Companies whose websites are not optimized for mobile view can no longer be found by Google searches by the end of March 2021 at the latest. For some years now, Google has been pursuing a mobile-first strategy, i.e. a procedure in which mobile websites are given priority in the search results. In this way, the search engine giant is taking into account the trend that more and more Internet users are using mobile devices. Old websites should now disappear completely from the search results and the index.
According to a study, around 25% of company websites do not have websites that are optimized for mobile and can therefore no longer be found via the Google search engine from March 2021. This not only has an impact on customer acquisition, but also on potential new hires. Trainees may not be able to find these companies online in the future because the websites are not optimized for cell phones.
Google announced its Mobile First initiative back in 2016. The aim of the change is to improve the search. In October 2020, Senior Webmaster Analyst at Google, John Mueller, explained that old websites that are only available on desktop will be disregarded from March 2021: “Everything you want to index must be on a mobile website.
SMEs with outdated websites therefore urgently need to create new websites to avoid losing potential customers and employees to competitors who have already switched to new technologies.
In view of the March date, it is recommended to rely on providers who offer all services such as programming, project management, text and photo production, logo design, search engine optimization and website maintenance from a single source, as friction losses are inevitable.
It should also be noted that new websites are not immediately indexed using Google search. If you want to appear on the first page of Google, you need to revise the website in a mobile-optimized way in good time so that Google has enough time to index the new page.
Many websites will soon no longer be indexed
We are therefore not surprised that Google will soon stop indexing desktop-only content. Roger Montti reports on Mueller’s announcements in Search Engine Journal. There he talks about the schedule for mobile indexing:
“In reality, we will only be indexing mobile content in the future. When the site is transferred to the mobile first indexing, we therefore discard everything that is only on the desktop site. We will basically ignore this, […] whatever you want to index, it has to be on the mobile site. And the last deadline we have come up with is March 2021.”
There can also be problems with separate URLs for desktop and mobile versions, e.g. with so-called M-Dot websites. Mueller states that he cannot redirect some desktop users from the SERPs when Hreflang attributes are used.
Checking Hreflang links for their own content and the sensible forwarding of M-Dot websites are aspects that webmasters should focus on now. A lot of information about your own pages can be displayed via the Google Search Console.
Preparations for mobile indexing are in full swing
Perhaps John Mueller’s statements reminded one or two webmasters how urgent it is to prepare for the transition from Google to mobile. In a blog post from July, Yingxi Wu from the Google Mobile-First Indexing group already gave some tips for website operators. The same robot meta tags should be used for desktop and mobile versions, and special care should be taken not to delay loading on mobile. Google has provided best practices for this.
In addition, Wu recommended reviewing the content in desktop and mobile versions. In other words, whether the content is identical, whether Google crawls can analyze the page and whether the image quality and size are adapted for mobile devices. If you have not fully prepared your pages for mobile indexing, you should use the resources provided. From March 2021, there will no longer be any relevant PC content for the ranking. If you want to display pages that are not optimized for cell phones, you have to reckon with large traffic losses.
Today, websites are very often accessed via smartphones or tablets. In recent years, many website or online store operators have simply hidden the content of the desktop version in their mobile views or not even offered it for mobile devices due to a lack of space and long loading times.
From 2021, only responsive web design – i.e. web design optimized for mobile devices – will be displayed in Google searches. However, when Google searched on a mobile device, these desktop pages were still displayed in the rankings. Users were often frustrated when a page called up by a Google search on a smartphone or tablet did not show the expected response, as the corresponding website only provided the desired content on the desktop screen.
Google then took a new approach and switched to the mobile-first index in July 2019. Since mid-2019, Google no longer indexes new website domains in desktop versions, but only in mobile versions! More than 70 percent of all websites displayed in the SERPs are already indexed for mobile devices. By 2021, Google will review old domain pages to determine whether these pages are also ready for “mobile indexing”.
Why is “Responsive Web Design” so important now?
No responsive web design, no Google indexing, no turnover. By 2021 at the latest, it will be important that your website not only has an optimally readable web design on a PC screen, but is also easily accessible to the user on mobile devices in a responsive way. From 2021, Google will only consider websites that also offer a version optimized for mobile devices.
If you have already invested a lot of money and time in the SEO of your website, you will lose your good indexing positions by 2021 at the latest if your web design no longer responds to the index because it is not optimized for use on mobile devices.
Avoid problems when indexing mobile versions of websites with Google Search Console. If you have already received a message about this, you should optimize your website for cell phones as soon as possible! Don’t stand idly by, otherwise you risk your website no longer appearing in Google searches from 2021. Is your website not yet optimized for use on a tablet or smartphone? Then contact a good web designer so they can help you make your website responsive in time.
Google: Fears of losing backlinks via Mobile First are unfounded
By March next year, Google wants to move all websites to mobile first and therefore only use versions for mobile devices for searches. In this context, it was reported that content that is only displayed on the desktop and not on mobile devices is no longer indexed by Google.
These and similar reports have probably led some webmasters to fear that Google will no longer use certain backlinks in the future if they are not displayed on mobile versions of websites.
Google’s John Mueller has tweeted that most websites will perform “absolutely right” with mobile first. The term “Zero Desktop” used on some websites is misleading:
“Most websites are great for mobile indexing. The wording “zero desktop content” used by some blogs is incorrect and misleading. “
As a rule, the content of websites that are displayed on the desktop is also shown on the mobile display. This applies in particular to the use of responsive design. In this case, the existing backlinks can also be further evaluated by Google.
There may be rare exceptions where content and related links are not available on the road. It is therefore questionable how Google deals with such situations. In March last year, John Mueller confirmed that the switch to mobile first can actually lead to a loss of backlinks.
Web designers and programmers create extensive functions and graphics that are designed for both large screens and fast data connections. The mobile version of a store or website is often only planned for the second phase and is usually a kind of “add-on” to the homepage.
Therefore, mobile subpages were initially created, which are marked with the letter “m.” in front of the domain name. This meant that users only had access to these pages via their smartphone. However, the first problems soon arose with these mobile URLs – especially in the design. This was often a big difference to the start page, so that no assignment or recognition value could arise between the two page variants. Another problem was the large number of displays of different sizes on smartphones.
As a uniform display of mobile websites was not possible, a dynamic design was developed that has become the standard for mobile websites since around 2010 – responsive design. Individual design elements in CSS are processed by media queries so that the size of the website display is adapted to the size of the browser by scaling. This saves the user from having to enlarge a smartphone screen or accidentally crop page elements on a mobile display.
One of the drawbacks of the responsive design is that some pages were displayed in “infinite mode” on the smartphone, which meant that the user had to scroll endlessly to get to the bottom of the page. Then the solution was often to clean up the mobile design. They shortened texts, concealed images and graphics and took other similar measures. The user-friendliness, which was originally intended to be improved by making only a fraction of the content available to mobile users, increasingly suffered as a result.
Mobile First was born out of this problem. The priorities are reversed. The design or structure of the website is based on the display on mobile devices, especially smartphones.
Conclusion
In the meantime, any website or online store owner should know that you need to get into the top ten Google search results today to stay competitive. From March 2021, Google will only consider the mobile version of the website for Google search queries. If you do not yet have a responsive web design for your website, Google will no longer index your website, even if the content that users are really looking for may be available on the desktop version of your website. Switch to a web design optimized for mobile devices and avoid traffic and ranking losses!
