Mobile-first indexing. How and why does the reference graph change?
On July 1, 2018, Google launched an algorithm that ranked sites based on the Mobile-first principle. What is it, and why it is important for the Runet, you can read in this article on Habré, and I will focus on the moment of preferential indexing of mobile versions of the site, which alarmed me as the owner of a digital studio.
So this new Google introduction means that it is the mobile version of any page that will be used for indexing and ranking in search. Since the main contribution to the rank of the page in Google's serp'e is external links, I have a seditious thought crept in: “But on the mobile versions, if it’s not adaptive, the menu is made a sandwich!”.
Well, a sandwich and a sandwich, it would seem, how will this affect external links? And here is how: the use of an abbreviated menu in the mobile versions of the site reduces the number of outgoing links on the pages, which will lead to a new redistribution of their effective PageRank in the reference graph. How big are the differences?
I was, I rushed to check it on client sites, but the guys from MOZ have already done this. Conclusion Russ Jones: the index for desktop versions is much larger in size mobile. Most of the sites "reduced" to fit into the screen of your smartphone. So, on mobile versions of sites there will be less external links. How much less? Appealed to colleagues.
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The most interesting thought was expressed by an expert from Volgograd, Evgeny Smirnov .
The reference graph for sites with a mobile version abruptly ends at the 4th level. Two things contribute to this: adapting content for compact devices cuts down not only the site’s functionality (for example, using popular WordPress plugins ), but also the structure of its menu. This fundamental change in the mobile version of the site affects the internal static of all mobile pages. In the cited article MOZ, Russ also cites data that about 75% of external links can disappear as a result of the fact that on the resources tested by him at the 4th and deeper levels of nesting the index difference between the desktop and mobile versions can reach 600%. Is there really a real difference in mobile backlinks?
Let's check it for the niches in which the sites of my clients work, separately for the English-speaking and Russian-speaking segments on Google. To do this, we will scan 30,000 backlinks of customer sites and their main competitors in the niche with the Screaming Frog tool, using two user-agents, GoogleBot regular and GoogleBot for smartphones.
An interesting detail: some sites have https-versions, which appeared relatively recently by the standards of the age of these link profiles. Check what are the differences, if the purpose of the anchor is the SSL version of the site?
In absolute terms, these differences currently do not exceed 2–3% of the samples used. "
That is, the experts do not observe significant differences at the moment, which means there is no cause for concern? And if you pay attention to the links leading to the https version of the site?
Yes, in the new Mobile-first algorithm, it may be that way. Is there a reason for the fact that webmasters are more anxious about https links? Most likely no. Just such links to sites is a small part of the reference profile of age sites (which were registered in directories, when no one thought about encrypting traffic with 128-bit keys). Links to https versions of sites are relatively young, which means their age correlates with the age of the content that provides them. Young people do not think of themselves without smartphones, so they are eager to ensure that their content looks professional on any device. And the content, I recall, contains our links. Links where the href is https. You only need to wait for a deeper introduction of the new index.
One more thing: there are no legitimate actions that the webmaster could take in Search Console to include its resource in the new Mobile-first index, which means (statistical) increase in the reference mass due to the increase in https links - its maximum growth. And in your niche - can save the situation 3 percent increase in the reference mass? Let's say if for 10,000 links it will be 300 links from content of the second level of nesting?
So this new Google introduction means that it is the mobile version of any page that will be used for indexing and ranking in search. Since the main contribution to the rank of the page in Google's serp'e is external links, I have a seditious thought crept in: “But on the mobile versions, if it’s not adaptive, the menu is made a sandwich!”.
Well, a sandwich and a sandwich, it would seem, how will this affect external links? And here is how: the use of an abbreviated menu in the mobile versions of the site reduces the number of outgoing links on the pages, which will lead to a new redistribution of their effective PageRank in the reference graph. How big are the differences?
I was, I rushed to check it on client sites, but the guys from MOZ have already done this. Conclusion Russ Jones: the index for desktop versions is much larger in size mobile. Most of the sites "reduced" to fit into the screen of your smartphone. So, on mobile versions of sites there will be less external links. How much less? Appealed to colleagues.
')
The most interesting thought was expressed by an expert from Volgograd, Evgeny Smirnov .
The reference graph for sites with a mobile version abruptly ends at the 4th level. Two things contribute to this: adapting content for compact devices cuts down not only the site’s functionality (for example, using popular WordPress plugins ), but also the structure of its menu. This fundamental change in the mobile version of the site affects the internal static of all mobile pages. In the cited article MOZ, Russ also cites data that about 75% of external links can disappear as a result of the fact that on the resources tested by him at the 4th and deeper levels of nesting the index difference between the desktop and mobile versions can reach 600%. Is there really a real difference in mobile backlinks?
Let's check it for the niches in which the sites of my clients work, separately for the English-speaking and Russian-speaking segments on Google. To do this, we will scan 30,000 backlinks of customer sites and their main competitors in the niche with the Screaming Frog tool, using two user-agents, GoogleBot regular and GoogleBot for smartphones.
An interesting detail: some sites have https-versions, which appeared relatively recently by the standards of the age of these link profiles. Check what are the differences, if the purpose of the anchor is the SSL version of the site?
In absolute terms, these differences currently do not exceed 2–3% of the samples used. "
That is, the experts do not observe significant differences at the moment, which means there is no cause for concern? And if you pay attention to the links leading to the https version of the site?
Using SSL site encryption is a way to improve your reference profile.
Yes, in the new Mobile-first algorithm, it may be that way. Is there a reason for the fact that webmasters are more anxious about https links? Most likely no. Just such links to sites is a small part of the reference profile of age sites (which were registered in directories, when no one thought about encrypting traffic with 128-bit keys). Links to https versions of sites are relatively young, which means their age correlates with the age of the content that provides them. Young people do not think of themselves without smartphones, so they are eager to ensure that their content looks professional on any device. And the content, I recall, contains our links. Links where the href is https. You only need to wait for a deeper introduction of the new index.
One more thing: there are no legitimate actions that the webmaster could take in Search Console to include its resource in the new Mobile-first index, which means (statistical) increase in the reference mass due to the increase in https links - its maximum growth. And in your niche - can save the situation 3 percent increase in the reference mass? Let's say if for 10,000 links it will be 300 links from content of the second level of nesting?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/418427/
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