One of the growing recent trends in Search Engine Optimization field is mobile first traffic and as a result mobile first indexing. This is because Google and search engines alike are trying to make web traffic mobile-friendly and keep up with the user behavior trends that are more mobile than ever. Below we will get into what mobile first indexing actually means and also what it means for your website’s search engine optimization.

What is Mobile-First Indexing?

The main element of mobile-first indexin is pretty self explanatory, Google will crawl the mobile version of your website first before the desktop version. It is also the baseline for how they determine their organic rankings. In addition, it is called molbile-first rather than mobile-only because if your website doesn’t have a mobile friendly version, Google will still index the desktop version. Mobile-first indexing should make you reconsider your website content and how it correlates to crawling and indexing. Forever, Google has had the desktop version of the website as the primary version, instead of the alternate.

How to Attack Mobile-First Indexing for Responsive Site

First thing to know about mobile-frist indexing is that it is in its very early stages and will be rolled out very slowly to website Google determines fit for the change. Google has also made it clear not to worry because if you are happy with your  current rankings and both versions are responsive you most likely don’t have to do anything differently. However, you will still want to double check the page speed and load time are fully optimized.

Mobile-First Indexing Tips for Separate Site

When you have a separate site for your mobile site, you will first need to make sure that all content on the mobile site is high quality and valuable. Additionally you should include the same structured data mark up on both mobile and desktop versions of your websites. When it comes to metadata, you want to ensure that it is also the same on both versions of your website on every single page.

Another important tip to keep in mind with mobile-first indexing is to make sure the sitemaps of the website are accessible from both desktop and mobile versions. Other technical aspects you want to consider are making sure both versions are on Search Console, app indexation, server capacity and switchboard tags.

What are the SEO Impacts of Mobile-First?

While mobile-first does mean that your mobile version will primarily impact your rankings it is not the only factor in deciding your rankings. If you do not have a mobile version of your website it is likely that you will be impacted negatively in the rankings compared to those websites that do. It is also important to note however that no mobile version at all is better than an incomplete or broken mobile version of your website. Mobile-first indexing will impact ranking factors and strategy for SEO for the forseeable future. Google is becoming less dependent on traditional links and HTML URLs for rankings and relying more on structured data.

Search Engine Optimization Services in New Jersey

If you are worried about how mobile-first indexing may affect your company’s website rankings look no further than the experienced experts at Today’s Business in Pine Brook, New Jersey. Our full service digital marketing agency specializes in search engine optimization for our clients of all industries and sizes. Our services range from social media, to graphic design, to website development. If your business is looking to increase exposure and return on investment then choose Today’s Business. Feel free to contact us today to learn more how we can help your company grow.