A long, long time ago (like 10 years ago) most people accessed the web on a laptop or desktop. But along came smartphones and that quickly changed things. Last year, 52.6% of all internet traffic came from mobile devices and that number is just going to climb: some studies show that by 2025 nearly 3/4 of your web traffic will come from a mobile device. This seismic shift has caused Google to announce that mobile-first indexing is coming, and soon – This will begin September 2020, but will not fully be implemented until March 2021.
What is mobile-first indexing?
It basically means that Google will use the mobile version of your website for indexing and ranking, not the desktop version. And indexing and ranking are how Google determines how and when to serve up your site in response to a Google search. Search Engine Optimization, aka SEO, is the practice of optimizing your web pages to make them reach a high position in the search results of Google and other search engines. Ranking high on SEO can be the difference between someone seeing your website and clicking through to never hearing of you at all.
Creating a mobile-first, optimized website is clearly more important than ever. If your site is slow to load, cluttered with out-of-date content or generally behind the curve when it comes to mobile access, Google’s new mobile-first indexing will penalize you by placing you lower in their search results, reducing your site traffic and potentially losing you business.
Ranking high for SEO will help ensure that potential clients easily find you. If your site is already optimized and user-friendly on mobile, you are good to go! But if your site hasn’t been updated in quite some time, or was never mobile-optimized, you and your site will be at a serious disadvantage. Don’t fall to the second page of a Google search where only 7% of people will view your website.
Let’s review some of the easy fixes you can make to your site to prepare for Google’s mobile-first indexing this fall.
Your potential client’s experience doesn’t end at being mobile-friendly and optimized. To realize your best website conversions, your site should also be set up with an integrated CMS software to track the buyer’s journey from the moment he or she first visits your site to a request for a consultation or quote. More about that here.
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