What does mobile-first indexing mean for SEO?
In today’s video, we discuss what mobile-first indexing means for SEO.
Google’s crawling, indexing, and ranking systems have commonly used the desktop version of a page’s content. This has caused issues for mobile searchers when the desktop version of a website is vastly different from its mobile counterpart.
Google has changed its ranking algorithm due to this issue. Google is now employing a mobile-first indexing algorithm that prioritises the mobile version of the page for indexing and ranking. Mobile users are now shopping and browsing on their mobile phones more than any other device. However, the majority of websites are not designed to accommodate different screen sizes and load times. This mobile-first update primarily helps Google’s mobile users find what they’re looking for.
What does this mean for your SEO?
As you would have noticed this change in google’s indexing is called “mobile-first” not mobile-only. This means that if a site does not have a mobile-friendly version, the desktop site will still be included in the index.
However, the lack of a mobile-friendly user experience can negatively impact the rankings of that site. This along with the fact that a site with a better mobile experience could potentially receive a rankings boost, calls for most businesses to create or optimise a mobile version of their website.
To optimise your website’s mobile version you have to take into account your users. Here at SEO TV, we’ve compiled several aspects of SEO that will help you seamlessly adapt to Google’s Mobile-First change:
Mobile screens are limited to the display space available and they also present content in a vertical manner as opposed to the wider, horizontal structure of desktops. It is hence key to prioritise your website’s elements that are the most important to your customers in the mobile site’s structure.
We recommend avoiding Flash(player) as the user might not have the plugin available on their device which might diminish their website experience or an increase bounce rate.
To avoid users leaving your website early, design a clear navigation bar and adequately sized touch screen features that will help improve your SEO rank through an improved user interface.
By setting up mobile-optimized title and meta descriptions your mobile website can stand out. The limited screen space showcases the stronger descriptions more than the others. Adding a Schema markup to your HTML improves the display of your webpage in search engine result pages by enhancing the descriptions displayed beneath the page title.
Another way to take advantage of google’s mobile-first algorithm is to set up a second domain name that will be mobile-specific. One that starts with m before the existing domain name. For instance, https://www.m.lifefitness.com.au.
These are all of our suggestions to get a higher ranking website with Google’s mobile-first indexing algorithm. If you’re looking for more tips on SEO, check out SEO Company Melbourne for all things SEO
