The Mobile-First Google Algorithm Will Push Companies to Better Mobile Sites
When your search engine ranking is at stake, make it a priority to stay updated on any Google algorithm changes. Now with Google’s mobile-first approach to its search rankings, it is imperative that your company is optimized for mobile if you want to maintain your current web traffic.
Google’s decision to prioritize mobile is no surprise, with over 55% of all web traffic coming from a mobile device. And that number is only expected to increase as the years go on.
So, what does this mean exactly? Google will judge your mobile site as the primary source of content. This is not to say that desktop sites will be completely shunned from Google search results, but it will be much more difficult to climb in rankings when you only have desktop content. In a way, Google is forcing most companies to do what is best for their website traffic by catering to user preference.
Mobile sites have been around for some time, and if you have already made your website mobile responsive then you shouldn’t see any changes in your ranking. However, there is always room to improve.
Analyze how your desktop content differs from your mobile site. Though you have a mobile responsive site, there could be content from your website that is not featured on the mobile version. Pictures and multimedia that render properly on the desktop version of your site may slow down the loading speed of your mobile site, or not appear at all. All mobile content should easily render on a hand-held device. This will affect your ranking once mobile is prioritized because the Google algorithm will see less content, deeming it less relevant to a search.
If you have a mobile site on a separate host (m.website.com), it can still be effective for your site, but it may be easier to maintain if you have one URL. Similar to the mobile responsive site, the separate mobile site will have to be checked to make sure its server can first hold all of the data and content and then display it in a fashion that will not be penalized by Google.
If the case is that you do not have a mobile responsive site at all for your company, you will lose large portions of web traffic and there is really no other way around it. Even if your desktop site is interlinked and stacked with information that helped it achieve high rankings in the past, there is a totally new parameter for search rankings that will rank several mobile sites ahead of your desktop site.
The full implementation of this mobile-first Google algorithm is yet to take place, but it is important to prepare your website ahead of time. If you need help revamping your mobile site, or want to create one from scratch, contact the SEO and mobile responsive website experts at Kraus Marketing today. We specialize in implementing optimal SEO tactics for each of our clients.