What is Mobile First Indexing?
Mobile responsive design is a website that changes/adjusts its page size to meet the screen size of the user’s device. This improves the users experience as they don’t need to zoom or scroll to see. Google is putting this first to encourage site owners to improve their website.
Why Is Google Pushing Mobile First Indexing?
Well, think about it; You decide you want to go out for tea but you’re not sure where. You don’t go to a computer, wait for it to power up, log in and then search the web. You pull out your smartphone, which probably unlocks to your face, and then search. Long story short last year 54% of searches last year came from non-desktop devices. Surfing the web from your phone is so covenant and easier than ever. Google is adjusting its search results based on its biggest users.
Why Does Google Value Mobile Over Desktop?
As mentioned above the reason Google values mobile over desktop is due to the fact that the majority of website traffic comes from non-desktop devices (54%). Google probably also values how easy smartphones make it for people to browse.
How Long Has Google Been Planning This?
In 2016 Google first announced that they were planning to put mobile websites first and they have been pushing ever since. Finally, in January 2018 Google rolled out its first mobile-first index for over half its web page search results.
What Does This Mean For Your Website?
If your website does not have a mobile friendly/ responsive design, then you will be penalised in the search engines. You will fall in rank. If your competitor’s websites are responsive and yours isn’t then they will overtake you in Google. I have said it like this because its fact after this happens it will be a long process trying to recover your rank.
What Is Expected In The Future?
This is a difficult question because 2018 is the first year Google has done this. We may find that as times goes by Google becomes stricter when it comes to its search results. I am curious to see what googles next big update will be and how it will affect its website owners and the users of the websites. What we do know is Google is prepared to change and adjust its self depending on how it’s being used.
What Do You Need To Do?
To protect your website and your business from penalised ranking then you must ensure you are mobile friendly. Here at Blue Whale Media, we do something we like to call on page SEO. We always ensure all our websites are structured correctly, tagged appropriately and include a site map. As mobile responsiveness now plays a part in ranking, we also make sure all our websites are mobile friendly. If you need help with anything to do with responsive design or anything else, then our amazing team is here to help. Please call 01925 552 050 to speak to our sales team.
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