Google Changes: Rolls out Mobile First Requirements and ReIndexing Batches of Sites
Google Changes: Rolls out Mobile First Requirements and ReIndexing Batches of Sites
BIG, Very BIG Changes in Motion Right Now
The days of heavy design, static websites, one size fits all search engine optimization, slow loading servers, old-school CSS and coding is over! This past quarter has had some of the most extensive requirements changes and updates from the search engines ever.
Luckily we've been preparing for these changes for almost a year and are launching our V3 Custom theme that is designed to work with the newest release of Wordpress. That's the great part. The not so great part is, there's a significant amount of work for companies to do or invest in to catch up with the changes. Wordpress has also been planning for these changes and is getting ready to launch a major update to it's core, referred to as Gutenberg. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/
Here's the reality:
The Google Algorithm Changes are Massive and are going to require New Code, Content, Design and SEO
Wordpress is responding to the change with a Major Update Gutenberg - the installation of this new Wordpress Core Database is required for any company/hosting provider that requires secure websites.
If you care about SEO your website must be on the best of the best servers (fastest load times, most secure and most current version of Wordpress)
Less than 3% ThemeForest repository of WordPress Themes most commonly used for building wordpress sites will work once the Wordpress Core Database is updated to Gutenberg
SEO and Content must be updated on all sites by page to adhere to the new requirements for mobile first initiatives and modified metadata requirements.
It's hard to use any term but, it's time to start over and use your assets on the most current version of Gutenburg Wordpress Core, with a custom theme that operates on the core, hosted on the best platform for wordpress and every company should be re-investing more resources into meeting the new SEO and Content requirements for the mobile first initiative.
It sounds bad, but in reality, you have a unique opportunity to kick some major tail and take over page one ranking for companies who have owned it but are sitting on their laurels through this massive update, not wanting to invest in the necessary changes. That's a huge opportunity to change the game!
NEW THEME LAUNCHING
CI Web Group launches New WP Theme just in time for the major announcements! V3 Available as of May 1 2018!! A new theme that operates on the newest Version of Wordpress, with Google's new functionality and it's the most dynamic Theme in the industry - with over 100 Customizable Functions! Check out some of the configurations!
Make sure the mobile version of the site also has the important, high-quality content. This includes text, images (with alt-attributes), and videos - in the usual crawlable and indexable formats.
Google: Content Order, Position & Placement Matters
Google To Webmaster: Cut Down On Similar Content Pages - Custom Content Critical, Frequency of New Content Critical, Page Content Top Priority for Primary Services, Products and Geo Targeted Locations
Reduce usage of large format images.
Schematic Markup - Structured data is important for indexing and search features that users love: it should be both on the mobile and desktop version of the site. Ensure URLs within the structured data are updated to the mobile version on the mobile pages.
Utilize AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for Blog Content.
Google Now Requires Higher Resolution Images For AMP Top Stories Carousel
Google Page Speed Update & Mobile First Index Are Separate
Google On Reading Level: Write On The Level Of Your Audience
Google: Meta Refresh Redirects Work Fine But Not Recommended
Google: Again Provide Clear & Consistent SEO Signals - SEO, Social Media, Local Listings, Reviews and Video Engagement top priorities
Google: GoogleBot Can't Crawl CSS Custom Properties - Don't Customize the code.... stick to the basics of your CMS, Object Oriented Coding and Standard CSS.
Google Not Indexing URLs In Your Sitemap? New Sitemaps Won't Help
Google: Even Big Sites Aren't Allowed To Sell Or Buy Links - Off Page SEO has to be legitimately earned.
Google: We Changed Request Indexing Limits & Quotas Over Spam & Abuse
Google Drastically Changes Crawl Limits In Search Console - Google Confirms: There Are Limits On Request Indexing Feature In Search Console - The Google Request Indexing Quota Seems To Be Enforced
Google: Some Old Features Won't Be In New Google Search Console
Google Search Console Message: Fix Long Page Titles
Metadata should be present on both versions of the site. It provides hints about the content on a page for indexing and serving. For example, make sure that titles and meta descriptions are equivalent across both versions of all pages on the site. Google extends the Meta Data requirements for SEO - requiring sites to be re-optimized. This is going to require more time and resources to be allocated to website's SEO teams.
No changes are necessary for interlinking with separate mobile URLs (m.-dot sites). For sites using separate mobile URLs, keep the existing link rel=canonical and link rel=alternate elements between these versions.
Check hreflang links on separate mobile URLs. When using link rel=hreflang elements for internationalization, link between mobile and desktop URLs separately. Your mobile URLs' hreflang should point to the other language/region versions on other mobile URLs, and similarly link desktop with other desktop URLs using hreflang link elements there.
Upgrade your hosting servers! Ensure the servers hosting the site have enough capacity to handle potentially increased crawl rate. This doesn't affect sites that use responsive web design and dynamic serving, only sites where the mobile version is on a separate host, such as m.example.com.
Google My Business Wants To Know When Did Your Business First Open
For me, even bigger news, is that Gary Illyes from Google has posted on Twitter about this after not posting for over 53 days before that. So maybe he is fully back from his vacation?
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