Mobile-First Indexing: What It Means & Best Practices
What is Mobile-First Indexing?
Mobile-first indexing is a way that Google crawls and indexes the web, prioritizing the mobile version of websites. This means that Google uses the mobile version of your website’s content for ranking and indexing purposes.
Google made the switch to mobile-first indexing in 2019, in response to the increasing number of people using mobile devices to access the internet. In fact, according to StatCounter, mobile devices now account for over 50% of all global web traffic.
Why is Mobile-First Indexing Important?
Mobile-first indexing is important because it ensures that Google is indexing the version of your website that most of your visitors are seeing. If your mobile website is not well-designed or easy to use, it could have a negative impact on your search rankings and your bottom line.
How to Prepare Your Website for Mobile-First Indexing
There are a few things you can do to prepare your website for mobile-first indexing:
- Make sure your website is mobile-friendly. This means that your website should be easy to read and navigate on all devices, including smartphones and tablets. You can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see if your website is mobile-friendly.
- Use the same content on both your desktop and mobile websites. Google wants to make sure that users have a consistent experience regardless of the device they are using.
- Use structured data. Structured data is a way to mark up your website’s content so that Google can better understand it. This can help Google to better index your website and rank it higher in search results.
- Make sure your website loads quickly. Google has said that page speed is a ranking factor, so it’s important to make sure that your website loads quickly, especially on mobile devices.
Mobile-First Indexing Best Practices
Here are some additional best practices for mobile-first indexing:
- Avoid intrusive interstitials. Interstitials are full-screen ads or pop-ups that appear when a user visits a website. Google has said that intrusive interstitials can have a negative impact on your search rankings.
- Use a responsive design. A responsive design is a website design that automatically adjusts to the size of the device that it is being viewed on. This ensures that your website will look good and be easy to use on all devices.
- Optimize your images for mobile. Make sure that your images are the right size for mobile devices and that they are formatted correctly. You can use Google’s Image Optimizer to help you with this.
- Use a mobile-friendly font size. Make sure that the font size on your mobile website is large enough to be easily read.
- Make your buttons and links large enough. Make sure that the buttons and links on your mobile website are large enough to be easily tapped.
How to Check if Your Website is Using Mobile-First Indexing
To check if your website is using mobile-first indexing, you can use Google’s Mobile-First Indexing Status Tool. This tool will show you whether Google is using the mobile version of your website for ranking and indexing purposes.
Vision Ranking Can Help
If you need help preparing your website for mobile-first indexing, Vision Ranking can help. We offer a variety of services, including website design and development, SEO, and content marketing. We can help you to create a mobile-friendly website that is optimized for search engines and that will provide your visitors with a great experience.
Conclusion
Mobile-first indexing is an important change in the way that Google crawls and indexes the web. By following the best practices outlined in this blog post, you can make sure that your website is ready for mobile-first indexing and that it is providing your visitors with a great experience.
Contact Vision Ranking today to learn more about how we can help you prepare your website for mobile-first indexing.
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