Web Design Mobile First Indexing

Mobile First Indexing is the latest in a long line of innovations from Google designed to improve the online experience of all internet users.

It’s a development which came completely from changing user trends; gone are the days where people log on to a desktop or laptop to search the web. Mobile is well and truly where it’s at.

But what does this mean for the average business owner like you? What do you need to change? Does you site just have to be mobile friendly? We can help you navigate these choppy waters.

What is Mobile First Indexing?

Helpfully, and this isn’t always the case with developments that come out of the “Big G”, you can interpret this literally. It just means that the starting point for your site in Google’s eyes is the mobile version of your site. If your mobile version is the primary version of your site, or if you switch it to be, you’ll notice an increase in crawlbot traffic to your site and also more traffic from Smartphone Googlebot. Your cached pages will also be mobile versions too.

What to do you need to do?

Well, firstly, don’t panic. In its infancy, your site won’t be penalised as long as it is as responsive in its desktop mode as it is in its mobile mode. You will, however want to ensure that your page speeds and load up times are as good as they can be and that your images and dynamic site elements are optimised for mobile use. Collapsed or hidden content will not be treated differently by Google when using mobile first indexing so you need to bear this in mind too when constructing and developing the layout of your site.

Will Google solely use my mobile site to award my rankings?

Yes and no. Whilst your mobile site will be considered the primary version of your site in terms of allocating your pages rankings, there is still value in having a tidy desktop version of your site.

It is still likely however that you will see variations between the rankings of your mobile and desktop search results; this is why it is important to track your results for both whilst mobile first indexing is a relatively new thing. You need to understand your own results and how your site is reacting to this change; you’ll be able to adapt effectively and quickly.

The take home

Google will continue to favour sites that use their mobile version as their primary version. Understanding what your site looks and feels like to operate on a mobile is imperative. We are only too happy to help you out with this.