Have you heard about Google’s mobile-first indexing, but you are not sure what it means and how to optimize your digital marketing strategy according to it? It means it is time to evaluate your website mobile-responsiveness, and, if it does not live up to Google standards, improve it, because failure to do so could negatively impact your Virginia Beach business.
As Google announced, when indexing websites, they now start from the mobile version. If there is one available, the Google Smartphone Bot will crawl it, index it, and use its index to determine your website’s rank. If there is no mobile version available, Google bots will crawl and index the desktop version and use that index for the ranking.
One way of checking if your website is mobile-responsive is to use the mobile-friendly test tool Google provides. Another way is to simply access your website from one or more mobile devices and see if the content adjusts to the various screen sizes and its loading speed is acceptable.
While evaluating your website’s mobile responsiveness is easy, what matters is what you do with the results. If your test shows your website adjusts to any device requirements and loads fast, it could mean your digital marketing team has been doing a good job and your digital marketing strategy is aligned with Google’s requirements.
If your website’s mobile responsiveness leaves room for improvement, it means you need to take Google’s mobile-first indexing more seriously and adjust the digital marketing strategy of your Virginia Beach business accordingly. In order to do so, there are three important things you need to know about mobile-first indexing.
3 Important Things Every Virginia Beach Business Owner Should Know about Google’s Mobile-First Indexing
According to Google, the fact that they rolled out Google’s mobile-first indexing means that:
1. Your Website Needs Mobile Optimized Content
As you already know, when determining a website’s ranking, Google appreciates mobile-optimized content. What does that mean? It means your content should be conceived and formatted in such a way as to be accessible to all consumers, including those accessing it from mobile devices.
This means combining audio and video content with text (think of instances when mobile users can read but not listen to audio files or watch videos with the sound on, and instances where they are on the go and they can listen but they cannot follow text or watch videos). It also means:
- Organizing text in small paragraphs
- Dividing it with subheadings
- Making it easier to scan
- Keeping phrases short and using accessible language
2. Your Website’s Loading Speed Is Crucial to Your Users’ Experience
Upon announcing the rolling out of Google’s mobile-first indexing, Google webmasters themselves warned that fast-loading content helps websites perform better for both desktop and mobile users. It makes sense, considering that, according to statistics, 79% of internet users trying to access a slow-loading or low-performing website will not return to it.
This does not mean that you should limit the content on your website to text because text loads faster than graphics and videos. Research shows consumers prefer video content. What you need to do is create quality, mobile-optimized content and choose your website’s hosting provider carefully.
3. Mobile Responsiveness Is Important for Your Website’s Performance in the Search Results
As Google warns, whether or not their Smartphone Bot has a website to crawl and index does not have an immediate influence on your website’s ranking. However, when determining your website’s ranking, Google will take its mobile responsiveness into account.
Moreover, your website’s rank determines how many internet users find it and hear about your business, so you have to do everything in your power to improve it, not undermine it. If your Virginia Beach company’s website is not mobile responsive, you need to take measures to make it so as soon as possible.
Get a Mobile-Responsive Website for Your Virginia Beach Business Now!
Perhaps your company website is mobile responsive but still has some loading errors or its content is not fully optimized for mobile devices. Perhaps it only caters to the needs of desktop users and you want to adjust it to the expectations of mobile users as well. No matter the situation you are in, at Focus DMG, we can help you.
Call (757) 600-0466 now or use the contact form, and we will gladly help you understand and use mobile-first indexing and mobile responsiveness in your favor, and answer any digital marketing needs you may have. Let us help you align your company’s website to Google and your clients’ standards and expectations!
