{"id":126393,"date":"2019-05-02T15:28:22","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T15:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=126393"},"modified":"2019-08-12T17:45:16","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T17:45:16","slug":"progressive-web-apps-pwas-for-seo-benefits-stats-examples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/05\/02\/progressive-web-apps-pwas-for-seo-benefits-stats-examples\/","title":{"rendered":"Progressive web apps (PWAs) for SEO: Benefits, stats, examples"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last couple of years have made a few things very clear. If you have a business online, you need to make it your business to be mobile-first. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Second, your mobile experience needs to be smooth and frictionless if you want it to translate into dollars. Lastly, smartphone users are super fickle and despite downloading over\u00a0113 billion apps<\/a>\u00a0in 2018, users still regularly use only\u00a0about 9 apps<\/a>\u00a0per day.<\/p>\n

So, you need to be on mobile. You need to be awesome on mobile. And people are probably not going to download and use your app regularly. What do you do then?<\/p>\n

Build something that combines the slick, user-friendly interface of a mobile app without actually creating an app.<\/p>\n

Yes, I\u2019m talking about progressive web apps or PWAs.<\/p>\n

In the simplest possible words, a PWA is a mobile-friendly website<\/a> that behaves like an app but doesn\u2019t need to be downloaded to be used. Users have the option to save a PWA to their phone and launch it just like an app, but it\u2019s totally optional.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

There are a whole host of perks that PWAs bring with them while overcoming the inherent disadvantages of building and maintaining a mobile site and a mobile app simultaneously. Let\u2019s take a deeper dive to see how you can\u00a0get the most out of PWAs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speed, thy name is PWA<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This is undoubtedly one of the most exciting features of PWAs. Businesses can target users who might be on a slow data connection or even those who are offline with a PWA by using mobile development best practices like caching content ahead of time, compression, and more.<\/p>\n

Why should you\u00a0care about site speed<\/a>? Because it directly impacts your SEO<\/a> and your conversion rate.<\/p>\n

In January 2018, Google\u00a0formally announced<\/a>\u00a0what many SEO<\/a> experts suspected for a while that mobile speed would be a key factor in organic search rankings for websites. With that came the mad rush to mobile optimize websites, improve page load times, improve navigation, and the works. In the case of PWAs, pages load instantly due to pre-caching and allow users a quick and simple user experience<\/a>. A definite SEO<\/a> win.<\/p>\n

Research has shown over time that there is a correlation between site speed<\/a> and conversion rates. A drop in site speed usually leads to a corresponding drop in conversion rates and vice versa.<\/p>\n

\"Think<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0Think with Google<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Comparitive<\/p>\n

Source: One North<\/em><\/p>\n

Websites can enjoy vastly improved conversion rates with the faster page load times that PWAs offer. Cosmetics giant\u00a0Lancome switched to a PWA<\/a>\u00a0in 2017 and saw a significant improvement in both speed and conversion rates. They experienced an 84% drop in time until the page is interactive and a 17% growth in conversion rates.<\/p>\n

Better engagement<\/h2>\n

Google dictates the\u00a0fundamental requirements<\/a>\u00a0that a website needs to fulfill to qualify as a progressive web app. A smooth user experience including easy navigation, timely push notifications, cross-browser compatibility, responsive pages across all devices are a few important requirements that also lead to a growth in engagement.<\/p>\n

PWAs mimic real mobile apps by allowing users to install them on their devices. With the app now on their mobile phones, the chances of interaction and engagement become exponentially higher, as experienced by Forbes magazine when they launched their own PWA. Users were notified every time new content was available via push notifications. With lightning-fast page load times, quick transitions and light page design,\u00a0Forbes\u2019 PWA managed to achieve the following:<\/a><\/p>\n