When Google’s Gary Illyes revealed plans to create a ‘mobile-first' index in November 2016, it sent the SEO world into a tizz. But really there wasn’t any need. Let’s address some of the fundamentals: • What the heck does ‘mobile-first’ even mean? • What can we do to prepare? • How can we use to our advantage?

1. An Arbitrary Number Of Things You Should Know About
Mobile First SEO
Joe Turner / @joesturner

3. In October 2016, Google’s Gary Illyes revealed plans
to create a ‘mobile-first index’.
“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, to understand
structured data, and to show snippets from those
pages in our results.”

4. This sparked…

6. But Google says…

7. Don’t Panic!

8. So, why the change?

9. Because Google wants its index and results to
represent the majority of their users…

10. What do I need to do?

11. If you have a responsive or a
dynamic serving site…

12. If you have a mobile site
configuration…

13. Consider…
• Make sure your mobile site has the content you want
to rank for.
• Use structured data on your mobile site.
• Add rel-annotations to your mobile and desktop site

14. What about the other search engines?

15. What do you mean, ‘other search engines’?
Yes, they do exist.
But, no, there’s no plans to follow suit.

16. Mobile SEO Winning Factors

17. Mobile-friendliness & Page Load Times

18. Why it’s important
• 47% of consumers expect a web
page to load in 2 seconds or less*
• 40% of people abandon a website
that takes more than 3 seconds to
load*
• testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com
*source: Kissmetrics

19. The scores are based on…

20. The scores are based on…

21. Featured Snippets

22. What are Featured Snippets?
• A summary or an answer to a user
query or question that is entered into a
search engine. Google displays the
answers at the top of the search results.
• Google extracts from good on-page
content that best responds to the
search engine query.
• 3 main types - paragraph, list & table

23. Why Snippets Matter…
• Opportunity to gain more visibility in desktop and mobile searches
• HubSpot found CTR increased by over 114% for pages with featured
snippets
• Study of 850,000 search results, 19% now had featured snippets
• “The snippets and answers we provide may be read out loud on Google
Home, so it’s really important.” - Google

24. Unfortunately…

25. And…

26. Further reading
How to Optimise Your
Content for Google’s
Featured Snippet Box
By Matthew Barby
goo.gl/zren44

27. Improving Local Search Data

28. Local search for local people

29. Local SEO
• Claim your business listings on Google My
Business, Bing & Yahoo
• Get reviews on local business listings
• Make sure your NAP (name, address, phone)
info spot on

30. Structured Data

31. Structured Data
• Ensure your website uses structured data to return more informative results
for users.
• Improves Knowledge Graph of your website/business
• Better CTR

32. Voice Search

33. Voice Search
• Search Behaviour is changing
• “1 in 5 online adults have used voice
search on their mobile in the last month”
- Global Web Index
• “Mobile voice-related searches are 3X
more likely to be local-based than text”
via Search Engine Watch

34. • 50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020 - comscore
• About 30% of searches will be done without a screen by 2020
- Mediapos
• By the end of 2017 the total number of voice-first devices in
circulation will reach 33 million - VoiceLabs

35. How to Optimise
• Informal Content - more natural,
conversational tone, longer tail keywords
• FAQs - Who, What, Where, When, Why & How
• Structured Data

36. A Quick Recap

37. • Make sure your site is responsive
• Check/improve site speed & mobile
friendliness
• Get your local business listings details spot on
• Win some featured snippets!
• Think about voice search when writing content

38. Any (easy) questions?
@joesturner