Google Search Goes Mobile First
Accessing the internet on mobile devices has officially overtaken desktop access. Not quite sure if this matters? Take a look at the latest big search change from Google. The search engine giant announced it would release a mobile search separate from its desktop search. Indexing a site is the process of scanning a website to determine where it will come up in the rankings. This, alone, is a major change, but the mobile index will be the PRIMARY method of determining rank, making it the key, the clincher.
Considering how quickly people switched to mobile internet searching, it’s a smart move that shows the evolution of the web. Desktop searches, which were once the lifeline of Google, now account for less than 45 percent of all web searches. More people than ever are using mobile devices to look up information.
As the switch to indexing websites by mobile first is waiting to be initiated, there are more questions than answers. For instance, how will mobile indexing work? Will it affect sites with less content on their mobile versions than desktop versions? How often will Google maintain the desktop index with it being relegated to second tier status?
The answer to these questions will become clearer in the upcoming weeks, but these tips will help you to prepare:
Create a Mobile-Friendly, Responsive Website
You may think most websites are mobile-friendly, but a high number are not. If you’ve been putting off creating a responsive website for your business, the time is now. A responsive website works fully on mobile, tablet, and desktop devices. If you don’t have a site that does this, the odds are high your site will receive poor rankings once the indexing begins. Google will rank your site whether it’s mobile-friendly or not, and the rankings could be quite low if you don’t have a mobile site. The key is that your mobile site MUST include all the site content. It cannot be a “trimmed down” or simple version just for mobile users. It’s what Google will index of your domain online!
Place Relevant Content on Your Mobile Site
Many times, due to size constraints, a company’s mobile site will feature less content than its desktop equivalent. Less information is easier to view on a smaller screen. With this new algorithm, a mobile site must be optimized, even more than desktop sites, and must carry the full site.
The time is over where you can get away with a simple mobile version of your website with less content. If you don’t place relevant content on your site, it will hurt your search results. The key, here, is to have a website that is responsive. That means it senses the size of the screen it’s being viewed on and displays the content accordingly.
Have a Strategy
Mobile design used to be an option to a desktop site. Things have changed, and it’s now the default design. More than ever before, you must have a mobile strategy. If you’re still focused on desktop design, you must change your mindset and focus on mobile if you want to succeed. Page load speed, font size, responsiveness, lead capture, and scroll depth are just some elements to consider for a mobile site. They’ve got to work seamlessly to provide a good experience for your visitors. So much so that Google is implementing changes to basically force this.
The world is changing, and your website needs to change with it. Google is changing, too, so you need to act if you don’t want the world to pass you by. Is your site mobile responsive? Don’t know? Contact us and we’ll check it out for you!