Oct 14, 2016
Google to split index into desktop & mobile. Might be time to invest further in adwords.
Google webmaster trends analyst, Gary Illyes, has stated at a digital marketing conference in Pubcon, Las Vegas, that search will become split in two. Mobile and Desktop. Hit up Twitter for #pubcon
Google will begin maintaining a completely separate index for Desktop and Mobile. The mobile index would be updated much more frequently representing the way mobiles are often used, to search for up to date and latest news and trends. The desktop index may not be as up to date but will only contain desktop optimised websites.
This should reduce those scenarios where you click a search result in Google to be sent to a mobile optimised website on your desktop or vice-versa. A viewport you have to pinch a zoom around.
This could require a fairly significant change in thought if SEO is part of your strategy. We are predominantly a B2B e-commerce provider. Customers purchase products for their own business via our online store. Our analytics indicates that users tend to research on their mobile devices, perhaps while on the bus/train, but eventually purchase via a desktop machine.
This makes it more important than ever to look at how you rank on desktop v mobile. If the customer has done all the research on mobile and is unable to find you when they search on desktop they could buy from someone else. As a result we are going to be looking into retargeting bid adjustments on adwords. Essentially if someone has visited our website we will bid more in adwords to bring them back.
Therein could be the reason for such tactics by Google. While outwardly the position is improving the user experience. The fact that many companies may instead turn to adwords to prevent a fall in rankings surely improves the bottom line for Google.
