DIGITAL MARKETING

Mobile First Index

As of the 1st of July 2019, Google will officially switch to their Mobile First Index

Google sits still for nobody – it’s in a constant state of evolution and reinvention. One of the most common challenges faced by marketing companies and small businesses looking to promote themselves is keeping up with Google’s ever-evolving algorithms. And as of the 1st of July 2019, there’s an important change of which all businesses will need to be aware of – the advent of Google’s Mobile-First Index.

What is Mobile-First indexing?

It was only a matter of time. In an era where the majority of users access the internet through mobile devices, it stands to reason that Google would change the way in which its crawlers search and index their way through websites.

Mobile-first indexing is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. Instead of looking at the desktop version of your pages, Google will look at the mobile version; crawling and indexing your web page based on how it renders on a mobile phone rather than on a desktop computer. Currently, this applies to over 50% of what Google indexes.

Why haven’t I heard about the Mobile First Index?

If you’ve just started developing a brand new site, you won’t be notified because Mobile-First indexing is applied by default. If it goes live after the 1st of July 2019, you won’t receive a notification. However, Google has announced that; “Older web sites that are still not being indexed using mobile-first indexing will not be switched yet to mobile-first indexing on the 1st of July but be moved when those web sites are ready to be moved to mobile-first indexing.” Thus, the search giant will send a notification to the developers of older websites when they are deemed ready for mobile first indexing. If you don’t receive a notification by the 1st of July on your Google Search Console, it may be because Google has not yet deemed your website’s content ready.

What does this mean for your web development?

If your current web design strategy does not include responsive web design (design optimised for use on a mobile device), this could result in a dip in your search engine ranking. This could cause you to fall one step behind the competition. It’s more important than ever that your website joins the mobile revolution through responsive web design.

Mobile User

How we can help?

Getting your website ready for Mobile-First Indexing can seem like a daunting and insurmountable task, especially on top of all the myriad duties and responsibilities that come with running a business. Fortunately, our web design team can help you with this process and assist in the design of new mobile-first content to help you stay one step ahead of the competition in the world of search engine optimisation and marketing.

Contact us to learn more about our responsive web design and development solutions.

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