Leave a request
Since March of this year, website owners began receiving notifications in Search Console about the transfer of their projects to mobile-first indexing. This means that the mobile version of the site is now used to rank the site. Although information about the importance of this algorithm is already widespread, let's take a closer look at the technical aspects of optimizing pages for mobile search.
Contrary to popular belief, Google does not create a separate index for mobile devices - it is the same for all versions of the site. The main change is that the mobile version of the site is used for scanning, rather than the desktop version. This means that Google stores exactly the mobile version of your resource in the index.
Here is an example User-agent for scanning from a desktop device:
Mozilla/5.0 (compatiable; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/here.)
For mobile-first indexing, the User-agent will look like this:
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 6.0.1; Nexus 5X Build/MMB29P) AppleWebKit/537.36 (K, like Gecko) Chrome/41.0.2272.96 Mobile Safari/537.36 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google .com/bot.)
This means that Googlebot crawls pages imitating Android or iOS mobile devices, expecting the content to be optimized for popular smartphones.
Using the above User-agent, Googlebot checks how convenient it is for the user to view pages on mobile devices. Today there are three main approaches to mobile optimization:
1. Adaptive (responsive) design. In this case, the site structure remains the same, and the only element that changes is the appearance of the page, which adapts to the screen size. Google recommends this option because it minimizes changes, maintains a single URL, and improves the user experience.
2. Dynamic content change. Here the server generates different versions of -code and CSS depending on the user's device. As a result, the URL remains the same, but the page code changes. This solution can be difficult to implement because it requires careful determination of device types.
3. Separate URL for the mobile version of the site. In this case, the content for mobile devices is hosted at a different address, most often as a subdomain or a separate section of the main domain. It is important to remember the attributes: rel="alternate" for a regular page and rel="canonical" for a mobile one.
Each of these approaches has its pros and cons, but for SEO optimization, adaptive design is most preferable, since it is easier to implement and less expensive in terms of resources.
However, responsive design alone is not enough to achieve successful mobile search results. Even if your page successfully passes the Google validator, this does not guarantee its high ranking in mobile search results. However, this is the first step that must be completed:
First of all, make sure of the following:
These steps are extremely important, despite their obviousness. After switching to mobile-first indexing, Google will start crawling the mobile version of your site. If its optimization turns out to be worse than that of the desktop version, this may lead to a drop in rankings in search results.
Using micro-markup helps create additional elements in search results (snippets), which can increase the click-through rate of your site. For mobile pages, you should definitely use BreadcrumbList markup. Use snippet creation tools to improve your CTR. It is also important to regularly check your markup using available tools.
If your site is multilingual, be sure to use the rel="hreflang" and rel="alternate" attributes for all pages in different languages. These attributes should be applied to all mobile versions of your pages.
For the convenience of users on mobile devices, sometimes it is worth avoiding pagination of content. If you need to preserve pagination, do not forget to use the rel="prev" and rel="next" attributes. It is also important to ensure that all pages do not lose their visibility and are not “hidden” behind pagination.
Internal links on the mobile version should be the same as on the desktop, as they are an important part of the site structure and help Googlebot navigate through the pages. Follow internal links and check their functionality on mobile pages, as this directly affects your position in search results.
Deeply nested mobile pages may receive less PR than their desktop counterparts, which sometimes requires additional linking efforts.
Links located in more accessible places on the page (for example, closer to the top) may carry more weight. Make sure that on the mobile version of your site the links are located conveniently and are not hidden in the footer of the page, where they can be easily missed by users and search robots.
If you have a mobile version on a subdomain, be sure to update your robots.txt file so that it contains the same rules as the main site. Check that the file is accessible to Googlebot and does not contain restrictions on important pages.
If your site has redirects from the main version, they should be saved for mobile users. Make sure redirects are set up correctly to avoid SEO issues.
With the increase in the number of mobile users, the loading speed of your website becomes critical. Make sure your hosting can support high traffic and provide fast page loading (optimally 300ms). This is important not only for search engines, but also for users who value speed.
The issue of mobile-first indexing is not a question of “if”, but rather “when”. This will happen to your site soon, and it's important to be prepared. Make sure you have a high-quality mobile version and make sure that all SEO aspects are taken into account.
Don't forget to check your positions using free tools:
For regular checks and tracking of changes, create a project in our CRM. Good luck with the transition to mobile-first indexing!
For any questions, you can contact the SEO studio "SEO COMPUTER" by email info@seo.computer
ID 5078
