It's important to have a mobile friendly website
Google has started rolling out its mobile-first indexing of websites, so it is more important now than ever to ensure your website is up to scratch. What does this mean for the average business owner?
What is mobile-first indexing and what does it mean for you?
Traditionally Google used the desktop version of a page's content to index and rank a site, primarily users are now on mobile devices, which is where mobile-first indexing comes in.
Mobile-first indexing means your mobile version of your website is where Google starts their indexing and ranking, as search bots crawl your site.
The good news
Mobile-first index is not the only index, if your site doesn't have a mobile-friendly version, the desktop site can still be included in the index. However, the lack of a mobile-friendly experience could impact negatively on the rankings of your site, and a site with a better mobile experience will potentially receive a rankings boost even for searchers on a desktop.
If your mobile and desktop versions are equivalent - eg. you have optimised content for mobile or you have a responsive design, the mobile-first indexing shouldn't have a significant impact on your website's performance in search results.
The bad news
If you don't have a mobile version / responsive website, you will still get ranked, though not as well as those who do, and it may impact your desktop ranking if your website has a non-responsive unfriendly mobile site because of the perception of poor user experience.
Keep an eye out
Google is only indexing those sites it deems ready, at this stage, so keep an eye out for an email from them letting you know when yours is done - see example below.
If you need help with your website, or you need a new website please get in touch. All of our Rocketspark websites are mobile optimised and ready for mobile-first Google ranking.
