Getting ready your mobile for next year
                     Getting ready your 
mobile for next year
We’ve seen a lot of new changes already this 
year, and we can say without a doubt that 
2018 will be a very interesting year for Online 
Marketing. One major change we’ve noticed is 
Google’s new year, new SEO Ranking 
algorithms.
That’s right, Google will be experimenting 
with mobile-first indexing, which is expected 
to roll out gradually over the year.
What does this mean?
Well, previously Google’s crawling and 
ranking system primarily looked at the 
desktop version of your website to evaluate 
the relevance of its content to user queries, 
it’s loading speed and overall usability in 
order to determine your site’s rank in its 
search results. Now, the primary determinant 
of you site’s ranking for BOTH the mobile and 
desktop versions will be determined by the 
mobile version of your site.
With the rise of mobile internet browsing, it’s 
only natural that Google update their ranking 
algorithms to reflect this trend. After all, we all 
use Google because it provides us with the 
best results.
That being said, this also means that if the 
mobile version of your website’s content is not 
properly optimized, or worse yet, you don’t 
have a mobile version, your site will take a 
significant hit in Google’s ranking.
What can you do?
If your site is already set up with a responsive 
web design, as is the case with WordPress 
sites, then there is no need to fret. Kika 
Marketing also offers free site evaluations. Our 
experts can audit your site and let you know if 
your site is ready to compete under this new 
model.
In the meantime, we’ve collected a few few 
tips that will help prep you for the future of 
Google search ranking:
Make sure the content on both versions of your 
website are consistent:
Some sites use reduced content or usability 
for their mobile version, but given that 60% of 
searches are now done on mobile, the need to 
have a quality mobile site is more important 
than ever. In order to make the top ranking 
you must ensure high quality content is 
present on both versions of your site. Ideally 
the same quality content.
Make sure your mobile site loads quickly:
We live in an age of instant access, so if your mobile site 
takes too long to load, it’s safe to say you are losing a 
good deal of traffic. Daniel An, from think with Google, 
explains that the average loading time for a mobile site 
is 22 seconds, but up to 53% of users abandon the site if 
it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. This won’t only 
affect your sales or engagement. People leaving your 
site will cause your bounce rate to increase, which will 
affect your site’s credibility and rank in Google’s SERP, 
and nowadays if you aren’t ranking high on Google, 
you’ll be as good as invisible. We recommend using 
Accelerated Mobile Pages, to help improve your site’s 
loading speed.
Make sure your site content structure is solid:
Making sure your site’s data is well structured 
and your code is easy for Google to crawl is a 
major factor in improving Google search 
ranking. The faster google can crawl and 
index your site, the better you will do. Make 
sure to clean up any broken links and 
duplicate content you find on your site. Using 
Robots.txt files to inform Google crawlers 
which pages should be indexed and which 
should be skipped is also an effective way to 
make your site easy to crawl.
Make sure your servers are set up to accommodate 
increased crawl rates:
Gary from Google Webmaster Central Blog explains that 
you should expect an increase in crawling from 
Smartphone Googlebot and to keep in mind that the 
Content that is pulled to Google Cache pages will be 
drawn from the mobile version of your site.
We hope this article has provided with the tools you will 
need to navigate Google’s latest update. At Kika, we pride 
ourselves in always being on the cutting edge of online 
marketing practices. If you would like more technical 
support, our friendly crew of google certified experts are 
here to help. Do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].
Created by: 
KIKA Marketing and Communications