This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Roofing Contractor logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Roofing Contractor logo
  • Home
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Digital Issue
    • Archives
  • Topics
    • Cool Roofing
    • Low Slope
    • Metal
    • News
    • Products
    • Product of the Month
    • Project Profiles
    • Safety
    • Steep Slope
    • Sustainability
    • Trade Shows
    • Technology
  • Exclusives
    • Best of Success
    • Contractor Profile
    • IRE Show Daily
    • Made in the USA
    • Roofing Contractor of the Year
      • Enter Roofing Contractor of the Year
    • Top 100
      • Enter the Top 100
    • Young Guns
    • Web Exclusives
    • Editor's Choice
    • State of the Industry
    • Century Club
  • Columns
    • Editor's Note
    • Measuring Up
    • Legally Speaking
    • Safety Advice
    • Technical Details
    • Guest Column
    • High-Tech Roofing
    • Sustainable Roofing
    • Marketing Makeover
    • Leadership Selling
  • Blog
    • Damato of the Day
  • Multimedia
    • Roofing Quiz
    • Videos
    • IRE 2019 Videos
    • Webinars
    • Photo Galleries
    • Interactive Spotlights
  • More
    • Classified Ads
    • Roofing Contractor eNews
    • RC Store
    • Directory: Roofing Resource
    • Market Research
    • Custom Content & Marketing Services
    • Sponsor Insights
  • Events
    • International Roofing Expo
    • Industry Events
    • Webinars
    • Best of Success Conference
  • Contact
    • Advertise
  • Directory
    • Associations
    • Distributors
    • Manufacturer/Supplier
    • Get Listed
    • Business Services
  • Subscribe
    • Print & Digital Edition Subscriptions
    • Sign Up for the eNewsletter
    • Online Registration
    • Subscription Customer Service
Home » Blogs » Roofing Contractor Blog » Google’s Mobile First Indexing and Your Roofing Website
Scott A Dennison is the founder of TopRankedRoofer.com and author of Becoming Top Ranked, A Guide for Roofers.

Google’s Mobile First Indexing and Your Roofing Website

December 26, 2016
Scott Dennison
KEYWORDS Google / Holidays / Mobile First Indexing / roofing / search engines
Reprints

The holidays are upon us and as you read this post, you may be pulling double duty on your favorite shopping sites, in search of the perfect last minute gift. Perhaps you didn’t realize it, but Google - the gigantic search engine - went out of their way to get you a gift this year. However, it’s possible that this gift wasn’t on your list. And sort of like would happen if your brother bought his nephews (your sons) a puppy for Christmas, their gift might lead to you needing to spend some money to gain enjoyment from it.

Google has, in the span of six months decided to move from mobile readiness being a factor in where your site ranks in search engines to being one of the primary ranking factors.

In this post, I’m going to explain what’s going on with mobile websites, how you can find out if it affects you and what to do next.

Welcome to “mobile-first indexing”. Now that more and more searches on Google happen on mobile each year, they want their search index and the results you see to represent the majority of their audience - mobile searchers. What does this mean for you?

The company that controls much of the traffic to your site is raising the bar on what’s required for your website to continue getting traffic from Google. Instead of seeing your sites desktop version and showing the desktop version to people searching for your services Google will see your site as if it only existed on mobile.

Since 2014, there have been at least two search engine indexes (mobile and desktop) but going forward it will eventually be just one. According to online magazine Search Engine Land, “Google has started to use the mobile version of the web as their primary search engine index.”

In their official post, Google told us, “Our search index will continue to be a single index of websites and apps, our algorithms will eventually primarily use the mobile version of a site’s content to rank pages from that site.”

How big a problem is this for you? You can find out in the next minute by opening up your smart phone and pulling up your website on the phone’s browser. Is the print easy to read? Are all of your sites pages visible? Can you navigate from page to page easily? What about the pictures? Can you see them? Do they load quickly?

If you answered yes to my questions, awesome! If you had some “no’s” mixed in with your “yes” answers you may have a problem and you should proceed to a second 1-minute test. Go here: https://search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly and enter your site’s URL in the box at the top. In a few seconds Google will tell you if your site meets their basic criteria for being “mobile-friendly”. There are 3 different types of results you can expect. First would be a passing grade. For a few years now many new sites were built to be “mobile responsive” or mobile friendly. If you have a responsive design, your site resizes for the device that is visiting. Mobile phones see a smaller version of the site but all of the content and pages are the same. This is the best solution for every site owner.

A second group of owners are those who were proactive a few years ago when it was clear that more and more internet search was being conducted on phones and tablets. These folks invested in a “mobile” version of their site, however that mobile version may or may not have solved the challenge you now face. If you have a mobile site visitors are redirected to the mobile version automatically when someone visits from a phone or tablet. If the address of your mobile site is m.yourdomain.com or some variation of that, then you have a mobile site. This solution can work but I’ll caution you because technically you have two different websites. In many cases there will be different pages and varying content on each. For now, make sure both sites represent your business well but make a plan to eliminate the separate mobile version by upgrading your website to a responsive design at your earliest opportunity.

The third group of sites are those that simply aren’t set up for mobile visitors. These sites are hard to see and nearly impossible to read. It’s true that when asked Google says “Don’t worry” if you don’t have a mobile site. They tell us they’ll “Crawl your desktop version instead”. I would, however, not delay in getting this resolved. If your competitors all have quality mobile sites and you don’t, I would expect that to eventually take its toll on your business.

It’s also possible that if you don’t have a mobile site that your desktop site is old and in need to a major update too. Since Google ranks sites they feel are the best, its always a good idea to own one of the best roofing sites in your area. Let’s say you passed the mobile test with flying colors - your results show you do have a mobile site and it represents your business well. Is there something you can do to gain an advantage over your competitors? Yes - Google is measuring many things in deciding where to rank your site, but one you may not think much about is actually one of the biggest factors. It’s the speed of your site. 

So before we do any victory dances, let’s check this quickly. Go over to the Google Speed Tool and run the test. With some mystery and magic, Google is going to test both your mobile and desktop versions of your site and tell you how fast they load and if there are problems, where to find them. Once you know if there is a problem, you may need your web guy to help you get everything working as needed. Finding out and addressing site speed issues makes a lot of sense when almost half of web users expect your site to load in 2 seconds or less.

In the last few minutes I’ve explained the changes coming to your favorite search engine and how it may affect your roofing business. We’ve discussed three simple tests you can run to determine if this is a problem for you or if you’re free to get on with your holiday celebrations.

If you’ve passed these tests, congrats. You should be well positioned for more visibility in search engines, more visits to your site and hopefully a healthy increase in your leads and sales in the new year.

Blog Topics

Damato of the Day

Guest Blog

Recent Comments

Great blog post!

Great site!

This is true for both residential and commercial...

Great article. I think it's super important to...

People First

Scott A Dennison is the founder of TopRankedRoofer.com and author of Becoming Top Ranked, A Guide for Roofers.
Subscribe For Free!
  • Print & Digital Edition Subscriptions
  • Sign Up for the eNewsletter
  • Online Registration
  • Subscription Customer Service

More Videos

Popular Stories

operation-freelancer-viii

16 Unlicensed Florida Contractors Arrested in ‘Operation Freelancer VIII’

ABC logo

ABC Supply Launches myABCsupply to Help Roofing Contractors Manage Business on the Go

ice-river-roofers-save-woman

Roofers Rescue Woman from Drowning in Icy River

Tesla-solar-glass-roof-v3

Tesla Hiring Roofers for Solarglass Roof Installations

gavel-law

New York Signs Laws to Protect Homeowners Against ‘Storm Chasers’

roofing quiz
Roofing Resource

Roofing Contractor Magazine

Roofing Contractor Cover 2019 November

2019 November

The November issue features our Residential and Commercial Contractors of the Year for 2019! Check out our interviews with these outstanding contractors, including video from Best of Success.
View More Create Account
  • Resources
    • Construction Group
    • Partners
    • List Rental
    • Subscribe
    • Privacy Policy
    • Survey And Sample
  • Videos
  • Want More
    • Connect
  • Advertise

Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing