Are you ready for Google’s imminent mobile-first update?

Back in January, Google announced it had an update arriving that would turn search upside down, promoting mobile ranking first. Finally, we’re a couple of weeks away from this mobile-first update.

What this means is that you’ve got two weeks to go through and thoroughly check your mobile site and make sure it’s as fast as possible, because this is a speed update.

Now, like I’ve been saying, the stronger your brand, the more resilient it’s going to be during these types of changes. Google has flat out said as much, stating that it’s going to emphasise details like user intent and content quality. So if your site is slow and your brand is weak, you’re not going to have a chance after this mobile-first update.

Keep in mind that 75% of all mobile users are on 3G — so get ready for that. Now, to give you an idea of how well a good brand influences in this situation, we recently acquired a strong brand in the fashion industry. We got them ranked through a single word, basically an item of clothing, even though their site was horrible! I mean, it had an 8mb homepage, and a 30-second render time. Who’s got time for that? Not me, but I’m not their target demographic. People looking for that brand will put up with it because they love the brand.

If you’ve got a lot of people looking for your brand, you’ve got more authority and more trust. The more people are talking about you, the stronger your brand and ranking will be. Get your speed up using technical SEO, but concentrate on your brand most of all.

This article was originally published on stewartmedia.com.au. 

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