are rolled out before they can road test the new features. Unless you can use your immense influence to drum up the support of 10 people and convince them to join Klout, in which case you’ll gain VIP access.

*Disclaimer: I am in no way saying the Klout team are monkeys, I just want to make that very clear. I was making a comment on the arbitrary nature of the number, and not the work of the engineers.