Mobile-First Indexing: What Google's Latest Announcement Means for You
April 11, 2018
With everyone practically glued to their smartphones, mobile users are quickly becoming a factor that business owners cannot ignore. Another reason to consider this growing demographic? Google announced their implementation of a new practice that will make browsing on mobile easier and more efficient.
And if Google is making a significant change; you had better pay attention.
It’s called mobile-first indexing, and it comes on heels of a year and half experimentation by Google experts to make mobile searches showcase those websites that follow a set of best practices. Defined by Google, best practices for mobile-first indexing vary depending on your site’s design, but one thing remains clear--sites that aren’t mobile friendly beware.
As scary as that might seem for those businesses with websites stuck in 1999, it’s not as bad as some articles are portraying. Only those sites that have seperate mobile versions of their website will be affected. Essentially this means that if your website is designed to have both a desktop and a mobile versions, Google will index the mobile as a priority.
John Mueller, a webmaster at Google, has tried to dispel fears revolving around the change, but does allude to a trend that mobile sites should be focused on fixing. “We do check for things like links before switching sites over, so I’m not too worried. If your site has insufficient links on mobile, you should be fixing that regardless.”
Those that have been switched over will be notified via Search Console, and will see a lot more crawling from Smartphone Googlebot as opposed to desktop Googlebot. Google has not announced when it will rollout mobile-first indexing for everyone, so if your site isn’t mobile friendly--today’s the day to start looking into upgrading your online presence.
Globally, more and more consumers are accessing the internet via their smartphones, and here in the United States that number is as high as 71%! While mobile-first indexing may not affect you yet, statistics already show that you could be losing business just based on the fact that 57% of users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile interface. With the eventual universally used implementation of mobile-first indexing, the number of users that find your website will start to dwindle as your site ranks lower and lower on Google.
This isn’t the first time that Google has prioritized mobile user experience, back in 2015 the tech-giant began boosting the rank for mobile-friendly web pages for search results, and more recently started to factor in the load speed for sites as well.
While the general consensus amongst those that work for Google is that ranking will not be affected due to mobile-first indexing: at the end of the day, if users are on their mobile devices, and your site isn’t mobile friendly--you will rank lower than your more mobile friendly competition.
Luckily, technology has come a long way, and updating websites has been streamlined to achieve mobile and desktop friendly versions--in an all-in-one coding system.
With Google’s new implementation of mobile first indexing, if your site is only available in a desktop, or if you’re mobile site leaves something to be desired, Denver Website Designs can take your existing site and improve your online presence easily. Streamlined process for gathering information, and design helps clients of the DWD team receive a website in as little as six weeks after the contract has been signed.
Included within each website is a marketing suite that any and all business owner would desire:
Interested in learning more about the Denver Website Designs system and how our phenomenal team can help your business get the website it deserves? Contact a representative today to learn how to improve your online presence!
Go Back And if Google is making a significant change; you had better pay attention.
It’s called mobile-first indexing, and it comes on heels of a year and half experimentation by Google experts to make mobile searches showcase those websites that follow a set of best practices. Defined by Google, best practices for mobile-first indexing vary depending on your site’s design, but one thing remains clear--sites that aren’t mobile friendly beware.
Mobile-First Indexing
With an apt name that tells it like it is, mobile-first indexing just means that Google’s crawling, indexing and ranking systems will now use the mobile versions of websites, instead of the desktop versions.As scary as that might seem for those businesses with websites stuck in 1999, it’s not as bad as some articles are portraying. Only those sites that have seperate mobile versions of their website will be affected. Essentially this means that if your website is designed to have both a desktop and a mobile versions, Google will index the mobile as a priority.
John Mueller, a webmaster at Google, has tried to dispel fears revolving around the change, but does allude to a trend that mobile sites should be focused on fixing. “We do check for things like links before switching sites over, so I’m not too worried. If your site has insufficient links on mobile, you should be fixing that regardless.”
Those that have been switched over will be notified via Search Console, and will see a lot more crawling from Smartphone Googlebot as opposed to desktop Googlebot. Google has not announced when it will rollout mobile-first indexing for everyone, so if your site isn’t mobile friendly--today’s the day to start looking into upgrading your online presence.
What That Means for You
With the latest announcement, Google is making a strong statement: mobile is the future and businesses better start diversifying or risk getting left in the dust by more tech savvy competitors.Globally, more and more consumers are accessing the internet via their smartphones, and here in the United States that number is as high as 71%! While mobile-first indexing may not affect you yet, statistics already show that you could be losing business just based on the fact that 57% of users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile interface. With the eventual universally used implementation of mobile-first indexing, the number of users that find your website will start to dwindle as your site ranks lower and lower on Google.
This isn’t the first time that Google has prioritized mobile user experience, back in 2015 the tech-giant began boosting the rank for mobile-friendly web pages for search results, and more recently started to factor in the load speed for sites as well.
While the general consensus amongst those that work for Google is that ranking will not be affected due to mobile-first indexing: at the end of the day, if users are on their mobile devices, and your site isn’t mobile friendly--you will rank lower than your more mobile friendly competition.
Luckily, technology has come a long way, and updating websites has been streamlined to achieve mobile and desktop friendly versions--in an all-in-one coding system.
How Denver Website Designs Can Help
Specialized in providing responsive design to over 500 clients, Denver Website Designs can take any dated website and give it a modern finish that will attract and keep business. Not only do the websites built by the extraordinary team at DWD work well on any device, but each comes complete with a marketing suite built right into the site!With Google’s new implementation of mobile first indexing, if your site is only available in a desktop, or if you’re mobile site leaves something to be desired, Denver Website Designs can take your existing site and improve your online presence easily. Streamlined process for gathering information, and design helps clients of the DWD team receive a website in as little as six weeks after the contract has been signed.
Included within each website is a marketing suite that any and all business owner would desire:
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - Capture and manage every lead that fills out a form on your site. Create groups, and subgroups to further market and even assign someone to handle a specific client!
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Each website comes optimized to be on the top of the search engines. Detailed keyword research helps project manager and designers create a website that will help get you ahead of your competitors.
- Email Marketing - Keep you’re audience up-to-date on news and events, and funnel lead into drip marketing campaign. A drag-and-drop editor helps you create unique custom email templates and campaigns, to help convert and improve your reputation.
- Blogging & Social Media - Easy to use blogging feature updates your site and social seamlessly. Schedule blogs to update both our website and your social pages in one go.
- Reputation Management - Funnel clients who have had a good experience towards review sites. Nothing is more important for a businesses reputation than reviews: ensure that you’re getting every 5 star review that you deserve.
- And More!
Interested in learning more about the Denver Website Designs system and how our phenomenal team can help your business get the website it deserves? Contact a representative today to learn how to improve your online presence!