Have you heard about the mobile-first index from Google? If you haven’t, then read on to see how it may affect your business if you depend on search engine rankings.
Google uses its crawler to look at website content; and very soon, Google will start looking primarily at mobile, rather than desktop content to rank results on its search engine. As of August 2016, the search engine now sees 60% of searches from mobile as opposed to desktop.
This uptick in mobile searches has prompted the search engine to begin ranking websites based on page loading time since websites that load faster on mobile devices usually have better quality. According to searchengineland.com, Google is hopeful that its new mobile-first index will go live by the end of this year.
What does that mean for website owners? Effectively, if your website is not mobile-friendly, then your ranking on Google will be impacted in search, even for desktop users.
While the changes are expected be rolled out by the end of 2017, you can begin preparing now.
What can I do to prepare?
Boost your page Speed
Page speed is a measurement that tells us how fast your page loads. A standard metric used by search engines is “time to first byte”, or how long it takes to receive the first byte of information from the website.
Research shows Google may be measuring time to first byte when it considers page speed. Additionally, search engine crawlers may use up their crawl bandwidth budget when crawling slower pages and this could negatively affect a site’s search engine rank.
Focus on User Experience
When users come first, websites benefit on a variety of fronts. Pages with a longer load time tend to have higher bounce rates and lower average time spent on each page. Longer load times also negatively affect conversions.
For Small Business Websites
If you have a slow mobile or desktop experience currently, then you may want to consider putting some work into increasing your mobile page speed.
The updates to Google’s mobile index will likely launch at the end of 2017, but don’t worry, you still have time to prepare.
Want a free site speed audit to see where you stand currently and how you can improve? Contact us or email info@westoforange.com.