Mobile-first indexing is finally picking up more steam from Google’s Webmaster team but a new delay pushes the final date to March 2021. What can you do to prepare your website?
Google Webmasters have announced a new date of March 2021 as the new deadline for mobile-first indexing across all websites on Google. Previously, Google planned on the final switch for all websites to take place during September 2020. But uncertainty with the coronavirus as well as a few potential issues with mobile-first index switches on websites had Google Webmasters re-evaluate a rollout date. With the final deadline of March 2021, search engine specialists and digital marketers have a bit more time to optimize their websites for mobile indexing views.
A large share of websites are already equipped for mobile-indexing, but Google Webmasters explain that issues for some websites can cause a variety of problems with content:
For the sites that are not yet ready for mobile-first indexing, we’ve already mentioned some issues blocking your sites in previous blog posts. Now that we’ve done more testing and evaluation, we have seen a few more issues that are worth mentioning to better prepare your sites, according to new mobile-first indexing updates from Google Webmasters
Mobile indexing was first introduced to SEO specialists and marketing teams back in 2016 where Google’s Webmaster Central blog explained that mobile-first indexing is an overhaul on the primary Googlebots used to crawl webpages. Mobile indexing relies on Google’s smartphone crawlbot to analyze website content and rank pages based on mobile view of a website. Even though Google already mobile indexes most mobile-friendly and dynamic websites, there are still many that may need to update content on their website to show primary desktop elements on their mobile version of as well.
The blog from Google also provided a variety of steps for websites that are not mobile-friendly to effectively prepare for the switch.
- Adjust primary content so that it is viewable and formatted for desktop and mobile views. Test views for each can help determine where content need to be adjusted.
- Optimize lazy-loading procedures so that user interactions aren’t delayed on mobile views. User experience helps websites improve their ranking.
- Optimize images and video for mobile view and re-audit technical schema data to apply for smartphone crawl bots.
Businesses or marketing teams that need search specialists to get started on these measures, or redesign a new website for mobile-friendly use, then please contact our team today. We can provide a free audit of your website and also modernize your user experience that helps increase search engine rankings!