Mobile-first Indexing – Things You Should Know

As you may have read, Google is fully rolling out mobile-first indexing on March 2021 for the entire web. With this, all websites are going to be ported over to the mobile-first index. But, should you be worried? What does that mean for your ranking? What should you do?

Google has never shied away from showing its interest in mobile-first indexing. The search giant has been quite vocal of this imminent shift. In March 2018, the search giant had announced that they were starting with mobile-first indexing and now, they’re ready to roll it out for the entire web. This means that from now on, Google is going to base what it places in the index on your website’s mobile version first rather than the desktop version.

This switch is made because the number of mobile searches has been rising at an exponential rate. So, Google decided that it was time to prioritise mobile results. Here, it is crucial to note that the mobile-first index is not entirely separate, the search giant only has one index from which it serves the results.

There’s no need to panic because NHANCE Digital, one of the leading SEO companies in Sheffield, have outlined below the most crucial things that you should know about mobile-first indexing. We hope that you will be prepared before March 2021.

First, do not panic as your rankings might not be affected

The mobile version of every website is going to be indexed from March 2021. But, that does not mean that your rankings will be affected. If the mobile version of your website is indexed by Google, you will receive a notice in your Google Search Console. This means that the search giant is going to determine as per the content available on the mobile website how you will be ranked. This sounds like a pretty big thing if you do not have enough content.

However, WordPress websites will not be affected much because they already have a responsive design. This means that both your desktop and mobile website will display the same content.

But, if you have separate websites for mobile and desktop, you do have something to worry about. You might want to consider making the switch to a responsive website or getting both your websites ready for mobile-first indexing. As an experienced SEO company in Leed, we will be able to help you with that.

Second, undertake a mobile-friendliness test

To be in the mobile-first index, it is not necessary for you to have a mobile website. Google is going to index desktop websites as well. But, it will be very hard for your website to rank if it is not mobile-friendly. So, what you can do is hire us to conduct a mobile-friendliness test. This will help us determine if your website is mobile-friendly. If your website passes the test, you can breathe a sigh of relief.

Third, think about the user experience on mobile

To appeal to the audience, the design of a mobile website has to be different than a desktop website. Even though mobile devices are available in varied screen sizes, you have to start with the smallest screen size. The easiest way out would be discarding a lot of content due to limitations of space, but that is not a good practice. Instead, you can make your website responsive so that it can quickly adapt itself to different screen sizes. This way you do not have to get rid of anything on your website.

Fourth, craft mobile-friendly content

Since the screen is small, people find it quite difficult to read content on their mobile devices. But, this can be fixed easily. Make sure that your paragraphs are compact and sentences are short. Also, the font must be large and there should be enough whitespace so that your audience does not get confused.

We all knew that this day would come since the very first time that Google rolled out mobile-first indexing. However, now that the search giant is serious about rolling it out for the entire web, you do not have a choice, but to get on board. If you need help from a professional SEO agency in Edinburgh, contact NHANCE Digital.