Mobile URLs in the desktop SERPs
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Our real estate website URL is listed on desktop search as well as the mobile URL. I've read several blogposts on this subject but I still don't understand the fix for this. I've read to use rel=canonical tags. But does that stop Google from listing it in the desktop SERP? Is there a way to stop this without blocking the mobile site which is what our programmer wants to do? Or is this something we have to live with until Google fixes this issue?
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Hi Melissa,
To avoid your Mobile URLs to get indexed on the desktop results you need to:
- Add rel=canonical annotations in each Mobile URL pointing to their desktop URL versions
- Add rel=alternate annotations in each Desktop URL pointing to their mobile URL versions
As Google specifies here and you can see in this graphic. Additionally, you can also see in those Google recommendations how you need to set 301 redirects to refer between your mobile and desktop URLs according to the user agent (mobile or desktop) used, as you can see in this other graphic too.
If you look to optimize more your site towards Mobile SEO, you can also take a look at this Moz post I wrote some months ago.
Thanks!
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Hi Melissa,
If I read your question correctly, you've run into a situation where your mobile URLs for your mobile website are appearing in desktop searches? Do you have a sitemap on your mobile website that is properly formatted for mobile websites? That's a strong indication that your website is in fact a mobile website and should not appear in desktop search results, only mobile search results.
Here's a great resource on mobile sitemaps: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=34648
Hope that helps.
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