Is Your Website Ready for Google's Mobile-First Indexing?

It's been on the horizon for a while, but finally Google has announced that it will soon be rolling out its mobile-first indexing algorithm.  How will this affect your website's rankings on the search engines you ask? Well, quite simply; it will make a huge difference, depending on if your website is mobile friendly or 'responsive'.

What does 'responsive' mean?

When your website is responsive, it has been designed to correctly display on all types of device. This is no matter if it's mobile phone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer. Whatever size screen you are using, if your website is responsive, it will be tailored to perfectly fit the screen and allow quick and easy browsing.

Why are Google prioritising mobile friendly sites?

Google's main goal is to improve the search experience for users, no matter if they are on desktop or mobile. Google are bringing out this algorithm because of the amount of users that now search on their mobile devices and tablets. It's now more important than ever to have a website that displays correctly on any device; be it mobile phones, tablets, desktops or laptops.

How will mobile-first indexing work?

Google's search engine has always prioritised analysis of the desktop version of a website, rather than its mobile version, when organising rankings on its results pages. This is despite the fact that the majority of Google searchers have been using mobile devices for many years. This was quite problematic at times as it did not account for the mobile version when determining the quality of websites. Since mobile pages are ultimately the preference for the vast majority of people using Google these days, something had to change.

While Google will continue to index sites on one page rather than having a separate one for website and mobile version, it will now place value on mobile pages when indexing a site and deciding its position in search rankings. This will have a huge impact on small and medium businesses across the whole of the UK. It means you need to pay attention to both the functionality of your desktop page, as well as your mobile one.

What do you need to do?

The most important thing you need to do is make sure that your website is mobile friendly and truly 'responsive'. Check that your website will be fully indexed for mobile rankings with Google's own Mobile Friendly Test. If it's not, or indeed your website isn't responsive at all, then it's imperative that you get this rectified as quickly as possible.

At the Smart Domain Group, we specialise in designing and creating stunning responsive websites for our clients. Designed with Google's preference of mobile-friendly sites in mind, our responsive websites are helping our clients gain strong positions on Google's rankings. If you would like more information about how we can design a responsive website for you, contact us today on 01634 810600. Save