Towards the end of last year, Google announced that it had begun testing its mobile-first index which would essentially look at the mobile version of a website first for ranking and fall back on the desktop site if no mobile site existed. As an Orlando SEO Expert, I knew the change was coming, but most business owners have no idea how this update affects them. Here is what Google wrote last year:
“To make our results more useful, we’ve begun experiments to make our index mobile-first. Although our search index will continue to be a single index of websites and apps, our algorithms will eventually primarily use the mobile version of a site’s content to rank pages from that site, to understand structured data, and to show snippets from those pages in our results. Of course, while our index will be built from mobile documents, we’re going to continue to build a great search experience for all users, whether they come from mobile or desktop devices.”
What does this mean for developers and business owners?
If you weren’t paying attention to your desktop and mobile presence before, you will get hit very hard come end of year 2017. Many developers use what is called a responsive website (one that conforms to the size of the device it is pulled up on) in order to kill two birds with one stone. Not only do clients receive a beautifully designed website, they also automatically obtain a mobile website version with these templates.
Users are using their telephones more than ever to search online, and the trend will continue to increase. If you do not have an Orlando SEO expert on your side to keep your website and mobile site up healthy and updated with the latest Google algorithm changes in mind, you need to jump on the horse or suffer serious consequences.
There is a gold mine of opportunity online, and the only way to compete is to obtain the services of an Orlando SEO mastermind to help you beat the competition and obtain major website visibility.
Things To Look Out For:
If the mobile version of your website is different than the desktop version, you will need to address a few potential issues. Make sure to check the following:
- If the mobile version of your website has less content than the desktop version, fix that right away!
- Is your content organized in tabs or accordions, with Mobile that is perfectly fine. On desktop websites, the content within these used to be weighted less. On mobile this is simply not the case. Accordion and tab away!
How Greatly Will This Affect My Rankings?
While Google has said that these will not affect ranking greatly initially, the way mobile trends are going, we here at MyCity Social expect the effect to grow in importance in the near future. Mobile search numbers are beating desktop usage numbers substantially in many industries and it is only a matter of time before we move to an all mobile user experience.
If you are interested in Orlando SEO Expert services for your Central Florida based business, give us a call today ______. We have provided amazing results for our clients and look forward to helping you grow your business!
