Recently, Google announced the “Mobile-first Index” strategy to manage the rankings of the website on search engine pages. Well, don’t be a shock, it was pretty obvious. As the number of Smartphone users is increasing, the searches from mobile phones are also increasing. If the searches are maintained on mobile phones, then what’s the necessity of indexing the websites from the desktop versions?
Thus, Google posted a blog on its central webmaster blog regarding the introduction of the Mobile-first Index. But, it is still not clear, when the mobile indexing is going to start. According to the reports, the experiments are still going on, and within some months, this strategy will launch.
Upon this news, the experts mentioned that this mobile-first indexing concept would have a great impact on the search engine rankings of a website. Well, it is very difficult to comment on that, as the strategy is still not launched. But it is pretty sure that mobile users are going to experience good things and features on mobile searches. To understand the concept of the Mobile-first index, let’s have a glance at the brief description.
Basic Concepts of Mobile-First Indexing
As the name suggests, Google will now start the indexing of a website, from the mobile browser’s view. Previously, Google crawls through the website as a desktop user, but now with this strategy, it is confirmed that Google will crawl the websites as a mobile user. It has been observed that the desktop version of the website is not the same as that of the mobile version.
Because of this, mobile users are facing difficulties in browsing the pages and in following certain links. All the clients are focusing on enhancing their desktop view of the website, but hardly a few clients maintain the mobile view of the websites. To avoid such conditions, Google planned out the mobile-first index.
In this, the crawler will visit your website as a mobile user and will manage all your features and services from a mobile point of view. If the crawler finds that, the site is loading slowly on the mobile, then there are high chances that the rankings on the search engine pages will be affected.
Well, if you don’t have a mobile site, for now, then no need to be panic. In the official blog, Google mentioned that, if there is no mobile site linked with the website, then the crawler will automatically go for the desktop version of the website. But if you are having a mobile site linked to your website, then you need to be a bit careful. Make sure that, all the features and links on the mobile site are maintained efficiently.
Does Mobile-First Indexing affect the SEO aspects?
Now you must have got some idea regarding the mobile-first indexing strategy. But do you think, this kind of indexing will affect the SEO aspects? Well, that’s hard to say as of now, but certainly, the user experience will greatly improve, and there are high chances that, with the user experience, the rankings will also go up. Here, we have arranged certain possible aspects, which are predicted with the introduction of the mobile-first index.
Improved page speed –
As Google will now index the mobile site first, it is obvious that every client will keenly focus on the features of mobile sites. And the first thing, which will improve is the page loading speed. It has been observed that mobile sites take a longer time to load, as compared to desktop sites. The users also tend to leave the mobile site, if the loading speed is very slow. But what if, the crawler will visit your mobile website and will face the same difficulty? Then, it is obvious that Google will hit the ranking of your website.
Proper use of AMP –
Previously, Google introduced the accelerated mobile page module for better performance of mobile sites. As the crawler will now index the mobile site first, it is now expected that clients will greatly adopt the AMP concept to enhance the visibility of their website on the front page carousels.
More structured data on the mobile sites –
For the comfort of mobile users, now mobile sites will be maintained with structured and arranged data. All the links on the mobile sites will be properly visible to the users. The accessibility to every feature will also greatly improve, and thus the overall user experience will be appreciated by the users.
Links will now play a major role –
The users are now more comfortable browsing a link on mobile phones. The links will enhance the functioning of the digital marketing strategies and will greatly help to divert traffic from one mobile page to another. The scope for link building is now higher.
How to prepare the mobile site for mobile-first indexing?
If all these above aspects will work accordingly, then it is obvious that the Search engine rankings of a website will also improve. Thus, now there will be tough competition, with the introduction of a mobile-first index strategy. In such cases, it is very important to design the websites as per the mobile audience. Well, apart from that, some other preparations are also recommended. Here, we have arranged some necessary preparation for Google’s Mobile-first indexing:
- Verify the mobile version of your website in the search console.
- Don’t forget to use the robot.txt testing tools.
- Manage the structured markup for both versions efficiently. But don’t add a lot of markups.
- Balance the primary content and the mark-up content to enhance the user experience.
If your website is already responsive, then no changes are required for that. After making all the changes, don’t forget to have a look at your website from the crawler’s point of view. You can crawl through your website like Google, by using the webmaster tools of Google.
