Will there be problems in the future with a mobile dedicated site?

[AliMac26]

Just wanted everyone's input/opinion on this article that basically states Google will move to a solely mobile index in the future

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/mobile-vs-responsive/

That seems like it would negatively impact sites that have a separate URL for their mobile site. In this particular case I'm talking about... the mobile site URL is this layout: www.site.com/MobileView/MobileHome.aspx

Any thoughts/input would be enormously appreciated.

[AliMac26]

Thanks. I was concerned about the URL because I've read several articles that state adaptive and responsive designs use the same URL whereas mobile dedicated is a different url, usually a subdomain of the root domain. The developers are telling me we have an "adaptive design", but the mobile site is a subdoman setup, where the URL structure for the homepage, some navigational pages and search are different than the desktop site.

If you go to a webpage on a mobile phone and it redirects you to a subdomain with a mobile setup, that sounds mobile dedicated to me, and not "adaptive".... but maybe I am having a hard time grasping the true definition of adaptive.

http://conversionsciences.com/blog/the-make-or-break-differences-between-responsive-adaptive-mobile-optimized-websites/

http://www.clickseed.com/responsive-design-vs-separate-mobile-site-vs-dynamic-serving/

[slatronica]

A page that is responsive/adaptive is based on that page and the design elements, not the URL. If the content is the same than yes you should point a canonical tag back to the main version for the mobile experience.

Pretty good thread on it here on Moz from a while back:

https://moz.com/community/q/how-to-use-canonical-with-mobile-site-to-main-site

[AliMac26]

Thank you for your input. Does it make a difference if the mobile URL is actually within the site like I stated above? i.e. www.site.com/MobileView/MobileHome.aspx.

My developers are telling me are design is more like "adaptive", but can that be the case when the url is not the exact same?

Also, what are your thoughts on adding a canonical tag on the mobile site?

Thanks again!

[brettmandoes]

While Google has been reluctant to just come right out and say "Responsive is the way to go", they've dropped enough hints to make it fairly obvious that's what they want you to do. It makes sense - provide the same content to mobile users as you do desktop so it's accessible from anywhere. And the simplicity of it allows Google to efficiently crawl the site.

You're likely to realize greater efficiency by moving to a responsive design, which in turn will allow you to improve rankings more expediently. If SEO is a concern, go responsive and ditch the worry.

[slatronica]

I would have concerns about a separate URL structure. While it may be a longer term plan, it's probably wise to start mapping out your next site and how you can get to a single URL structure regardless of device.