It’s been several years now since the message regarding mobile SEO was delivered loud and clear. The mobile revolution wasn’t the kind of shift that took anyone by surprise and nor did it transform the world overnight. Instead, it was a trend that emerged more than three decades ago and took a long time to hit its stride.
Meaning that those who have failed to capitalize on it really have no one but themselves to blame!
Still, evidence would seem to suggest that concerted efforts still need to be made to remain up to speed with what’s happening right now. If you’ve yet to explore what mobile-first indexing could mean to your business. Well, you might as well hear it straight from the horse’s mouth:
“To make our results more useful, we have begun experiments to make our index mobile-first. Although our search index will continue to be a single index of websites and apps, our algorithms will eventually primarily use the mobile version of a site’s content to rank pages from that site, to understand structured data, and to show snippets from those pages in our results. Of course, while our index will be built from mobile documents, we’re going to continue to build a great search experience for all users, whether they come
from mobile or desktop devices.” – Google
As for what this all means, it’s basically a case of Google turning its attention to the mobile version of your website, in order to determine where it should rank in the listings. Not just where it should rank for mobile users only, but also its desktop rankings.
In a nutshell therefore, if you have an outstanding mobile version of your website that delivers the best possible user experience across most devices, you’ll be rewarded with strong rankings for mobile & desktop searches alike. If your mobile website is not up to scratch,it will drag your SERP performance down – even if your desktop site is no less than fantastic.
A fair and justifiable approach? It’s irrelevant – this is how it is in 2018 and will continue to be indefinitely.
Now or Never
As it stands,Google is yet to confirm exactly when its new indexation system will be brought into effect. Nevertheless, they have made in relatively clear that it’s going to happen at some point in the very near future most definitely during 2018. Meaning that whether you handle search marketing manually or work with the very best SEO company in Chennai, it could be time to refine your approach.
The question being – where to start?
It can seem like something of a minefield, but there are technically just three things you have to do to make sure you’re ready for Google’s historic switch to mobile-first indexation. So regardless of who’s in control of your wider digital marketing and optimization efforts, these are the things you should think about concentrating on right now:
1. Responsive design
Perhaps thesingle most important aspect of all is that of a responsive design. The reason being that to get it right with responsivedesign means to both enhance the UX of your site for human users and satisfy
the requirements of Google at the same time. The idea of a responsive site being that regardless of the device or browser used, the same high-quality experience is delivered with zero compromise. Meaning that when accessing your website via a 21-inch monitor, a 10-inch tablet or a 4-inch Smart phone, no visitor feels as if they are being shortchanged due to their device/platform.
On the technical side of things, transforming an existing website into a responsive masterpiece is entirely possible and not particularly difficult for the experts. That said, attempting to get the job done with little to no expertise of your own is not advisable. There are so many flexible and scalable elements that need to be taken into account, along with the kind of deep-level optimization that ensures your site runs beautifully on high- and low-powered devices alike. Unless you can say with confidence that your site is equally outstanding across all devices without exception, responsive design is something you need to focus on.
2. Mobile-optimized content
Optimizing content for mobile essentially means catering to the needs and preferences of mobile audiences, over and above traditional desktop crowds. Perhaps the single most important consideration being that of the average mobile user having a considerably shorter attention span than a more old-school desktop web user. When you think about it, mobile users are more inclined to ‘dip’ in and out of their online surfing sessions, killing minutes or even seconds when the mood takes them. Which in turn means that you should be able to provide them with exactly what they need as quickly and conveniently as possible with zero delays and/or distractions.
When it comes to textual content, conciseness and readability are everything. With visual content like images, video clips another media, think carefully about loading times and visibility. When positioning CTAs, links, ads and so on,they need to be as easy as possible to click/press without ever becoming intrusive. Ideally, you should bethinking about exactly what appeals to you when accessing websites via your mobile device, while at the same time avoiding anything that annoys the hell out of you.
3. Expert intervention
If you are not already doing a pretty good job appealing to mobile audiences, it is inevitable that outside help will be required. The simple fact of the matter being that when pulling together all the various components that combine to create mobile design and optimization strategies, it’s the kind of complex and time-consuming job that’s beyond the reach of the average amateur. You could always start again from scratch, but there’s technically no point when a team of expert developers could convert your website quickly, easily and for a relatively low price.
Always remember that outsourcing represents a comprehensively scalable option and doesn’t mean
relinquishing control of the entire project. Even if it’s no more than seeking help with the more technical aspects of boosting your site’s performance, independent expert consultancy at the right time could make all the difference.
Particularly if you have no idea where or how to get started – any further procrastination or
delays could prove extremely costly.
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