Long gone are the days of being able to easily rank in Google. The market has radically shifted towards mobile search and local search, and each have their own factors that influence optimization of results.

While the market has changed, both mobile and local present great opportunities for those who understand how they both differ from traditional search. There are some simple factors that can assist you in targeting both.

SEO Factors in Mobile

In April 2015 Google implemented what was dubbed “Mobilegeddon,” a process that shifted the goal post by ranking results based on the mobile-friendliness of the site. Sites that are more mobile friendly are ranked higher than sites that may be superior in other more traditional ways but don’t look so great on a mobile device.

Technical factors feature heavily in how Google assesses the mobile friendliness of a site.

Site speed tops the list. Mobile devices usually download content across mobile networks that are not always super quick- hence the need for making sure a site is super quick to load.

Google itself warns that sites that feature unplayable videos (avoid Flash at all costs), and offer a poor search experience can be demoted in rankings, or even displayed with a warning in mobile search results.

SEO Factors in Local

For local search every business should have a Google My Business page, those are the results that appear at the top of Google for any search and also include a link back to your site.

That listing should include all the relevant details for your business (address, contact number, opening hours), as well photos of your business.

For your website the same rules apply with mobile-  it should be quick and user-friendly.

Links in 2016 may be disregarded by some, but studies have shown they do play a strong role with sites targeting a local audience, as does one other more traditional consideration: content. Local sites with rich, in-depth content do better on Google, as particularly small businesses targeting a local audience tend to have content-lite sites.