Small business owners typically have a difficult time deciding between paying for services from a PPC management company or launching an SEO campaign. Much has changed in the SEO landscape during recent years. It has become exponentially easier for small businesses to engage in SEO without breaking the bank. Google further puts small businesses into the playing field by introducing the new mobile-first index. We’ve put together a few ways that Google’s mobile-index rollout impacts your small business.
What Is Google’s Mobile-First Index
The new mobile-first index is a recent update from Google. This update basically means that Google will start ranking search listings according to the mobile versions of web content, even if you are a desktop user. The index will consider the desktop version only if there is no mobile version available. Google made the change to correctly represent the majority of their users, which just happens to be mobile users. Mobile now dominates the search engines.
What Does This Mean for Small Businesses
Google’s mobile-first index rollout is not a bad thing for small businesses, but it’s not a bad idea to make some changes for it. If you don’t have your business mobile, it’s time to get there. Google’s new index makes having a mobile site design for your business is a must. Having the search listings based on mobile users has the potential to boost small businesses so that they can actually compete with larger corporations. Creating a mobile version of your small business website will really give you an edge over your competitors with this new rollout.
It’s important to act quickly so that you don’t fall behind the SEO curve. However, if you don’t have a mobile site and don’t intend to get one you will still be okay. Google will continue to run and index your existing desktop site as long as your website and content are properly optimized. Keep in mind that desktop user agents may be gone in the future.
How Do You Prepare for The Rollout
There is absolutely no difference between the SEO for large corporations and small businesses. No matter your business size, you still need to optimize it for the mobile-first index. There are several ways to prepare yourself for the new rollout. Giving your site a mobile design is one of the most important steps in preparation. SEO is all about bringing in the search rankings. With the new mobile-first index, your mobile design increases your search rankings significantly. Because meta descriptions play an important role in internet marketing, you want them to me be straightforward. A clear and concise meta description helps Google understand what your specific page is all about. It also allows users to know the type of content you plan to share. All-in-all, this helps to improve your rating and your click-through rates.
Improving your site is an obvious step to help you prepare for the new Google rollout. This starts with improving your site speed. Today’s site users expect websites to load in less than two seconds. This means that if your site takes too long to load, expect to lose customers. Another way to improve your site is to allow CSS, images, and JavaScript. In the past, these elements were often blocked because they often slowed down sites. However, mobile technology today continues to improve the ability to use these elements. Most mobile devices are capable of handling these larger files. Improving your site in this way, allows Google to see and categorize the exact same content that your users see.
Ensure Local Optimization
The fifth and final thing that you should do if you are a small business owner to prepare for the rollout is to ensure local optimization. When it comes to the SEO for small businesses, it’s advised to optimize for local search. This is because Google released a major update on their local search algorithm and found that half of the people that conduct a local search on their mobile device visit the store within the same day. Make sure to indicate your business name, address, and phone numbers within your page. This includes title tags, ALT tags, H1 and H2 headings, URLS, Meta descriptions and content. This step helps ensure local optimization.
Moving Forward with Google
Overall, Google’s mobile-first index rollout can do a lot of good for small businesses. It’s up to small business owners to properly prepare for the rollout in order to get the most out of it. As a small business owner you can easily prepare for the rollout by giving your site a mobile design, improving your site speed, ensuring that your titles and Meta descriptions are straightforward, allowing pop-ups, and ensuring local optimization. Google doesn’t expect any rankings to be significantly impacted, but nevertheless preparing is always a good idea when it comes to your business’s success.