In November 2016, Google announced a new ranking algorithm now famously called mobile-first indexing. The search engine would rank websites according to their mobile-friendliness. This decision was informed by the fact that 3 out 5 people accessed the internet via mobile devices.

That was in 2016. Numbers of mobile users have increased today. Mobile-first indexing means that the relevance of a website will be determined from a mobile user’s experience first. If a website is mobile friendly, Google deems it to be friendly to desktop users too.

If a content configuration is equivalent across a site’s desktop and mobile versions, then the webmasters need not worry. Websites whose configuration of content differs from its mobile version to its desktop view must make changes to adapt to the new rule.

But what can webmasters and developers do to ensure that their websites conform to Google’s mobile-first indexing?

How to conform to mobile-first indexing 

One webmaster estimates that 75% of mobile searches either lead people to call the business or buy the product right away. To take advantage of this benefit, websites, especially e-commerce sites need to be optimized for the mobile phone.

In early 2018, Google started implementing this algorithm. Mobile friendliness is defined as the ability of websites to display well on the mobile device, looking neat and easy to navigate.

A website must tick all three boxes to attract the desired traffic, cause people to take decisions and actually sell products or services. With this realization, webmasters and business owners might need to build new websites from scratch.

1. Using a responsive design 

Different mobile phones, tablets, iPhones, iPads and other devices have varying screen sizes. Responsive websites are those whose design changes to adapt to the size or type of screen of a user’s device.

A site that is mobile friendly looks the same on mobile and desktop. However, it should be designed with the mobile version in mind. Mobile is the new standard. In simple terms, Google recommends a responsive design because it gives users the best out of both worlds.

Best practices of digital marketing today have accepted the term ‘mobile first’ because it is an algorithm that webmasters cannot ignore. The website development and design ecosystem must have this set of rules at the core of its drill. 

Google is a great friend to many webmasters, designers and, developers. It published a free course on making websites responsive. It covers the basics and guides developers from scratch to finish. They also have a text-based version of tips and tricks for existing websites.

There should be no excuse for websites to rank poorly because of subpar design.

2. Optimizing content for mobile

Many web developers today are creating responsive designs, but not all are optimizing content for the mobile devices. Just because screen sizes are smaller should not mean the quality of content is compromised.

Statistics indicate that the average American adult today spends more time on his mobile device than on his desktop computer. It goes without saying that all are interacting with friends online, searching for information and making purchase decisions happens on mobile.

A blog post of 3,000 words looks okay on the desktop but intimidates the user when he switches to mobile. For this reason, content should be shorter, more precise and straightforward. Formatting should be deliberately upfront so that people do not have to scroll too far to fetch what they need.

Content writers must communicate the idea fast. If the ideas are many, or if the content is long, it can be accentuated by delicately placed images, short videos, and other informational graphics.

3. Creating a mobile first approach

Web developers have always created content from the desktop and then transferred it to mobile. This norm has changed. In fact, it must be the other way round. Nearly 60% of all mobile searches happen on mobile.

People are accessing the internet on the streets when riding the train and waiting for a friend at the bus station. Business owners who do not have a mobile site are missing out on these masses.

Since 2017, Google has a bias against websites that are unfriendly to mobile. Websites that are currently ranking well on desktop could lose to their counterparts that have embraced the mobile-first lifestyle.

Conclusion 

Google has successfully conducted numerous experiments to test this algorithm. In early 2018, it started rolling it out in earnest. Instead of panicking, webmasters should conform as fast as possible and embrace the benefits involved.

A website that is easy to navigate on mobile is highly responsive and displays content nicely ranks high. With high ranking comes increased traffic both on mobile and on desktop. Traffic leads to high conversion rates. In a sentence, conforming to mobile-first indexing is the foundation of increased online sales.