Google’s New Mobile First Index Rule

Do you currently have a mobile-friendly website? If not, then it is now more necessary than ever to focus on getting a mobile-friendly. Google has come out with a new Mobile First Index Rule that will primarily use a site’s mobile version to rank its pages. Although Google will continue to use a single index of websites and apps, it is ultimately pushing marketers to go mobile due to the majority of mobile users.

The new Mobile First Index Rule is said to come into effect during the beginning of January 2017.

Google has always been at the forefront of search engines because its constantly changing its ranking factors so only the best results are displayed. This is great news for those mobile-friendly websites, but what about the ones that aren’t?

Mobile First Index: An Important Factor

Today, people use their smartphone for almost anything. If a site isn’t mobile-friendly, then user experience can be greatly affected.  That is why Google’s newest Mobile First Index adds value to a mobile searcher’s user experience. However, by pushing websites that are made for the mobile, Google said this should not change the overall rankings. In fact, they want there to be minimal change in rankings around this change.

This doesn’t mean that the new rule won’t eventually affect your website’s ranking.  It is a known fact that content that isn’t mobile-friendly will not rank too well. This includes the new mobile first index rule.

Google’s current index lets people get results from a desktop index for both desktop and mobile users. But, uses a mobile-friendly ranking system to boost content for Google’s mobile listings.

The new mobile first index mobile content is indexed first and used to show results for both desktop and mobile users. It is somewhat similar to the current index except when the mobile-friendly ranking system is used only mobile-friendly pages will rank well.

Temporary Alternatives

Although Google is pushing websites to go mobile, it will continue to use your desktop version even after the new mobile rule rolls out. However, there are a couple of things that you need to do to help your rankings.

If you do have a mobile-friendly site, then your content and links need to be similar on both the desktop and mobile version. This way Google can rank your site as well by using your desktop site. The search engine will look at the mobile version of your site. If it has less content on its pages compared to the desktop version, then Google will assume the mobile version has less content.

That’s big issue because then your site won’t be ranked too well. An alternative solution is to make your website responsive on all devices. This way both versions will have the same content. Also make sure the speed of your mobile site pages are quick and your title, headers, structured data, tags and content generated are used on both your mobile and desktop site.

Improving Marketing Strategies

Marketers should always want their site to rank higher on all search engines. One way to do that has been by focusing on SEO and SMO tactics and strategies. But with the mobile first index rule coming into play as a major ranking factor some other strategies need to also come into play. Now marketers have to design and structure sites to be more responsive and mobile-friendly.

This can mean minimalistic designs with easy navigation, absence of popups or other marketing banners that conceal the home page, simple text and sizing without zooming effects, flash and other complex design add-ons.

How Google Redefines Mobile-Friendliness

Google wants its users to have a great search experience and in an attempt to enhance it, it has made it compulsory for sites to have mobile-friendly features. There are certain changes that can help your site meet such features.

• If your site is responsive and all the mobile & desktop pages have similar content, then no changes are necessary.
• If your site has different content and markup on the mobile and desktop versions, then some changes are necessary.
• You must add and verify both versions of the site in the Search Console if you haven’t yet.
• Test your website’s mobility and make sure the UX is optimal.
• Canonical links don’t need to change because Google will continue to use them to get search results for both desktop and mobile users.

Does this Mean Content Will Have No Value?

The new rule pertains more to the amicability of the site in terms of mobile search. Quality content will continue to rule the system rankings so if the site lacks mobile-friendliness then it can rank just not as well as it should. This doesn’t mean the desktop version won’t be able to make the first page of Google or rank high. This doesn’t imply that. But, in the near future they may go down so it’s better to strengthen your site by going mobile.

Test Your Website

If you want to know whether your sute is mobile-friendly then let us test the mobility of your site.

Mobile-Friendly & Responsive Web Design @ IbleSoft

Get mobile-friendly, responsive designs for your site to rank higher in Google and other search engines. We have the skills and the team to design any business concept that meets Google’s new mobile-first rule. Get in touch with us today to know more about our web design services.