How Can Marketers Prepare for Google’s Shifting to a Mobile-First Index

• Thursday, December 29th, 2016
• Blog
• one response

Google recently announced a major change in their indexing algorithms. While this update is still being tested and you may not notice it yet, it’s pretty sure that mobile-first index will become a reality very soon and that marketers need to be prepared for it. In fact, if you’ve done your homework, you already know that mobile searches have surpassed desktop ones, so this update shouldn’t be a complete surprise.

What Is the Mobile-First Index?

The update is most likely months away from implementation, so the details aren’t clear yet. However, there are few things we already know:

• SERPs will display mobile-friendly content first. Even now, if your page is targeted at desktop users, it will not be shown in mobile searches. The plot will definitely thicken and your website might be excluded altogether in the future.
• Both mobile-specific and responsive versions of a website will be accepted. Still, for budget purposes, as well as scalability, it is advisable to get a responsive website as soon as possible.
• AMP-enabled pages will be treated like any other mobile page and indexed first.

What can Marketers Do to Prepare for the Mobile-First Index?

There are a few changes that you can start making right now. Don’t worry; even if the mobile-first index will be rolled out later than expected, these changes will still benefit you, since we already know that most users favor mobile devices for surfing the Internet:

• Get a mobile responsive website: mobile-optimized is no longer the way to go. Create a single version of your website and make sure it’s responsive, since this is the technology that Google definitely favors.
• Adjust your content for mobile users: mobile content is first and foremost shorter. So, if you have more to say, split it into two blog posts, for instance. You can also consider adding more videos and photos to your content strategy.
• Get technical: one of the major ranking factors is site speed, so make sure your site loads fast on mobile devices. Work on decreasing your bounce rate by creating more engaging pages with clear CTAs and website conversion funnels that keep readers on-site.

Adriana Tica

Adriana Tica is an expert marketer and copywriter, with 10 years in the field, most of which were spent marketing tech companies. She is the Owner and Founder of Idunn. In October 2019, she also launched Copywritech, a digital marketing agency that provides copywriting, SEO content writing, and strategy services to companies in the tech industry.