All the buzz in the Google-world surrounds two topics: GDPR compliance (more on that later) and mobile-first indexing. In an effort to keep up with behavioral trends and the growing rate of mobile-browsing, Google’s stated emphasis on mobile indexing has left a lot of business owners wondering what it all means for their websites. We’re here to clear up some of the confusion.
What is Mobile-First Indexing?
Mobile-first indexing means that the mobile-version of your website will become the starting point in which Google evaluates your website to determine its rankings. It is no longer enough to just have a well-optimized desktop version of your website. If your website presents a poor experience on mobile devices, or does not have a responsive or mobile version at all, your rankings on desktop AND mobile searches will suffer.
This is a shift in Google’s ideology. Previously, your desktop site was the first port of call, and the mobile site was treated as an alternate version. Because of this, marketers and developers spent less time optimizing the mobile site for a quality experience or for SEO campaigns. With over 50% of searches on mobile devices growing, Google is placing the greatest importance on the mobile experience.
How Does This Affect You?
If you already have a responsive or mobile-version of your website, then there’s no need to panic. You’re already 75% ready for this new Organic landscape.
However, now is the time to evaluate your responsive or mobile site. Here are somethings you should take a look at to ensure your rankings aren’t affected:
- Your page speed and load times are fast. Google has a free tool to help measure and optimize for faster load times.
- Make sure images, video, and other dynamic elements are optimized for the mobile experience.
- Your mobile site is not an aggressively “stripped down” version of your desktop site, especially with high-quality content that you may have removed from your mobile site because of length & space considerations.
- You are implementing all of the technical and contextual SEO best-practices on your mobile site that you do on your desktop site.
Still Got Questions? We’ve Got Answers!
Don’t wake up one day and find you lost 25% of your organic traffic because you weren’t sure how to handle this Google update. If you have any questions, reach out to us today and we’ll be happy to take a look at your website & organic traffic, looking for opportunities for better results.