At the end of 2016, Google announced it would be experimenting with a mobile-first indexing plan. While there isn’t a fixed release date, Google webmaster trends analyst Gary Illyes expects the rollout will happen at a time later this year.
So how are things going to change? Well currently, Google’s ranking system focuses primarily on the desktop version of a website. But these days, most people use Google on a mobile device. According to the latest figures, mobile accounts for 52.21 percent of all internet traffic.
As a result, Google is making this update to ensure the vast majority of its audience get the best possible user experience. Based on the upcoming change, the following article will describe the implications for hotels and the steps you can take to be fully prepared for a truly mobile-first world.
How Google’s mobile-first ranking system will work
At present, Google’s algorithm ranks your website primarily on desktop performance. Very simply, the new algorithm will instead focus primarily on the contents of your mobile site to determine ranking position.
It’s important to say that desktop sites will still be part of Google’s new ranking algorithm, but they will be considered less important to the mobile experience.
What are the implications for hotel websites?
Mobile-first indexing will have a major impact on how all websites are ranked. This won’t result from new factors coming into play—it’ll result from mobile-specific ranking factors becoming primary ranking factors, rather than secondary or tertiary factors.
For hotels, organic search contribution typically accounts for 35-50% of both total traffic and conversions. But when mobile-first indexing comes to fruition, a hotel could see very tangible revenue decline if its website performs poorly in any of the following areas:
1. Site speed
Site speed has a direct impact on SEO for a simple reason: Google wants to direct users to websites that offer the best online experience. That’s why slow loading sites do less well in terms of search engine rank.
