Mobile first indexing
On March 26th, 2018, Google officially announced that they will use "mobile first indexing". That means: algorithms will index and create rankings of the websites based on their mobile version - not their desktop version (as before). This update has come at a time when a larger number of all searches were made from a mobile phone, compared with searches made from desktop.
" Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A jorney of a thousand miles begin with a single step. "
Since April 2015, in what search-engine-optimizers have dubbed “Mobilegeddon”, Google officially started rewarding the search rank of mobile-friendly sites and penalizing sites that were not mobile-friendly.
A study by Blue Corona (a digital marketing company) found that sites that did not switch to mobile-friendly platforms before the update in 2015 were hit with a 50%+ traffic reduction penalty. This penalty came because Google dropped their SEO rankings, which resulted in fewer people seeing and clicking on their site.
The same study found that in 2015 70% of websites on the first page of Google were optimized for mobile. Of the 70% that was mobile friendly, the conversion rate tended to skyrocket after the switch.
One case study of an HVAC company in Allentown, Pennsylvania showed that in the year after switching to a responsive mobile friendly site, their conversion rate went up by 1750%. While definitely an impressive increase in sales, this statistic is believable especially for sites that attract a heavy mobile user base.
What Does “Mobile Friendly” Even Mean?
The cost and benefit of mobile-friendly sites are apparent, but what does it really mean to be “Mobile Friendly”? According to Google, it means that your site:
- Does not use software not commonly found on phones (for example: Flash)
- Uses text that can be read without having to zoom in.
- Auto adjusts website content so users don’t have to rotate their screen or zoom.
- Places links an adequate distance apart so it is easy to click on the correct one.
If you have a website and want to check or verify if it is mobile friendly, you can use Google’s “Mobile Friendly Test”.