Google’s April 21, 2015 mobile algorithm and related index are rumored to shake up the search space more than any algorithm to date! In this week’s Content & Coffee, let’s talk about making your content accessible with a good site – or app! – if you want users to discover it on any device.
Here are five essential facts to prep your website for the mobile algorithm.
1. Mobile algo impacts mobile – not tablet, not desktop
The algorithm will impact web pages for mobile searches, not tablet or desktop – for now.
Google Webmasters tweeted this, but don’t use this as an excuse to ignore the algorithm. Mobile search is constantly rising, and website UX across devices will impact your overall bounce rate and other interaction metrics, which could have a broader SEO impact.
2. Responsive & m. sites: Equal opportunities to rank
Google’s been advocating for responsive design for awhile, but there’s no special treatment given to one method or the other, as long as the site is – in fact – mobile friendly.
3. Google wants access to your style sheets
Unblock elements like CSS and JavaScript. A lot of mobile-friendliness is determined by layouts, font size, and similar – so don’t block your style sheets!
4. SEO evaluated page-by-page (not site-wide)
The algorithm will evaluate sites on a page-by-page basis. As soon as you make positive updates to a single page, that page will benefit. Use Google’s FREE mobile test tool from its developer page to see how each of your pages stacks up.
- Access it here: Mobile test tool.
5. It’s not too late to optimize high-value pages
If you’re pressed for time, you can prioritize your top “mobile” pages or pages related to top mobile queries.
Use Google Analytics mobile traffic segment to drill into the top organic search landing pages to set your priority list before the 21st! And you can use Webmaster tools to get a limited sense of your biggest mobile queries — though we also recommend tools like SearchMetrics to get a better sense of this. (We use SearchMetrics for Brafton clients.)
- Be sure to check out our complete Q&A with Google on mobile SEO
