{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"123 Reg Blog: Small business tips, insight and advice","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.123-reg.co.uk\/blog","author_name":"123 Reg","author_url":"https:\/\/www.123-reg.co.uk\/blog\/author\/123-reg\/","title":"Google\u2019s Going Mobile-First: What You Need to Do | 123 Reg Blog","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Nb9xmYS7VC\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.123-reg.co.uk\/blog\/seo-2\/googles-going-mobile-first-need\/\">Google\u2019s Going Mobile-First: What You Need to Do<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/www.123-reg.co.uk\/blog\/seo-2\/googles-going-mobile-first-need\/embed\/#?secret=Nb9xmYS7VC\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Google\u2019s Going Mobile-First: What You Need to Do&#8221; &#8212; 123 Reg Blog: Small business tips, insight and advice\" data-secret=\"Nb9xmYS7VC\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/www.123-reg.co.uk\/blog\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/www.123-reg.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Website-Design-1440x460-1-scaled.jpg","thumbnail_width":2560,"thumbnail_height":818,"description":"In this post Joel from digital marketing agency Attacat tells us what we need to do to adapt to Google\u2019s mobile-first focus. Let\u2019s start with two incontrovertible truths: 1) Google rules the roost when it comes to search engines and search traffic, 2) People now browse the internet more on mobile devices than desktops, and 30% of online purchases are now made on phones. Given truth number one of market-leader Google it\u2019s not surprising that they\u2019re adjusting the way they work to account for truth number two about mobile use, and thus your business and website needs to do the same. What Google is changing Google has begun testing \u2018mobile-first indexing\u2019: Indexing is essentially Google finding and understanding what pages are about and how popular they are, and every decision that Google makes on what sites to return in searches is pretty much based upon this index. Indexation for mobile searches has traditionally been done based upon the desktop version of your website. Soon, however, mobile indexation will instead be based upon the mobile version of your site and the ranking signals of that version, with the desktop version only referred to as a backup if no mobile version exists. A mobile-based index clearly makes sense for mobile-based searches! First step: Be mobile-friendly If you want your site to be discovered and used on mobile, it simply must be fully usable on mobile phone browsers. While the mobile-first version of Google\u2019s index will refer to a desktop site as a backup if you don\u2019t have a mobile-friendly site, you won\u2019t get such a luxury from your website users: if a user can\u2019t use your site on their mobile they\u2019re not going to search out the nearest desktop computer! Google also provides a small search ranking \u2018boost\u2019 to sites that it deems \u2018mobile friendly\u2019, making it a no-brainer for your business from both a user and an SEO perspective. What\u2019s the best way of becoming mobile-friendly? There are three main ways to develop a mobile-friendly website: 1) Have a desktop site and a separate mobile site (e.g. m.mysite.com) 2) A single \u2018responsive\u2019 site that resizes the same content based upon the screen size of the device being used 3) An \u2018adaptive\u2019 site that serves different content based upon what device is being used The easiest to manage method is to use a single \u2018responsive\u2019 website that changes the layout and display of content on smaller devices like tablets or mobile phones. By doing this you will only have to manage one version of the site pages and don\u2019t really need to have any technical knowledge nor input. The 123 Reg Website Builder is one way you could build a responsive site, as all the templates offered are responsive and the structure will change to make your content layouts optimised for users on all size devices, from mobile phone to desktop. If you\u2019re using WordPress, then make sure your site is based on a mobile-friendly template. For those who have used a web designer in the past, you\u2019ll either need to get them (or someone else) to modify your existing site so it\u2019s mobile-friendly, or move over to a mobile-friendly platform. A mobile-first index is most likely to impact how your site is displayed in Google if you either have no mobile site or a separate mobile website (e.g. m.mysite.com), and those with responsive sites obviously have the least to worry about. How do I test to see if my site is mobile friendly? Just enter your website address into Google\u2019s Mobile Friendly Test and it will tell you if you pass the mobile-friendly benchmark. It will also highlight any major issues stopping you from being mobile-friendly if you fall short. Second step: Make your site fast Use Google\u2019s Pagespeed Insights test to get a report on how fast your site operates, both on mobile and desktop, and work with your development team or webmaster to implement improvements. Page load speed is of huge importance to mobile users and correlates directly to mobile conversion performance: a recent Google study found that pages with fewer images, fewer elements and a faster load time convert better on mobile, while almost half of consumers surveyed by KissMetrics expected a web page to load in two seconds or less and a delay of as little as one second could drop website conversions by 7%. Google is pushing content publishers to make pages using their Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) design standard, which is essentially a framework for creating really quick-loading pages for mobile that cuts out a lot of the slow-loading stuff from a site. You might consider this if you feel you\u2019ve taken your site speed improvements as far as you can. Third step: Design for mobile Design your website from a mobile-first perspective, not desktop first. You might hire a designer or choose a website template based upon a full desktop design, but if that\u2019s not how a vast proportion of users see your site then why are you focusing on it? Start with a mobile layout and a mobile design, and build alternative designs with greater complexity based upon that. Then you can be sure your website looks great on all devices! Fourth step: Write for mobile Mobile users see a smaller area when they view a website, and thus see less text. As such your opportunity to \u2018grab\u2019 a visitor with your sales copy is limited, and you need to be communicating what you do and why you\u2019re the best choice for them as concisely and captivatingly as possible. This should apply to all your content and copy, from your homepage to your product pages, and include your titles and meta data. Fifth step: Be mobile optimised Don\u2019t stop at just being mobile friendly: aim for fully mobile optimised! Use Google\u2019s Test My Site report to get a more in-depth report on mobile-friendliness and smaller issues you might want to fix, including developer advice on things like mobile font sizes, screen and"}