All articleseCommerce SEO [Mobile First Index in eCommerce] Everything on Googleās latest update and how to keep it from affecting your storeās SEO Abigail BoszeContent Writer Are you familiar with Googleās most recent update, Mobile First Index?If the answer to that is ānoā, then youāll find this post useful, so you prevent it from affecting your eCommerce positioning. Yup, thatās right. Google āwhich is pretty cleverā has noticed that more and more users are now browsing on their smartphones. Thatās why theyāve launched this update, which completely changes web tracking and gives more importance to the mobile version (even more so than it already did). And since we donāt want this update to catch you off guard, in this post youāll learn about: What Mobile First Index consists in (and the impact it may have on your eCommerce).How to be prepared so that Google doesnāt affect you and it keeps on loving you as much as on day one. Letās make the best (mobile) version of your store. šTable of Contentsš What is Mobile First Index is and how can it affect your eCommerce?š Prepping for Mobile First Index: the essentials for optimizing your storeās mobile version without losing visibilityā 1. Letās start with the basics: How good is your storeās responsive version?ā 2. Have your website load as fast a lightning (or else users will fly away)ā 3. You have limited space; make the most of itā 4. Landscape vs. portrait orientation ā Extra tip: improve mobile searches with an advanced search engineš May Mobile First Index find you all prepped up (and ready to boost your sales) š What is Mobile First Index is and how can it affect your eCommerce?The concept behind Mobile First Index is pretty simple. Until recently, when Googlebot accessed your website to analyze it and register it on its database (indexing), it would āviewā it as any user would from a desktop. That meant that, if your eCommerceās mobile version had any mistakes (slow loading speed, images out place, etc.), it wouldnāt significantly affect your positioning. But now the tables have turned. Recently, Googlebot has started allocating more importance to the mobile version than to the desktop version. So those small errors that didnāt use to affect much now can mean the difference between being on Googleās first search results page ātherefore getting visitors and customersā or not. How can you avoid this?Itās pretty simple: by making sure your online storeās responsive version is optimized thoroughly to offer the best possible user experience. Here are a few tips. š Prepping for Mobile First Index: the essentials for optimizing your storeās mobile version without losing visibilityItās about time we got started. šLetās see 4 best practices (plus an extra tip) to ensure your store offers a top-notch user experience on its mobile version. Letās get on it!ā 1. Letās start with the basics: How good is your storeās responsive version?We assume your online store already has an adapted mobile version (mainly because Google has been penalizing webs without responsive design for years now). But that isnāt good enough. There are some typical errors that tend to go unnoticed but that highly affect user experience on mobiles.For example: Any text in a small font size. When two clickable elements are very close to each other. Images being larger than the screen (as it happens with banners). This can happen even if your storeās website is designed with a mobile-optimized template. In order to detect these errors, you can use:Googleās Mobile-Friendly Test: this test analyzes your website and flags any error it detects on your mobile version (and tells you how to fix it). BlueTree: this tool allows you to check how your website looks on different smartphone models. Google Search Console: on your Google Search Console dashboard, thereās a specific āMobile Usabilityā tab where any error is reported. In addition, it offers a great deal of interesting information about your storeās SEO. If youāre still not using it, then we suggest you have a look at this tutorial.Letās take it up one notch. ā 2. Have your website load as fast a lightning (or else users will fly away)A mobile isnāt as powerful as a desktop (yet). And thatās why itās way harder to get a decent load speed on a smartphone. Which is why optimizing every element of your mobile version is in your best interest. For example: Optimize images: compress image files so that they are smaller (we suggest smaller than 150 kb) and avoid large image files. Learn about it in this post. Be careful with sliders and videos: although videos and dynamic banners are now very trendy (especially on the homepage upper part), this can slow down the load speed. Besides, videos increase mobile data consumption, which your users surely wonāt appreciateā¦). The best option is to replace them with a static image. Once you have implemented these tips, you can test your website speed on mobiles using Test My Site (also by Google). Note: if you want to optimize your website to the fullest, you can create an AMP version of your eCommerce. Interested? Learn more about it in this post. ā 3. You have limited space; make the most of itOne of the biggest challenges of any websiteās mobile version is to make the user feel comfortable browsing on a 5-inch screen with no mouse. Thatās why you need to choose wisely the elements youāll display and how you want to set them up. In other words: Avoid pop-ups: these kinds of notifications are a hassle on a phone screen. Most of the time, it makes the site glitch or itās almost impossible to close and continue browsing. The user certainly wastes their time struggling with pop-ups like these. Make your websiteās text mobile-friendly too: a 3-line paragraph may not be much on a desktop screen. But on a phone screen, the same text becomes an 8-line burden that makes you stop reading immediately. Just go with shorter paragraphs. Use large font sizes: even if the screen is smaller, the text must be readable āmeaning you should go with a user-friendly font size. Thereās more…ā”ļø 3 elements that must be visible at all timesIn order to improve user experience, thereās a series of key elements to improve navigability, which the user must always take into account. The shopping cart. The browser menu bar.The internal search engine. The usual thing is to include them as āfloatingā elements (which never leave the screen even if you scroll) so that the user can click on them at all times. ā 4. Landscape vs. portrait orientation Last, when it comes to the layout, donāt forget to bear in mind the most evident difference between a desktop screen and a phone screen. While in the former we see the screen horizontally (landscape orientation), in the latter we have a vertical screen (portrait orientation). What does this imply? Letās see an example. Check out this storeās above the fold for its desktop version. Now see how it changes for its mobile version. Its banner has been re-designed so that it adjusts to the mobile version, therefore protecting the message. It may seem evident, but there are still many eCommerces around using the same banner on both sites regardless of their orientation (so the banner is typically affected, overlapping the button or text with the image, etc.). ā Extra tip: improve mobile searches with an advanced search engineHave you been taking notes so far?Well, we still have one more essential element for any eCommerce that feels like improving mobile experience: the internal search engine. Think about it. Whenever you browse on your smartphone (especially if weāre talking about a store with a huge catalogue), using the browser menu bar can be a little annoying, right? Thatās why many users make use of the internal search engine. In fact, a growing number of users prefer to avoid typing and go with voice searches. But in order to be able to offer your customers all of that, you need to rely on an advanced search engine (or, as we call it, a smart one such as Doofinder). The thing is that Doofinder not only uses artificial intelligence to better understand your usersā needs (thatās where the smart bit comes from) but it also includes many specific features in order to improve mobile searches. And because of all these features, the stores using Doofinder have increased their conversions between 10% and 20%. And in case you want to see for yourself, you can try Doofinder in your store with this 30-day free trial. Try it and youāll see the results reflected on your sales. šš May Mobile First Index find you all prepped up (and ready to boost your sales) Having an optimized responsive version is not only important for SEO purposes. In addition, it is the best way to offer a good user experience and have your customers feel at ease in your store (and therefore buying more from you). Now, youāre up. Go over your eCommerce web and ensure it implements everything we have reviewed in this post for you. Youāll see your customers (and Googleās algorithm) thank you for it. FREE EBOOKS Increase your eCommerce sales by 20%The 10 largest eCommerce sites in the worldHow to start an online shop from scratch