In the past decade, more people have been using their smartphones to go online than desktop or laptop computers. In fact, over 60% of internet traffic now comes from mobile devices like phones.
Around the globe, most people prefer using their mobile phones to surf the internet. Google has noticed this and in March 2018, it introduced something called the “Mobile First Index“. This system looks at and organizes web pages, giving priority to the mobile versions of websites rather than the desktop ones. They had talked about this back in 2016, and it finally finished rolling out on October 31, 2023.
Meaning of indexing and the “Mobile First Index”
Before diving into the details of what “The Mobile First Index” means, let’s first understand what indexing is for all our readers.
Indexing is when Google adds websites to its list of sites after its “web-crawlers” scan them.
When someone searches for something on Google, it looks through its list to find the most relevant pages.
Then, Google shows only the best and most relevant results on the search engine results page (SERP).
The order in which the sites appear on the SERP is based on many factors, like where the user is located, the language they use, how easy the website is to navigate, and what device they’re using (like a desktop, tablet, or smartphone).
Since 2018, Google has given special importance to websites that work well on mobile devices, and that’s why it’s called the “Mobile First” index.
In the real world, many websites have two versions: one for mobile phones and one for computers.
Before, when Google looked at a website to put it in its list, it mainly looked at the computer version. This helped decide where the website would show up in search results.
But now, Google mainly looks at the mobile version of a website to decide where it should go in search results.
This big change to “Mobile First” is because most people use phones to go online. It’s important for website creators and businesses to think about this when they plan and design their websites.
Implications of the Mobile First index
What’s different with the “Mobile First index” compared to before? Well, pretty much everything changes.
Imagine a company that sells to other businesses. They have a really good website for computers with lots of useful stuff for their customers who usually visit on a computer.
Now, with the “Mobile First Index”, even if the computer website is great, if the mobile one isn’t good, the website might not show up well in search results anymore.
Google still looks at the old way of doing things, where it prefers websites made for computers. But now, it mostly looks at mobile websites first.
So, starting in 2018, if you want your website to show up better in search results, you need to make sure it works well on mobile phones.
From Mobile first to Responsive design
Google decided to focus more on making websites work well on mobile phones. This means that now, websites are mostly made with mobile browsing in mind.
The goal is to create a website that works well on mobile phones. This is called having a “mobile-friendly” website.
One easy way to make Google like your website more is to use a theme with “responsive design”. This means that the website will adjust itself to look good on different devices, like phones, tablets, and computers.
When you’re making your website using certain platforms, pick a theme that says it has “responsive design” or is “responsive”. These themes make sure your website looks good no matter what size screen someone is using.
With a “responsive” design, the text on your website will adjust to be the right size, and any extra stuff that’s not needed will hide when the screen size changes.
You can see how responsive design works in these examples for smartphones, tablets, and computers:
When you make a responsive website, you get to use just one URL, which comes with lots of benefits:
- Users won’t have to deal with different versions of the website when they switch between devices.
- The browsing experience will stay the same no matter what device someone is using.
- It’s easier for search engines to understand and rank your website when there’s only one version to deal with. This means your website is less likely to be compared with versions that aren’t as good.
All of this can help your website show up better in search results.
Once your website is ready, you can use different tools to check if it works well on mobile devices. These tools will test how your website looks and works on different phones and tablets.
Google made something called the “Lighthouse” extension. You can download it and then add it to your web browser. When it’s installed, just go to the website you want to check and start scanning.
To use it, click on the Lighthouse icon and then press the “Generate report” button. This will show you how well the website works on different devices.
Other tips for a site worthy of the “Mobile First Index”
Besides using a responsive design, there are other ways recommended by Google to improve your ranking in the “Mobile First Index”.
When you’re building your website, it’s important to make sure it loads quickly, ideally in under 3 seconds. Here’s why:
- The average load time for websites on Google’s first page of search results is about 1.65 seconds.
- Websites that load in two seconds or less have a low bounce rate, meaning people don’t leave the site right away.
- Every second counts: for every second a page takes to load, the chance of someone sticking around decreases by about 5%.
To speed up your website, you can:
- Use caching for web pages.
- Make sure your website’s code is as small as possible.
- Reduce the number of redirects on your pages.
- Compress images to make them load faster.
You can check your website’s loading speed using the Google PageSpeed Insights tool. It gives your website a score from 0 to 100. The higher the score, the better your website will rank in search results.
Make sure your website offers the same stuff on both mobile phones and computers. If you only have certain things on the computer version, Google won’t count them when ranking your website. It’s important to have everything available on mobile too.
Another thing to do is to check the pictures and videos on your website. Make sure the images aren’t too small or blurry on mobile phones. Use image formats that Google can understand, like SVG. You can’t index pictures in .jpg format.
If you have two versions of your website (one for mobile and one for desktop), make sure the descriptions of the images are the same on both versions. Use the same titles, captions, and text on images for both versions.
Also, make sure the titles and descriptions of your pages are the same on both the desktop and mobile versions.
Most importantly, make sure Google can read and understand your website:
- Use structured data markup, which helps search engines understand your content.
- Don’t block things like CSS, JavaScript, or images.
- Check your website often to make sure everything works right.
Conclusions
In conclusion, optimizing your website for mobile devices is crucial in today’s digital landscape dominated by smartphone usage. By adopting responsive design, ensuring fast loading speeds, providing consistent content across mobile and desktop versions, and optimizing visual and multimedia elements, you can improve your website’s performance and visibility on search engines like Google. Remember to regularly monitor and update your website to maintain its crawlability and indexability, and stay abreast of new developments and best practices in mobile optimization. By following these tips, you can enhance user experience, attract more visitors, and ultimately achieve better rankings in search results.
Ravi Kumar
Digital Marketing Experts
