Google News - Google Is Removing Websites From Search Results

By March 2021, Google will be enforcing its new policy of only indexing mobile-first websites that are compatible with mobile-friendly browsers. This is a massive development in the digital marketing industry and should not be taken lightly.

The introduction of Mobile-First Indexing last year with the change to Google’s then-new algorithm. Google began taking measures to ensure search results were in line with the users’ expectations use of search data and started steering away from desktop search results.

The Change Is Here

The first mobile-first announcement was made more than a year ago, which provided companies and organizations the opportunity to redesign and relaunch their websites before the mobile-first only indexing was fully implemented. No one has really paid attention and we are now just a few months away from a definitive full rollout. It's time to prepare for Google’s new indexing standards and make sure your mobile site is constructed properly and displaying the correct content. 

What Will Happen

We are seeing upwards of 60%+ searches on mobile compared to less than 40% on desktop. The goal of Google is to provide users with the best mobile experience possible, and this will now force outdated websites to either go mobile or face the consequences of no search traffic.  

Google expects that by March 2021, all online organizations will have had ample time to redesign and update their websites to meet these new mobile-first standards. Unfortunately, for businesses, this is no longer an option and the content you have on mobile will be the only content that is indexed and displayed going forward. Any content that you have on your desktop website that differs from the mobile one will completely disappear from search.

Companies must make the change and adopt their mobile site as the first and foremost important online asset for thier business. This means you must post the most important content to give the best user experience on mobile-first, and build your website with mobile functionality and technical optimizations before the desktop version of your website. If this doesn't take place correctly you could face a drastic drop in rankings and organic website traffic. Your business will cease to exist in practical terms, as you will not be indexed by Google in search.

Conclusion

This is probably the largest development we have seen in years in terms of website functionality now being the most important factor in search rankings and the deciding factor of whether your business will succeed or fail in the future.

We are actively working with companies to get ready for this change ahead of time and make sure that websites are fully Google Compliant.