On May 28th, 2019, Google lobbed a hand grenade into the bunker of every website owner in the world: Mobile-First Indexing by default for new domains.
This short blog post announced to web designers that Google's new mobile first indexing would now be the standard for all new websites listed in Google search.
Think the headline of this article is clickbait? Read on.
What is Mobile-First Indexing?
In a nutshell, mobile first indexing means that one of the largest factors in ranking your website in Google search will now be if it's optimized for mobile devices. Not just responsive. Not backwards compatible. Not "looks pretty good on a phone."
Optimized.
Why the Panic?
The majority of websites built for a small business are created with Wordpress. And, for good reason. Wordpress has been the industry standard for designers and laymen alike to create beautiful, functional websites that work well on desktop and mobile devices for over a decade. We at Ramp Up Design have used it for years.
Just one problem: Wordpress is built for desktop first. Mobile second.
With this announcement, Google is signaling that the Wordpress boom is over. Unless your new (or recently re-designed) site is specifically designed to be mobile first, you are not going to get over the technical hurdles required to rank on the first page on Google for your industry. Period.
Why is Google Doing This?
In a word: Speed. The majority of web searches on Google are now done on a phone. Mobile websites are usually re-configured versions of desktop sites. That means the code behind the site was made to create a desktop site. Mobile sites are like translations of a website to a different language. And translations take time.
The result is that mobile sites (which usually need to communicate with cell phone towers) are notoriously slow. Every millisecond needed to translate a desktop site to a mobile phone and display correctly is a mark against the site's speed.
And, Google HATES slow loading websites.
What Can I Do?
Build your website mobile First. At Ramp Up Design we now create every website with the revolutionary Mobi First CMS web builder. It looks and feels almost exactly like Wordpress. The difference is that the Ramp Up Design Web Builder creates your website mobile first. It's just that simple.
With plans beginning at $34.99 a month, Ramp Up Design is uniquely positioned to not only guide your business website through the upcoming rocky seas of mobile first - but to give you a distinct edge in your industry. You can build a website that meets all of Google's new criteria before your competition even knows what's happened. Don't let Google break your heart! Sign up for a free trial today!
Craig May is the founder of Ramp Up Design, a web design and digital marketing firm serving DFW since 2014. He helps entrepreneurs and small business owners create fantastic, lightning fast websites that let them compete in their field, market their businesses, get traffic and gain customers.