Google May Be Building a Mobile SERPs Index

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Google May Be Building a Mobile SERPs Index

engine

9:27 am on Oct 1, 2015 (gmt 0)

According to a tweet by Google's Gary Illyes, the company may be working on a mobile index. If that was the case, it would mean different SERPs for desktop and for mobile.

[twitter.com...]

aakk9999

1:56 pm on Oct 1, 2015 (gmt 0)

This may mean that responsive site may have a real advantage.

Currently, if you have a mobile site (whose pages may be very much slimmed down version of the home page, not just in terms of images but also in terms of text and other content), the ranking of that mobile site is based on how well desktop ranks. In other words, SERPs use desktop ranking weighed for the fact on whether it has mobile version or not.

Separate mobile SERPs would probalby rank a mobile page on its own merit and if the content is used to understand what the page is about, many slimline mobile sites may be at dissadvantage.

not2easy

2:03 pm on Oct 1, 2015 (gmt 0)

This might explain why I see those 404s reported in the GSC/gwt for URLs that never existed such as example.com/m/page.html or example.com/mobile/page.html that I've been seeing.

jrs79

5:35 pm on Oct 1, 2015 (gmt 0)

I have heard rumblings of this over the past year. Interested in seeing if they do. The real question is, can they handle two indexes ;)

nomis5

6:27 pm on Oct 1, 2015 (gmt 0)

The tweet is:

"please don't assume we WON'T have different indexing for mobile. We are still experimenting, but it may happen"

Not exactly reassuring!

If / when it does happen my bet is twofold:

1. It will be biased towards G products to such a degree that no-one else will get a look-in

2. It will be very restricted initially. Probably to "local" subject areas where G already dominates and allows them to achieve point 1 above to a degree we will all be gob-smacked at the cheek of it.

keyplyr

10:20 pm on Oct 1, 2015 (gmt 0)

Probably just to save writing "Mobile-friendly"

IanTurner

9:14 am on Oct 2, 2015 (gmt 0)

I had assumed this had already happened - pretty much when the mobile friendly tag went on some sites. If it hasn't Google is a long way behind where its PR people are.

keyplyr

10:57 am on Oct 2, 2015 (gmt 0)

Yes, when all the fuss about mobile hit the news and Google made the announcement that mobile-friendly sites would get more weight with mobile search, it was easy to assume there were 2 distinct indexes.

However, it seems that it is the very same index, but when search is performed on a mobile device, it is that added "weight" for mobile-friendly sites that distinguishes the SERP. This new indication possibly translates to a mobile-only SERP, omitting sites that are not mobile-friendly.

aakk9999

2:55 pm on Oct 2, 2015 (gmt 0)

omitting sites that are not mobile-friendly.

This is not what I am seeing - currently it does not take them out. Either some are perhaps demoted a bit or mobile sites perhaps promoted a bit, but if you have a strong site, it will stay where it is, being mobile or not.

I suspect the current mobile SERPs affects rankings where two documents would end up with the same score (or a very close score to each other).

There could be indirect SERPs impact through user engagement, also because of "Mobile-friendly" message, but it usually takes longer time for these signals to build up.

Maybe this is why Google thinks there is a need for a mobile index.

keyplyr

7:05 pm on Oct 2, 2015 (gmt 0)

@aakk9999 - Not what I said. Currently we have one index is what I said.

samwest

7:19 pm on Oct 2, 2015 (gmt 0)

Just because I have a mobile friendly site however, does not mean I DON'T want desktop traffic. It almost seems to me that since I made my site mobile friendly, desktop traffic has become very rare. That or it's just the trend. Hope they get this right.

keyplyr

7:52 pm on Oct 2, 2015 (gmt 0)

As far as traffic... over the last couple years I watched as social media then mobile took my desktop traffic away. Going responsive recovered most of that on its own. I then began a campaign to get back the users that go right to social media and never leave. It has been time consuming, but sucessful.

engine

7:58 pm on Oct 2, 2015 (gmt 0)

Think about it - a mobile only index in effect will not show desktop only sites. It does seem an odd message, ignoring the double negatives, but the facts are that your site really needs to be mobile friendly or you may find your desktop site loses even more traffic than it had previously. In any case, when i'm on mobile and it's a desktop only site, it's really difficult to use, and that's one of Google objectives, to make its search most relevant to users.

EditorialGuy

9:21 pm on Oct 2, 2015 (gmt 0)

It seems to me that this can work both ways. Sites that adopt a "mobile first" responsive approach could end up taking a back seat to desktop-optimized sites in desktop search.

Kelowna

9:23 pm on Oct 2, 2015 (gmt 0)

Never gonna happen. They wouldn't leave out all the gov sites and other big players who don't follow all googles whims.

aakk9999

10:11 pm on Oct 2, 2015 (gmt 0)

@aakk9999 - Not what I said. Currently we have one index is what I said.

Ah, you were talking about the new mobile index possibly omitting non-mobile sites - if so, sorry that I have misunderstood!

nomis5

12:08 am on Oct 3, 2015 (gmt 0)

The problem G have is that they can't identify a mobile-friendly site with any reliability at the moment. There are just too many spammers trying to appear to be mobile friendly who really aren't.

If you look at the tweet, it says absolutely nothing. Maybe this, maybe that, maybe nothing, maybe something.

If they ever get serious about a true mobile SERPS they FIRST need to limit it to those who have applied to belong to it.

That will clearly restrict the spread of a mobile SERPS but will at least enable them to be sure that they have vetted the sites which apply. They need to make the conditions clear to those using the mobile SERPS. Approval to belong to those SERPS can, to a large degree, be automated. Trusted sites will get automatic approval, others may need manual checking. If trusted sites abuse the situation an overall penalty can be applied to warn others.

lucy24

2:02 am on Oct 3, 2015 (gmt 0)

Am I understanding this right?

Option A: start with the Top 1000 results for any given query, and then rank within that 1000 based on assorted criteria, including-but-not-limited-to what type of device the user is on

Option B: create multiple (i.e. at least two) Top 1000 lists for various device types, and proceed from there

Is that the difference?

keyplyr

3:02 am on Oct 3, 2015 (gmt 0)

The problem G have is that they can't identify a mobile-friendly site with any reliability at the moment.

I think Google does a pretty good job with identifying mobile-friendly sites. Maybe their criteria doesn't please everyone, but IMO their guidelines/suggestions are usually very helpful in getting mobile sites to display & perform better for most users.

There are just too many spammers trying to appear to be mobile friendly who really aren't.

Not just "spammers." Go back to when Google released it's mobile-friendly check tool. The buzz around here was mainly focused on how to game the tool and get your site to pass without actually having to rebuild your site to be mobile-friendly.

mcneely

9:09 pm on Oct 3, 2015 (gmt 0)

Probably just to save writing "Mobile-friendly"

Who does that?

Do people still do this?

Do people not know that we've advanced far enough along this mobile friendly road that special notices and considerations with regard to it is a thing of the past?

If you go in using the technique and talent that many "modern" webdev's have these days, all you would need is just the one site to cover everything by default. No need to create a new or a different site just to take care of all of the imagined circumstances that might arise when going from PC to Mobile ...

If you've got a decent enough RWD write, then Google putting on a mobile search would just be the icing on the cake.

On the other hand, maybe it's Google that has the problem in this case ... Maybe Google has problems with regard to their own RWD, so instead of fixing it, they'll opt to rather instead just reinvent their own wheel to view well in mobile -

keyplyr

12:06 am on Oct 4, 2015 (gmt 0)

@mcneely - that was a joke aimed at the Google's SERP... which I think is the topic of this thread, right?

mcneely

3:53 am on Oct 4, 2015 (gmt 0)

.. it would mean different SERPs for desktop and for mobile

We don't already have this? Aren't mobile friendly usually listing higher?
Or was there a consideration on the table for just listing mobile friendly?

.. that was a joke aimed at the Google's SERP

I think I ran off the edge of the earth with this, in that, I was thinking two separate SERP builds .. My bad ...

I think I'll settle and go eat some fruit or something ..