What is mobile first?
Mobile first is simply putting the mobile phone at the heart of your web marketing strategy. In web design, it is a matter of thinking about your website and developing it first and foremost for mobile phones.
Beyond a responsive site, it is now a question of giving priority to mobile versions, and then adapting to other types of screens.
But why are we talking about mobile first, anyway? Well, because today, your smartphone is no longer just a phone to call or send text messages.
Yes, today, the mobile is a channel for accessing a whole world, the digital world! Finally, we understand each other. What we mean by this is that today the mobile phone offers a large number of possibilities, that we must accept it, and above all, adapt to it!
This small device is becoming a must-have. Internet users are increasingly surfing on their smartphones, to the detriment of computers. In fact, more internet users are surfing... from their smartphones! The figures for 2019 show that more than 50% of the world's web traffic was carried out via a mobile phone. This figure is expected to continue to rise over the years.
So if you haven't already done so, it's high time to think about adapting your website to the small screen.
Nowadays, mobile first is no longer an option. It will become a necessity as of March 2021 to maintain visibility on the web.
Google favours this trend
Indeed, Google, the world's most used search engine, is putting mobile first in its referencing algorithm...
Why?
Because now, beyond being present on the internet, your presence must be enjoyable! Users are expecting more fluidity, an easy and pleasant experience. So in this context, if the user wants to consult your site, it must be just as convenient as on a computer. So, in a way, Google encourages companies that take the trouble to meet this expectation, by highlighting them in its algorithm.
Four years after the idea was launched and tested, Google's "mobile first indexing" will soon be applied to 100% of websites.
This means that your pages will no longer be indexed according to the desktop version of your site. It will be based on its mobile pages. The non-adaptation of your site for mobile could lead to a decrease in your visibility.
For some time now, Google has been using the mobile version of websites as a priority for indexing.
Indexing is already partially in place.
- This index is applied to 70% of the sites that appear in the search results
- The index is activated for all new sites that have gone online since July 1st 2019
Full activation of Mobile First Indexing by 2021
Initially planned to be effective from September 2020, the health crisis has postponed the application of this index to March 2021. This will give the latecomers a few more months to correct their sites!
Google also sends notifications when the site is not yet ready to be indexed by its new tool.
Also, Google takes the opportunity to give some advice to companies whose sites are not yet mobile-friendly. For example, checking that the Google robot can access all the content of the site and its display, or ensuring that the content of mobile and desktop sites are identical are mentioned.
If you want to know more about how to adapt your site to mobile first, Google published an article on this subject this summer: "Get ready for mobile first indexing".