Google Update: Mobile-First-Indexing for the Whole Web, and What it Means for Your Website & Business

In 2016, Google first announced they were experimenting with mobile-first-indexing. since then Google has been moving more and more of its index towards mobile-first-indexing, about 70% to date, along with any new sites. On March 5th, 2020 Google officially announced that by September of 2020 it’s entire index will be on mobile-first-indexing. This decision on Google’s part makes sense when you look at the data. 

In 2016, eMarketer reported that 57.7% of internet users were using mobile devices and that by 2020 the % of web users accessing the internet via mobile devices would increase to 68.4%.

In 2020, TheNextWeb shows that 92% of web users access the internet via mobile devices. 

Now, what I do want to clarify is that these are meant to represent total web activity and do not imply that users are exclusively using mobile or desktop devices. Take a second to think about who your users are and how they use devices throughout their web journey with your business. From the inclination that they want to do something, to researching, converting, and advocating for your business on the backend, users will experience many touchpoints with your brand on multiple devices. 

At this point, you may be asking yourself what does mobile-first-indexing mean for my website or business?

What Does Mobile-First-Indexing Mean?

Mobile-First-Indexing Means That Your Mobile Site Is Referenced For Ranking Consideration

Simply enough as it sounds Mobile-First-Indexing means that Google and it’s crawlers will be referencing the mobile version of your site as it is considered for ranking and visibility. So, if it’s not up to snuff you may have already experienced or will experience performance issues in Google search.

Mobile-First-Indexing Means That Mobile-First-Design and AMP Content Development are now Boilerplate Web-Development Standards

Responsive design & development isn’t anything new to the industry. However, the weight and priority it’s given throughout the strategic decision-making moments of a website’s production has become more crucial than ever. 

Any content both important to users and crawlers should be fully visible and crawlable on both mobile and desktop. It’s also important that this content be as fast and user-friendly as possible, so removing pop-ups and designing for the ‘fat-thumb’ are known best practices. 

If you’re unfamiliar with AMP pages, it’s time to become familiar. AMP pages allow content to load directly from the search engine results page (SERP) allowing users to interact with your content without sending them to your website. This increases the speed at which web users digest content, which is Google's goal, these optimizations can lead to increased rankings and visibility for your web pages.

What Doesn’t Mobile-First-Indexing Mean?

Mobile-First-Indexing Doesn’t Mean Just Mirroring Your Desktop Experiences On Mobile.

Yes, since the internet’s inception the majority of web experiences and content have been developed with desktop in mind, and yes it is important to not hide any relevant content for both users and bots on your mobile site. However, it is important to note that the same experience on desktop and mobile may not, and will most likely not, translate for users. 

This means focusing on the RIGHT experiences for users on both mobile AND desktop.

Mobile-First-Indexing Doesn’t Mean Desktop Experiences Don't Matter

Often when big news from Google hits the industry many take it to the extreme and solely focus on the issue at hand. However, it’s important to remember that reports only one, the most recent, factor in the sea of things going on with Google, and that Google’s indexing functions on hundreds of ranking factors. So, what’s most important for us as web builders to remember, is not to lose sight of the big picture. To be clear, what Mobile-First-Indexing doesn’t mean is that we should completely forget about our desktop experiences. And to that statement, SEOs should be optimizing a website for both desktop and mobile since both garner different sets of keyword rankings. 

Again, this means focusing on the RIGHT experiences for users on both mobile AND desktop.

What can you do?

Be Knowledgeable

Google provides information for web owners to be more educated about best practices for web development and brand visibility. Becoming familiar with Google’s Mobile-First-Indexing Guidelines is the best first step for web owners, strategists, and developers. 

Monitor Search Console

Google’s free tool Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) gives you a slew of great tools to monitor the health of your website. Creating an account (ideally with the same account that owns your Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager accounts) will allow you to add your property to get mobile usability reports so you can optimize best as possible for mobile users visiting your website.

Hire an SEO

Google has guides and advice on hiring an SEO, so I won’t go into detail here. All I want to say is do your research and be careful and ask hundreds, no, millions of questions. Make sure you know what they’re doing and that it’s generally white-hat. Success doesn’t always come ethically, I’ll just leave that at that. But as always, PRPL offers white-hat SEO services if you’re dedicated and ready to take the plunge.

We’re Always Here to Help

If you’ve been experiencing issues with your mobile website’s performance or visibility, or you just want to stay ahead of the curve, PRPL’s here to fulfill all your mobile web needs. Just reach out and we’ll set up a call!