If you keep up on SEO (search engine optimization) news, you have probably heard rumblings from Google about Mobile-First Indexing. Google has plans to switch ranking algorithms to this new indexing method shortly.

What does this mean for your website?

Before we get to that, let’s do a quick review of mobile device usage and how it has impacted SEO strategies. A few years ago, Google marketed and promoted making websites mobile friendly because search usage on mobile was growing. Google even rewarded websites with a “mobile friendly” tag and higher priority in rankings.

Today, as most websites updated their content to make it mobile friendly, Google is taking the next step by switching how it indexes websites. Currently, their indexing bots crawl the desktop versions of websites and rank them based on various criteria, including whether they are compatible with mobile devices.

However, this is all about the change. Google will be moving to Mobile-First Indexing. This means that their indexing bots will be crawling mobile websites first and giving those priority in rankings over desktop-only websites.

The first thing you need to know is if you already have a dynamic and responsive web design that is both desktop and mobile friendly, you have less to worry about. You will want to do an audit of your website to make sure content is up-to-date and meets all current Google guidelines.

Aside from that, the only thing that will change for your website is Google will index the mobile side of your dynamic and responsive first, then the desktop side second.

What if I have separate desktop and mobile websites?

Some businesses opted to create a separate mobile website rather than a dynamic and responsive one. In this case, Google’s Mobile-First Indexing will crawl your mobile website and then check to seek if it linked to the desktop version. Then, it will crawl the desktop version.

If the sites are not linked, then essentially, your mobile site will get a higher priority in rankings over your desktop version. To avoid this issue, it is highly recommended to create a new website that is dynamic and responsive and move to a single website.

What if my website was never updated to be mobile friendly?

In this situation, you really need to update your website. If you continue to operate a desktop-only version, you are going to see your rankings slip even further down the list. Not to mention you are not effectively reaching everyone.

Out of all online searches being done, close to 56% were done on mobile devices at the start of the year. This number is expected to continue to grow and could be as high as 65% by the end of the year. The best advice is to develop a new dynamic and responsive website to maintain your online presence as Google continues to make mobile a top priority.

For assistance in performing a website audit or designing and developing a new dynamic and responsive website, please feel free to contact Logik Digital by calling 1-866-307-0086 today!