We all heard the news – Google will now be prioritising mobile over desktop in its search index. But what does it mean for the website owners? The only pages really affected by the Google’s new search index will be pages who have a mobile version that doesn’t include the same content as the desktop version.

Below are some tips from Google regarding this change:

  • If you have a responsive site with identical content across mobile and desktop, you don’t need to change anything.
  • If you have a site where the primary content is not identical across mobile and desktop, you should consider making changes to your site.
  • Make sure to serve structured markup for both the desktop and mobile version.
  • Google recommends using the Structured Data Testing Tool to verify the equivalence of structured markup across desktop and mobile by typing the URLs of both versions into the Structured Data Testing Tool and comparing the output.
  • When adding structured data to a mobile site, avoid adding large amounts of markup that isn’t relevant to the specific information content of each document.
  • If you only have a desktop site, Google will continue to index your desktop site just fine.
  • If you are building a mobile version of your site, do not launch it until it’s ready. It is always preferable to have a fully functional and effective desktop site than introducing a broken or incomplete mobile version.

Source: Search Engine Journal

To learn more about Google’s new Search Index and how it can affect your website, please get in touch.