Google’s Panda and Penquin updates over the past couple of years essentially are trying to make the web a more welcome place for real people. Shortly after the Panda update, Evan’s own company watched site visits drop. However, at the same time, they watched engagement go up. Fewer people were visiting the site, but the people who did visit were engaged. That’s both a more valuable audience for the business and a better experience for the user.

The importance of quality over quantity is consistent everywhere you go to place content. Make sure what you’re writing is genuine and offers true value to people.

Write as much as possible to the point where you are always offering high value, and don’t write beyond that. Be genuine. In the long run, the quality of interactions for businesses and customers will reflect the value of your content, and the value of your content will be validated by search engines — which leads to high-quality interactions and engagement.

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Few of those people care whether you have a desktop website or a mobile website or how you achieve either of those things. Almost all of those people want to find the information they need when they need it, they want to be pleasantly surprised, and they want to be able to view a site without scrolling, zooming, or squinting.

When it comes to providing a great user experience for your customers, or providing a mobile-optimized website, how does that look compared to your known desktop site? What content should you provide? Should your mobile site contain all the same content as your desktop site? Should you offer less? Should you offer something different? How do you decide?

There is no one all-purpose solution. As with any web design, the first question to ask is what is your goal? And then what is the main action you want your customers to take when they visit your site? Focus on the goal and the experience to start determining what content makes sense. It may be all or most of the content from your desktop site. A mobile site may best serve your customers by offering all the same content but with a mobile-optimized layout that includes smaller images, larger and vertically stacked navigation buttons, and more best practices such as these. However, it’s also possible that your customers are going to love you for providing less or different content from your desktop site because you know that when they’re on the go, they need something different from you.

The best solution will address the ultimate combination of what works for the customer and the business. Just as you offer a service or a product, you offer an experience through your website. Understanding the needs of your customers is still a key to determining the best content and design for your mobile website just as it was for your desktop site.

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