What is Google Mobile First Indexing?

For years, there have been rumours about Google introducing a concept known as mobile-first indexing for SEO.

This concept is now becoming a reality and it is in response to the shift in the way people search the internet.

Today, mobile devices account for nearly 60 percent of all internet traffic, meaning that smartphones and tablets are what people use to surf the web.

Google has now introduced mobile-first indexing, which puts to the forefront those who search on mobile devices. Even if desktops and laptops are used, Google will still go to its mobile content first for the most compatible response. This means that the mobile version will now take precedent over the desktop which means that big changes are ahead. So, here are some tips that will help you with your SEO efforts in this time of change.

Understanding How Mobile-First Works

It’s important that your site be as mobile friendly as possible. Even if you have a responsive website design, which means that it can be seen easily on both small and large displays, you will need to augment your site to enhance the experience for mobile users. This means that you will want to shrink images and data to increase download speeds, add voice-search to access your website, and personalise the content so that it is as mobile-friendly as possible.

Keyword Changes

Keywords work differently for mobile users compared to desktop or laptop users. This means that you will need to gear your SEO more towards mobile users if you want to increase your customer base substantially. You will need to research the right keywords that mobile users tend to apply. Plus, you will want to look at your content and how it appears on all devices to better aim it at smartphones and tablets. Including progressive web apps is another consideration as it adds to the speed of the experience for mobile users.

Format Your Content for Mobile

This means that you will want to follow the right practices to ensure your content is easily seen on mobile devices. You’ll need to structure your data for mobile use, incorporate hreflang tags to your mobile site, look over your metadata, and add the robots.txt to your mobile site if you are still using one. Your goal is to remove obstacles, shorten content, and speed up the download so your users will get a better experience.

Monitor Log File Data

By looking at the log file data provided by Google, you can see how the bots access websites and how fast they arrive. The information will identify smartphone user increases and any decreases to desktops. Although the pattern fluctuation is not conclusive, it is an indicator of overall performance that you can use to tweak your site so that it is more mobile friendly.

You can use the Google mobile site speed test to help ensure that your site is as fast as possible for mobile users. The more you can take advantage of Google mobile-first indexing, the better off your website will be.