What could go wrong? SEO on mobile site is different than desktop site.
-
We have a desktop site that has been getting worked on over the year regarding improving SEO. Since the mobile site is separate, the business decided to not spend the time to keep it updated and just turned it off. So any mobile user that finds a link to us in search engines, goes to a desktop site that is not responsive.
Now that we're hearing Google is going to start incorporating mobile user friendliness into rankings, the business wants to turn the mobile site back on while we spend months making the desktop site responsive. The mobile site basically has no SEO. The title tag is uniform across the site, etc.
How much will it hurt us to turn on that SEO horrid mobile site? Or how much will it hurt us to not turn it on?
-
Hi,
Were you able to get the desktop site responsive? If not you may have seen an impact from the Mobile Friendliness Update in April (21st). In terms of whether it's preferable to have a good desktop site and no mobile version, or a mobile version which is not correctly set up for SEO, I'd lean towards suggesting that you do put the mobile version live for the short-term while you are working to make the desktop site responsive. At least this way your mobile users can have a better UX, and if you correctly implement the switchboard tags Google should be able to tell what the pages are for. Of course having a good SEO implementation on the mobile site should improve your mobile rankings, but failing that my suggestion would be to check first of all how your desktop-only site currently ranks on mobile, and then test what happens if you were to turn on the mobile version (or possibly even just a few key mobile-friendly pages). Another factor would be how likely your users are to be accessing your site on mobile - if it's a small percentage, you may have nothing to worry about; if a large percentage of your user base are likely to be on their phones, having a good mobile experience is going to be vital not only for mobile traffic but also for conversion.
That said, a well-optimized mobile site is just as valid an approach as responsive. Google recommend responsive simply because this is often the simplest way to implement a mobile friendly design; however they do not penalise sites that utilize the 'separate mobile site' approach as long as the two versions are accessible to all Googlebot user agents. And you can also utilize the switchboard tags to help explain to Google that the mobile version is linked to the desktop version. Either way, I'd strongly encourage you to get either a well-optimized mobile site or a responsive site as soon as possible, as it seems likely that mobile-friendliness will become increasingly necessary .
-
Hello!
I'm not too sure how much turning on a mobile site with no SEO value will impact your rankings when it comes to titles and such but my assumption is that it absolutely would. However some factors that will hurt your SEO in doing this is that Google prefers one URL, responsive websites, and fast load times. Having your site redirect makes it slow and shows multiple URLs. Even though Google is more concerned with sites having a mobile version (regardless of how it's done) the downside of using a secondary mobile template is something to consider.
Personally, if this were my business website…I would wait for the responsive site to be done. Even if it takes a bit of time you are better off going about things the right way. No shortcuts in SEO!
Hope that helps
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Duplicate content site not penalized
Was reviewing a site, www.adspecialtyproductscatalog.com, and noted that even though there are over 50,000 total issues found by automated crawls, including 3000 pages with duplicate titles and 6,000 with duplicate content this site still ranks high for primary keywords. The same essay's worth of content is pasted at the bottom of every single page. What gives, Google?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | KenSchaefer0 -
PDF Sharing sites - scribd/dropbox/edocr/etc Cleaning Up SEO History
Howdy, Whilst in the process of cleaning up a new clients seo profile and have encountered a lot of techniques I am uncomfortable with and in my opinion should be removed. One technique I have not seen before is using a load of pdf sharing and video sites. The domains have high DA ratings, but to me the intention is highly questionable. The sites include: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tuxb8w1qowcm27i/Looking for boiler spares-geniune parts and consumables.pdf?dl=0 http://www.scribd.com/doc/241542076/Looking-for-Boiler-Spares-geniune-Parts-and-Consumables http://www.divshare.com/download/26207602-569 And so the list goes on for about 50 domains. Am I correct to be concerned here and what was the seo plan here? Thanks in advance. Andy Southall. (Marz Ventures)
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | MarzVentures0 -
Are 2 sites in same niche from same company white hat?
Hello, We want to open a second eCommerce store. Our first one is doing well. It would be different code, different graphics, a different category/menu system, but many of the products will be the same. Will that be safe and white hat now and into the future to have 2? Thanks!
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | BobGW0 -
How to gain links to this site
Hello, How would you suggest I gain backlinks for bobweikel.com in light of all present and future Google updates? Thanks!
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | BobGW0 -
Why is a site that does all the wrong things dominating?
A site that is a competitor of ours is basically dominating the search results despite doing everything you're not supposed to do, including: Purchasing links Having content that is thin, templated, and duplicate - adds little value Owning half a dozen other sites for linking to each other (link wheel?) We spend a lot of time on our content and making it the most useful it can be for our visitors. Granted our site is newer but we avoid these gray/black hat practices and yet we're not ranking nearly as high. What gives?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Harbor_Compliance0 -
Is one of my competitors trying to get my site penalized?
Hi guys, I have been ranking #2 for a popular search term for several months now, and today I noticed a drop to #5, so I went to check my backlink profile, and I'm seeing thousands of no-follow exact keyword matched backlinks, all from spammy looking websites. I looked at some of the links and they do link to me, but I didn't generate these links, and I have never paid anybody externally to build links for me. What is the best course of action for me here? link disavow tool?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | davegill0 -
Is this a white hat SEO tactic?
Hi, I just noticed this website http://www.knobsandhardware.com hosts pages like http://www.knobsandhardware.com/local/hardware/California-Cabinet-Hardware.html that are filled with permutations of products + cities. These pages rank for these long tail phrases. Is this considered white hat?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | anthematic0 -
Link Building: High Ranking Site vs. Relevancy
Hello, When link building, is it acceptable to link with a site that has high authority but has minimal relevancy to our site? For example, if we sell nutritional products and the link exchange would be with a site that relates to free coupons, would that work? Also, if we are publishing articles on other sites, should we also publish them on our own site? Should we add "nofollow" if we publish them in our site?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | odegi0