Mobile First Indexing Is Not a Choice It Is a Must
You may ask yourself what Mobile First Indexing (MFI), means. In simple terms, Google will rank websites that are mobile friendly first, over non-mobile friendly sites. This step has been announced back in 2016. Websites started to migrate to MFI back in December 2017, and work has been going on since then. Starting July 1st, 2019, all websites will be working according to MFI standards. The method used before was the desktop version used to relate the website to the queries of internet users. Pretty straight forward. Here are some questions I get when discussing Mobile friendly sites:
- Why is this happening now?
- What is indexing?
- Why is it important?
- How will this affect my business?
I’ll be explaining the risk of not making a website more mobile-friendly and finally I will highlight some solutions to avoid any possible inconvenience.
Why is this happening now?
The truth is, It all began when statistics, in the USA and EU, began showing a shift in the average time a person spends on his/her mobile device. It rose from less than one hour, then 2 hours and half hours on the more sophisticated smartphones, and now mobile users always connected to the internet one way or another. Hence, it became crystal clear that the majority of internet usage came from mobile devices. Today, in 2019 has more than double than on desktop. And the average time users use their phones has steadily increase year after year. Yet, until recently website designers have not seen that coming when they started website designing long time before the evolution of smartphone. As a result, websites may look when displayed on a smartphone from what they look like being displayed on a regular desktop computer or laptop. This may be frustrating for people surfing the net when they have to keep zooming in and out, and swiping left and right to read all the content.
What is Indexing?
Search engine indexing, sometimes called web indexing, is the method used by a search engine to gather data from your website and making the text searchable; otherwise, no one would be able to find your website if it is not indexed. This would be called Sandboxed.
Why is it important?
If your website is not up to date, you run the risk of losing your rank in Search Engine Results Page (SERP). And will slowly rank down to the point no one will find your site. July 1st 2019 is when Google announced when the MFI will go in full force.
How will this affect my business?
The website will display only what can be displayed on a mobile phone first. So if any other feature can be seen while checking the website on a desktop PC or a laptop, but not on the mobile, these features will not simply be displayed. This will surely affect the number of those accessing the website. Frankly, non mobile friendly websites are not going to keep the same ranking on search engine results pages, SERP. Without the least doubt this will make it difficult for regular and new customers, or clients, to find such websites, and of course the product or services offered by those websites. I know that my readers have concluded what I am about to say. Sadly and inevitably those websites, not designed or updated according to MFI requirements, will lose regular and potential customer, or clients, and of course lose the current share of the market resulting in financial loss.
Mobile First Indexing Solutions
To avoid the problems mentioned above, you have some solutions.
- Firstly, if you have enough time, and know-how, you can redesign your website yourself. Most website building software are already equipped with Mobile Friendly attributes as a standard now. WordPress is the most SEO friendly and has a HUGE library of themes to use from free to paid.
- Another option is to have a friend or family member that knows web design, that can help you.
- And lastly, hire a web designer or agency that can fix it for you.
WaveRIM offers free strategy sessions on how to improve your website and google rankings, on top of web designing, SEO, and web hosting services. During this free session we would figure out what part of the website or marketing needs the most attention. We’ve spent years keeping up to date on what google likes and doesn’t like when it comes to ranking. We help you personalize your web page so that customers, or clients, feel that they are tailored from them. To conclude, MFI is to dominate all internet search queries over non mobile friendly websites. Updating websites to become more mobile friendly is not an option any more, it is a must. If you have to go through all that, it is highly sensible to let a professional work for you.