3 Ways Googles Mobile-First Indexing impacts Mobile SEO
Is your website mobile-responsive?
Recently Google announced that they are going to be doing “mobile-first indexing” for the web. In short, this means with mobile-first indexing, Google Search primarily will be using a web page’s mobile content for creating its search index and ranking as opposed to the desktop version like they have in the past. If your website is not mobile-friendly, now is the time to work on making the necessary changes before this change takes effect for all websites in September 2020. You can read more about it here on Google’s Official Blog.
Google changing to “mobile-first indexing” comes as no surprise to marketers and website developers. Google has been talking about this switch for many years. But how will the switch from Google primarily using a website’s desktop content to determine its relevance to a user’s search impact mobile SEO when Google converts to mobile-first indexing?
How will mobile-first indexing impact your Mobile SEO
Ultimately, if your website has been developed with responsive website design, then your mobile SEO shouldn’t be affected. Luckily, if your website was developed after July 1st, 2019, mobile-first indexing has already been enabled, But if it was developed before this time, you should contact your webmaster to switch over to mobile-first indexing if you have not already. Or you can check the status of your website to see if it has been switched over to mobile-first indexing by utilizing the URL inspection tool in Google Search Console. Regardless of when your website was developed, it is essential to check that the content of your website is optimized for mobile.
If you intend to be visible by your target audience at the right time and place, mobile SEO is very important because mobile SEO focuses on generating local results in comparison to desktop SEO, which focuses primarily on performance, content, and user experience. Back when Google’s index utilized desktop webpage content, a Google search would provide you with information from same regardless of the device used to conduct the search. Now, with the mobile-first indexing, a user’s search results will be based on mobile-first results. If your website is not optimized for mobile platforms, you may lose traffic, leads, and sales from mobile users. Make sure your phone number and address are clickable; we all know there is nothing more aggravating than trying to call a business or get directions by clicking a website link, just to find out it is not clickable!
Provide the same content on your desktop and mobile website versions
If you had previously removed content from your mobile website that appears on your desktop website to provide a cleaner look on mobile devices, now is the time to make changes to include this information on both views. This will help to improve your search results. Both views must provide the same information and content, such as text, images, and assets.
Is your website loading fast enough?
It is also essential to note your website’s loading speed. Loading speed plays a huge role in the way Google registers your mobile site’s responsiveness. Ensuring your loading speed is sufficient is a good move to ensure you will be visible to your mobile audience. With the announcement of this change, moving forward, web designers must first design and optimize websites for mobile, then focus on designing for desktop users. With the increase in mobile devices to search the web, mobile-first indexing is a no brainer. This is because website traffic is primarily from mobile devices in comparison to desktop devices. Responsive design is key to a mobile-friendly website and will provide you with the best search results. You can check your website’s loading speed utilizing Google’s PageSpeed Insight tool.
In the end, Google’s decision to switch to mobile-first indexing is a good one. This switch will assist us in generating more local organic search results and obtain more leads, traffic, and sales from mobile users. It will boost the organic search results utilizing mobile SEO if used correctly. If you would like assistance on the status of your website’s mobile responsiveness or are interested in developing a website with a responsive design, contact us for a consultation.
