Mobile first indexing with Google is nothing new in our industry, but in-case this is the first time you are hearing this, here is a press release and guidelines set in place by Google. 

As one of the leading search engines on the market, the search engine is constantly working on providing its users with the best experience possible. This includes Google Core Updates, Algorithms and major updates such as Penguin, Hummingbird, BERT and mobile-first indexing. 

63 percent of all Google search queries are conducted on a mobile device, and because this number has continued to rise since 2016, Google decided to release an update for all new websites. While this update was released in 2016, Google has released several statements telling companies that their websites should be mobile-friendly! 

The original deadline for mobile first indexing with Google was September 2020; however, with a global pandemic, Google pushed back their deadline to March 2021. 

While companies might have gotten a longer grace period, this does not mean that one should wait until the last minute to get their website design and development project ready to go! 

While mobile first indexing has only affected new websites on the search engine for the past four years, as of March 2021, any website that is not mobile friendly will see adverse effects on its ranking in the search engines result pages. This is because a company has had four years to get their website design updated to be mobile friendly. 

As of March, 70 percent of websites have already been switched over to mobile friendly, but the other 30 percent have less than a year left. And with a website design and development project taking a minimum of four to six weeks, it is better to get this done sooner than later. 

If your company is part of the 30 percent that is struggling to get your website update or find the right business partner, here is what you will need. 

Responsive website design 

A responsive website design is a design that responds to any device that the consumer is viewing the website on. Whether it be a mobile phone or desktop device, the website is sized properly and is still as functional on their devices. This offers the optimal experience for users on any of their devices and provides a positive experience. 

While websites have been speaking about being mobile friendly since 2010, it will no longer be a competitive advantage for new companies since everyone will need to be mobile friendly. This also saves a company from having two separate websites developed. Not only does this affect a company’s reputation and its credibility with its own customers and Google, but it also will affect its search engine optimization (SEO) strategies moving forward! 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) purposes 

While a company needs to implement technical on-page and off-page optimization on their website, it is almost important to understand that this will affect a website’s overall ranking and performance on search engines. It isn’t enough to just have a beautiful website design, it also has to fit the 270 criterias of Google.

This is because not only does mobile first indexing deal with the design of the website itself, it also deals with every element on the website. If an image takes too long to load or is not sized for mobile, this slows down the website.

 In return, this can affect ranking over time because consumers continue to click back and find a website that is optimized. Even if a company has their website optimized to perfection, if other elements are not perfect, it will affect the ranking of the site. This affects the overall SEO strategy set in place.

This means that companies who are still without a responsive, mobile friendly website could be hurting their overall strategies now and well into the near future! Contact us today for a free website consultation regarding your company’s website!