Online dating is the new default courting arena. There are tons of apps and websites out there offering hopeful singles a chance to meet their soulmate – or a new friend who’s down for some fun. How can you stand out from all that competition?
Optimize for mobile
If you want to achieve real success in the dating niche, you have to prioritize the mobile experience. Traffic from mobile users is far more important for you than traditional web traffic. Most people in the online dating world use apps rather than desktop computers, whether on their phones or other devices, like tablets.
Take the time to develop a mobile version of your website that will look appealing and work smoothly. These are the features it needs to have:
- Appropriate size for mobile screens
- Quick loading
- Clean and legible look for small displays
- Easy scrolling
- Intuitive interface
- Efficient search
- Convenient input options
Recent major SEO updates have heavily favored mobile-friendly sites, and that trend is here to stay. People want to take their dating lives with them. If your service is bound to stationary computers, you will get kicked out of the game. Your first (and perpetual!) SEO strategy must be easy mobile access, regardless of screen size.
Implement voice search
Speaking of recent SEO updates, voice search features have been getting a lot of recognition. There is a great push to make everything more accessible to people with various disabilities. Voice search makes a dating service much more convenient to use for amputees, people with advancing arthritis, etc.
In fact, such a feature could let you expand your business and reach a whole new demographic. Dating sites and apps are increasingly reaching out to the senior sectors. Offer a mature-audiences sugar dating app and give them a new chance at romance. Old people tend to get lonely, so you can reap great success if you make them feel seen.
Focus on the page loading speed
You only have a few seconds to make a good impression. Most people will look at your page for just a few moments before deciding whether it’s worth their time. The same holds true for your mobile app.
If any aspect of your service is slow, your audience will bounce. Bouncing is even worse than quitting a site: it means not even giving it a chance. A bounce occurs when a user visits a single page, looks at it for a very short time, leaves, and never comes back again.
The modern consumer’s attention span is short. You have to make the users want to stay on your site. That’s why the loading of a complete page has to be as fast as possible.
Narrow down your niche
Yes, “dating” is already a niche in itself. But if you really want to drive traffic, you will find your own field within that. After all, different people like different things. So, consider these essential questions:
- Who is your ideal user? Examples would be men seeking women, women seeking men, men or women seeking the same gender, men or women seeking both genders, etc.
- What dating format is your ideal user looking for? Do they want a string of one-night stands? Would they like to find a relatively steady hookup buddy? Are they looking for a gateway into a committed relationship?
- Why does your ideal user want that particular format of dates? Are they young and craving adventure? Are they exploring their sexual identity, regardless of age? Are they seniors looking for companions in their golden years? Are they pursuing a specific fetish?
- How can your dating service help your ideal user to get what they want? For example, do you employ a personality test for relatively accurate matchmaking? Do you match people by location, interests, age group, or some other demographic?
- When can your users expect to get a result? How soon after the first message can they expect to meet their match? How can you facilitate their meetings?
The answers to these questions will give you a much clearer picture of your target market. Based on that picture, you can develop a custom SEO strategy. You will have an easier time selecting the most relevant keywords which have the most volume. Remember, no matter how great your dating service is, it’s all for nothing if you can’t make people aware of it.
To sum up, SEO for dating services hinges on specificity, speed, and accessibility. Pick one avenue of dating to cater to and build your strategy around its keywords. Make sure all your pages load quickly, work smoothly, and display neatly on mobile devices. Finally, consider voice search to really boost ease of access and user experience. People like to come back to convenient solutions.