In the past, when a company created a homepage, it was common to create a main site for PCs and a secondary site for smartphones, assuming that the site would be viewed from a PC.
However, Google’s initiative “MFI (Mobile First Indexing)” (hereinafter abbreviated as MFI) has started, and from September 2020, mobile-friendly sites will be the standard for page evaluation for all homepages.
Therefore, from now on, corporate websites that want to be ranked high on Google will need to be created primarily for mobile sites.
This time, we will explain about MFI, the necessity of making your homepage compatible with smartphones, cases where MFI measures are necessary, and the first steps you should take.
What is MFI?
“MFI” is an abbreviation for “Mobile First Index” and is one of the measures launched by Google.
This means that the page evaluation criteria that determines Google’s search rankings will be based on mobile sites (smartphone sites) rather than PC sites.
Announced by Google in 2016, MFI has been applied by default for new sites since July 2019.
It has been announced that from September 2020, even websites that are not ready for mobile support will be transitioned to MFI.
The need for MFIs
Why was the MFI policy created in the first place?
The reason for this is that the number of smartphone users is increasing worldwide.
According to Google, 94% of smartphone users in the United States search for local information on their smartphones, and 77% of mobile searches occur at home or at work.
Although there is a high possibility that you have a PC at home or work, the reality is that mobile searches are still being performed.
Looking at the situation in Japan, according to the Ministry of Internal
Affairs and Communications’ “2019 Information and Communications White Paper
,” 79.2% of households owned information and communications devices in 2018 were smartphones, which exceeded 74.0% for computers. I am.
As the number of smartphone users increases, the number of users of smartphone-friendly sites will naturally increase, so it is natural that smartphone-friendly pages will be preferred.
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Google’s opinion
Google has published on its official website why it should be mobile friendly. This is because sites that are not mobile-friendly can be difficult to view and use on mobile devices. Dissatisfied users will likely leave your site. On the other hand, mobile-friendliness makes your content easier to read and consume.
What kind of homepage is greatly affected by MFI?
There are some homepages that will be particularly affected by the transition to MFI. Mainly, the following cases apply.
1. Not compatible with smartphones in the first place
<br/> Sites that do not have a smartphone-friendly site or are not compatible with smartphone-friendly display are thought to be greatly affected by MFI. Homepages that are only for PC sites may not be able to maintain their previous search rankings.
Additionally, your ranking may drop compared to other companies’ websites that are compatible with smartphones.
If you do not have a website for smartphones, it is an urgent need to create one.
It can be produced relatively easily by using responsive design, which applies the optimal display regardless of the aspect ratio of PCs, tablets, smartphones, etc.
2.The amount of content on smartphone sites is smaller than on PC sites
<br/> Up until now, content has been mainly posted on PC sites, and some of the content from PC sites has been posted on smartphone sites. There are many cases where it has been published.
However, if you shift to MFI, the smartphone site will be the basis for evaluation, so if there is less content compared to the PC site, the evaluation will be lower than before and there is a possibility that the search ranking will also drop.
If you already have a site for smartphones, you will need to eliminate the difference in content between the site for PC and the site for smartphones.
The key is to standardize not only the amount of content but also the headings.
First steps to take as a measure against MFI
MFI measures are an urgent need for corporate websites that want to appear at the top of Google’s search results or maintain their ranking.
Let’s take a look at what you need to do as a first step to prepare for MFI.
1. Perform a mobile-friendly test
<br/> If you already have a smartphone-friendly site or are displaying it for smartphones, try running the “mobile-friendly test” operated by Google. Let’s.
This will help you determine how mobile-friendly your website is. Enter the URL of your homepage or copy and paste the code, and press the test button to find out if your MFI measures are in place.
2. Make the content of the smartphone site and the PC site the same
<br/> As mentioned earlier, it is necessary to make the amount of content on the smartphone site as similar as possible to the PC site.
The best thing to do is to have the same content on your PC and smartphone sites.
If you have previously made the content on your smartphone site different from the content on your PC site, we recommend making adjustments such as making them the same.
3. Apply responsive design to create a mobile-first design
<br/> Usability is also important.
First, we will build a smartphone site as a smartphone version of the PC site.
It is also necessary to create a mobile-first design that is truly easy to see and use for smartphone users.
For this reason, it is best to build a website based on a PC site using a responsive design that is optimally displayed regardless of the aspect ratio of the device.
summary
◆“MFI” is an abbreviation for “Mobile First Index” and is a measure launched by Google. The page evaluation criteria that influences Google’s search rankings is based on mobile sites (smartphone sites) rather than PC sites.
◆The reason behind the birth of MFI is the increasing number of smartphone users worldwide. In the future, smartphone-friendly pages will be preferred by both Google and users, and their ratings will rise.
◆Homepages that are greatly affected by MFI are those that 1. are not compatible with smartphones in the first place, and 2. the amount of content on smartphone sites is smaller than on PC sites.
◆As a first step toward MFI measures, you can consider implementing a mobile-friendly test, making the content of the smartphone site and PC site the same, and applying responsive design to create a mobile-first design.