Why you should be tracking mobile SERPs

If you’re only tracking desktop, you’re only getting half the story.

While mobile search results and the idea of mobile-first indexing are nothing new, the importance of tracking keywords on smartphones has only increased as searchers now execute the majority of their day-to-day searches from their handheld devices.

In fact, the gap between mobile and desktop continues to widen as time goes on, with 58.99% of all web traffic coming through mobile devices as of Q2 in 2022. Simply put, smartphones are the dominant search device — and when it comes to your SEO strategy, mobile SERPs are simply too valuable to ignore.

And while desktop search isn’t going anywhere soon, in today’s multi-faceted search landscape, a robust strategy needs to include tracking and optimization for mobile devices for a few key reasons:

• Mobile SERPs are very different
• Mobile users are different
• Mobile often means local

Without further ado, let’s get mobilized.

Mobile SERPs are very different

Because of their relatively small screen sizes, smartphone searches are obviously a very different experience than desktop searches — they’re their own beast entirely.

But it’s not just about screen real estate and page layout. Depending on the search query, Google and most other search engines can serve up completely reordered or entirely different results.

Let’s look at one example. Searching for [automobile insurance] on Google with a desktop browser versus a mobile browser yields a very different first impression:

On desktop, we see a more straightforward list of organic results and a prominent “People also ask” box.

On our smartphone SERP, it’s a different story with only one regular organic result appearing above the fold, buried under a large local pack and PAA box and bookended by a “People also search for” box. The number one ranking result on the desktop SERP, owned by Allstate, winds up in third place on mobile, with all its organic competitors pushed further down the SERP as well.

We recently compared popular SERP features and rich snippets between desktop and smartphone devices — and many of the comparisons highlighted some sizable variance in both prevalence and visibility between the two.

Take knowledge graphs, for example — one look at the chart above and the difference is undeniable.

One possible explanation for the discrepancy in knowledge graph appearance by device — 40.46% on mobile SERPs vs. only 5.34% on desktop — is that knowledge graphs aim to provide a concise answer to a searcher’s query on the SERP itself.

Since mobile searchers are more likely to be on the go with less time to investigate further, Google could be favoring a “quick answer” result for them.

And in a recent deep dive into “People also ask” boxes, we noticed that of the ~23,000 unique PAA box questions we saw in this study, around 28% only ever appeared on one device.

While we couldn’t quite put our finger on the rhyme or reason behind this discrepancy, it highlights just how different mobile SERPs are from their desktop counterparts, and further drives home the importance of tracking keywords on both devices to ensure thorough coverage of all bases.

Mobile users are different

Just like the terrain itself — the searchers navigating on each device have some key differences as well.

Many desktop searchers are not averse to scrolling and generally engage in more in-depth research of a topic or big ticket purchase, comparing and gathering information from multiple sources before making a final decision.

But smartphone searchers show some very different tendencies.

• Mobile users spent 49% less time on sites than desktop users. (Source: Zippia)
• Americans spend about 4.1 hours a day on their phones, compared to 3.5 hours a day on a desktop. This is about 36 minutes, or 2.5% more time in the day, spent on phones compared to desktops. (Source: Zippia)
• Mobile website users expect a website to load in under three seconds. (Source: Forbes)
• 88% of searches for local businesses on a mobile device either call or visit the business within 24 hours. (Source: Nectafy)

We’ve seen plenty of indications that mobile search is typically triggered by a real-time, urgent need. And since mobile users are more likely to be out-and-about — on the street, on the train, between appointments, and so on — they appear to be in a hurry to get their results.

All of this makes a top result on a mobile SERP even more critical than on the desktop equivalent.

Mobile often means local

Local SEO is important no matter what device your customers are using. But because geo-location services are so much more likely to be enabled on mobile devices, local and mobile are two peas in a pod — and staying on top of the differences between highly localized mobile SERPs and more universal desktop results is vital.

We saw the close mobile-local relationship ring true in our recent study, which revealed that the most visible of SERP features, the local pack, appears more frequently on mobile SERPs.

While local packs tend to dominate the SERPs they’re featured on, it’s not surprising to see them over-perform on smartphones. They showed up on 18.24% of mobile SERPs compared to 16.28% of desktop SERPs, though they drive similar share of voice.

We expect to see this kind of smartphone performance because Google is trying to meet searchers where they are.

Not only are more searches performed on smartphones than desktop computers, but local packs are tied directly to the kinds of searches that people are performing when they’re out and about (or fixing to be out and about). Local search and local packs go hand-in-hand with mobile phones.

Google’s own research found that 56% of smartphone searches done on the go have local intent. In other words, mobile searchers are usually looking to find a business, check a local event, get directions, and so on. With this in mind, search engines use geo-location data from mobile devices to serve up results that are highly localized.

What does that mean for you? Very simply, if your business relies on local customers (even if they’re still ordering online from you), but you’re only tracking desktop SERPs, you’re missing a huge piece of the puzzle.

Mobilize your SEO strategy at scale

Now is the time to ensure you’re including mobile SERP tracking in your SEO strategy.

Our clients are already tracking mobile SERPs on a massive scale. And since local results like the local pack can take up a huge chunk of mobile SERP real estate, most of them are combining mobile tracking with STAT’s local pack report to capture those listings.

Want to see more? We’d be happy to give you a tour. Just get in touch.