Google rolls out mobile-first indexing

On the 26th March 2018, Google announced that after a year and half of careful experimentation and testing that they have started migrating sites that follow the best practices for mobile-first indexing.

Historically Google’s crawling, indexing, and ranking systems have typically used the desktop version of a page’s content, which may cause issues for mobile searchers when that version is vastly different from the mobile version. Mobile-first indexing means that Google will use the mobile version of the page for indexing and ranking, to better help – primarily mobile – users find what they’re looking for.

Google continue to have one single index that we use for serving search results. They do not have a “mobile-first index” that’s separate from our main index. Historically, the desktop version was indexed, but increasingly, Google will be using the mobile versions of content.

So what does this mean for you and your business?

Mobile is critical to your business and will continue to be so – whether you’re maintaining your brand or selling products to potential clients. Make sure visitors can have a good experience on your site when they’re visiting from their mobile devices! In the USA, 94% of people with smartphones search for local information on their phones. Interestingly, 77% of mobile searches occur at home or at work, places where desktop computers are likely to be present.

If your website is not mobile friendly, or even if you think it looks okay on a mobile it may not meet Google’s criteria then you need to act and quickly! Contact us to discuss how we can help your business succeed in the mobile age.

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