Businesses ignore mobile at their peril. When you consider that the beginning of 2014 saw the first time that Americans’ use of smartphone and tablet apps surpassed that of PCs to access the Internet and that mobile use in all its forms has continued to grow, it becomes clear that all online marketing services need to adopt a mobile-first approach.
Mobile website development is increasingly core to business success, as customers demand digital experiences that meet their needs on their terms. More than half of all Americans had a smartphone and over 40% had a tablet according to data released in January 2014 by the Pew Internet Research Center. That figure is likely to continue to grow. As much as 60% of Americans’ total online Internet access is done on a mobile device rather than a desktop PC or laptop.
And America’s Internet users are not only browsing online; they are shopping. A comScore study found that almost half (46%) of shoppers were less likely to shop around if they accessed a brand’s mobile app to do their shopping. Nearly a quarter of users accessed a mobile coupon or voucher in 2014. Driving traffic to a mobile site or app, then, is crucial. Good SEO consulting services can help businesses capitalize on users’ online use. The two main drivers of SEO in 2014 were quality content and inbound link, and both are still keys to success.
SEM companies advise that SEO has evolved with changes such as the introduction of Google’s Hummingbird resulting in the emergence of OAO (online audience optimization). OAO is the optimization of content to meet user intent rather than relying solely on the rankings on the search engine.
A Forrester study found that more than 60% of companies opted to outsource their online marketing services and digital content production needs in part or in their entirety. The demand for SEO expert services is thus set to grow.