Google Cancels Mobile First Indexing Indefinitely

Google Cancels Mobile First Indexing Indefinitely

Dec 9, 2021

Google Was Targeting March 2021 for Mobile Indexing

Way back in the middle of the year of our Lord, 2020, Google announced is was going to launch mobile first indexing in March 2021.

What that meant was, sites that were mobile friendly, responsive or mobile designed were going to give preference over desktop only sites. Google would look index the websites, keywords, and other ranking factors.

But the target date kept pushing further and further into 2021, and recently Google announced it was cancelling… not postponing,.. mobile first indexing.

DEFINITIONS

Mobile-First Index : Mobile-first indexing means Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking.

 

Why Cancel Mobile First Indexing?

There are many suspected reasons, but Google wrote “after analyzing the sites that are not yet indexed mobile-first, we’ve determined that some of these sites are still not ready to be shifted over due to various, unexpected challenges that they’re facing. Because of these difficulties, we’ve decided to leave the timeline open for the last steps of mobile-first indexing.”Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.

Google has been hinting at mobile first indexing for about five years, so it’s mind-blowing it’s not done. But when you look at the scope of the project, currently slightly less than 2 billion websites, I guess it’s not completely out of the question. But there has to be a deeper reason that some one-page hand built websites are dragging their feet.

Why I Suspect The Project Was Cancelled

I have two reasons why I think Google canceled their mobile first indexing project.

  • The pandemic shifted our device use for searching Google.

    In 2019 and back, many of us were sitting at our desks during the day on company-owned computers, and used our mobile devices to search for personal items or personal business. When COVID-19 forced many people to work remotely, we started searching from our personal laptops or company provided computers from our home networks, which meant there was a bit more leniency on non-work related searches. Because of this maYour content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.ny websites started to see a reduction in mobile traffic.Below is a comment I posted on a Tweet from Lily Ray (@lilyraynyc), a respected SEO expert.

  • Government and Financial Website Were Not Ready

    Google said they canceled the move because some websites just weren’t ready. While there is no hard evidence, my guess is that some government websites, along with some financial and banking systems just hadn’t been made mobile ready and prepared for the search. The only organizations with enough pull to stop Google from doing anything would most likely be ones of this sort.Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.

    Both of these organization types are very slow to adapt new technology, both for the size of the organizations, and security. In fact, some of the only websites that work better on Internet Explorer are government websites, and until recently they were some of the few still using Flash, along with some news sites. So it makes sense that these would be the types of websites holding up the project, with enough weight to slow down or stop it.

Do I Need To Build or Move My Website To Mobile First?

Well, the answer is technically, no. As long as it’s usable on mobile devices, or you just don’t get that much traffic from phones or tablets, your SEO meta data is set up correctly, you have good content and the page structure is good, you should still see good results from Google searches.

However, a majority of websites are currently seeing their organic traffic is coming from phones, iPads and other mobile devices. Consumer-facing sites and some B2B sites are seeing traffic over 50% mobile. If that’s the case, or you’re building a new website, I suggest building a responsive website to better serve that traffic, or to get ahead before Google attempts to launch mobile first indexing again.

If you need help making your website responsive,some help with search engine optimization,  or need a new site, feel free to contact BeBizzy Consulting.

What are your thoughts on why Google canceled the mobile first indexing project? Send them to me @BeBizzy on Twitter!

Getting Inspiration For Your Website Redesign

Getting Inspiration For Your Website Redesign

Mar 26, 2020

Where Do You Start On A Redesign

One of the critical parts of website research is what you do, and maybe more importantly, what you do NOT like on how a website looks and works. Often clients refer to competitors when they point out these likes and dislikes, which is OK, but can force these clients into a corner.

But I would encourage you to look outside your competitors, and even your business classification for inspiration. Find a look that is user friendly, modern and gets your business and culture across to your clients.

Getting Inspiration For Your Website Redesign

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Sites To Inspire

Apart from just surfing the web looking for inspiration there are places dedicated to inspire design. Here we’re going to list five sites that can provide some layouts, functions and tones for your potential redesign.

Again, it’s important to look past the content and to see the design, the layout and even some of the plugins that can be implemented into your site when it’s time to discuss a redesign or initial launch. This can save DOZENS of hours of redesigning and tweaking layouts in the long run. Don’t forget to look at and discuss fonts, heading and text sizes, colors, image sizes, social media feeds, calendars and anything else you think you need.

#WPWednesday – WordPress 5.4 

WordPress 5.4 scheduled for launch 3/31/2020 with several “block editor” improvements. Not sure an update during these turbulent times is a good idea, but the updates include :  

  • Several “block editor” improvements
  • Social Icons block – allows easy insertion of social media profiles (FB, TW, IG)
  • Buttons block – allow adding more than one button per line
  • Better background color options for blocks
  • Drag & drop an image to the Featured Image section. Great for social sharing and blog images.
  • Select text in a block and change its color instead of changing the entire block
  • Fixed mobile toolbar on mobile

As always, run backups and take other precautions before you run the update. Good luck!

What are your favorite ways to be inspired on a website redesign? Leave them below, or send them to me @BeBizzy on Twitter!

Getting Inspiration For Your Website Redesign

by BeBizzy Consulting | BeBizzy Break Podcast

Is WordPress Safe?

Is WordPress Safe?

Jan 17, 2017

It’s a widely sites fact that WordPress powers 25% of the internet’s webpages. Think about that, 25%! And nearly 60% of the sites that use a CMS (content management system).

That is the main reason it is also a target. Like the popular Microsoft Windows or Android OS, WordPress powers so many sites that if you can find a way to compromise even a small percentage of websites using the system, you can gain access to literally millions of sites.

Because of this, one of the first questions I get when I suggest using WordPress is about security. But as I stated before, criminals and people looking to do general mischief as looking for the low-hanging fruit, the easy to hit sites. So with some basic precautions, your website can be even more secure than custom HTML sites.

Making WordPress Safe

There are a few basic steps that  web developer or your company IT guy can take to secure your new or existing WordPress site. Below is a list of plugins, best practices and other items used by BeBizzy Consulting and many others to make your site as secure as possible.

Backups

Let’s start off with the most important part of the security system. If you don’t have a good backup of the site, it doesn’t matter how you set the rest up. Something WILL cause your website to fail; the webhost could suffer an attack or hardware failure, you could alter some code and break the site, or a security breach could happen directly to your site. With no backup, there’s no easy way to return to “normal,” so at minimal do a complete backup of the site files, and don’t forget to back up the database. There are automated methods as well for this process which are highly recommended.

WordPress Updates

The easiest way to gain access to a WordPress is through an out-of-date WordPress system. I’ve recovered sites running on 2.x (current is 4.7), and that’s a scary endeavor. WordPress puts out major releases a couple of times per year, and security patches about once a month or so to stay ahead of the pinholes that are found in WordPress. The best part is there are thousands of people who are looking at WordPress, for good and for bad, that identify issues and get them repaired. Keep you site updated and make sure PHP version can handle the update. If not, time to move!

I also suggest turning on automatic core updates. You should be able to toggle a switch that will update WordPress automatically for “X.x.x” updates, keeping your site secure without you even trying. Just make sure you test the site when notified of an update to make sure everything is running as it should.

Plugin Updates

The next best way to gain access to WordPress is through outdated, or poorly programmed plugins. Last summer I worked on recovering a WP site that had a plugin that had not been touched by the developer in over five years. When I updated the site to a new WP version, the plugin crashed and I had to find an alternative, more updated plugin that worked close to the same. But it’s not just keep the plugins updated, it’s keeping an eye open for poorly secured plugins as well. Do some research on a plugin before installing. Has anyone ever suffered a breach or WordPress crash after installing? What is the support like? How often do they update?

One thing that is often overlooked is deleting themes that are not being used, or are even active on the site. This is extra code that has been abandoned for one reason or another, and leaving it on your website can open a hole you don’t even know is there.

A final note on plugins, themes and other items is to NOT use pirated versions of software. Most plugins are fairly inexpensive and the alternative to paying $10 for a plugin is often spending hours, or even paying hundreds of dollars to have malicious code removed from a site. Pay the $10.

Themes

Next on the list of vulnerabilities is your theme. Every WordPress site is working on a theme, whether it’s the 2016 theme that came installed or one you paid for or got for free. Again, do a little research to make sure the theme you are planning to use isn’t a know security issue, does not get updated or supported, or is poorly written before you install it on your site. Then, update it as soon as you get a notification it has been revised.

More Security Steps

Below are a few other steps that are taken by BeBizzy Consulting, and should be considered by your team, host, or developer to make your site as secure as possible.

Change Username

Like on a computer or virtually every other system, do not use “Admin” as your administrator username. Pick something a bit more robust and always use a secure password. Changing the password often also makes it more difficult to keep access once it is achieved.

Move The WP-Login.php Page

There are several plugins that allow you to choose a different admin login page for your site. Install one of them and rename your login to something less known can eliminate some from even trying to access your admin simply because it doesn’t exist at the usual spot.

Install a Security Plugin

Many sites have Sucuri or Wordfence installed to protect the admin and other parts of the site. Even the free versions will notify you when the admin is accessed, limit login attempts at wp-login.php and the premium versions can lock down the admin to specific locations or IP address, security scans for malicious code, and much more.

Keep Your Site Safe

There are definitely more ways to secure your WordPress site. Editing the .htaccess file, hiding WordPress from source viewers, hiding site author names, picking a good (reputable) host, automating security audits, removing plugin and theme editors and others will help keep your site safe, but do require some knowledge and planning by someone that knows their way around WordPress.

Adding an SSL to your site and hosting is also a good idea not only for encrypting data being shared back and forth with users, but also to the search engines which are starting to use it in their algorithms.

I still feel that having a good backup is THE step you have to take. If you have a restore point on which you can rely, you can move, restore or save your website pretty easily. But if you are starting from a dirty site and have to clean it, be prepared to spend either a lot of time, or a fair amount of money, to have it back up. And frankly, some times it’s even more cost effective to build over than to attempt the save.

Have questions about securing your WordPress site, or considering a new website? Contact BeBizzy Consulting today, and leave the technical stuff to us!

Why You Need a Responsive Website

Why You Need a Responsive Website

Mar 4, 2016

responsiveFor the last few years, whether I’ve been working for an advertising agency or now at BeBizzy Consulting, the main question is, “why do I need a new website?”

The answers are numerous, but one stands out above all the rest… your site needs to be responsive.

By definition, responsive sites provide a similar experience to visitors regardless of the device or resolution on which they view the site. What that really means is that whether the users hits the site on their desktop or on their smarphone the information should be similar. Not exactly the same, as the screen sizes are vastly different, but similar.

The arguments to spend the money on responsive design are many, including:

  • Nearly 60% of American adults use a smartphone, and almost that same amount of internet traffic is performed by mobile devices. Your site needs to be viewed on these devices with a positive experience.
  • The smartphone is the new phone book. Every year we get a phone book delivered, but how many times do you look contact information up on your smartphone instead of dusting off a large, alphabetical listing? Responsive sites provide an easy way to get your contact information front and center on your page even to mobile users.
  • If B2B, more millenials are doing research on your companies and using mobile devices.
  • Huge difference in computer sizes. I use two 23″ monitors, some use a single 27″, and then there’s the mobile guy who uses a 12″ laptop. All need a similar experience.
  • Does your competition have a responsive site yet? If they do, they are getting leads from mobile users. If they do not, YOU can get a jump on them and get more leads.
  • If you are doing any sort of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) it’s much easier to optimize for one site than for two. Send everyone to the same page for the same information and focus marketing dollars instead of splitting and spending extra money to reach both audiences.
  • Google, who owns nearly 70% of the search market, states that responsive web design is an industry best practice.
  • And finally, nearly 75% of consumers bring their smartphone to the bathroom. Talk about a captive audience.

So on to the next question. How much will this cost?rwd

Not as much as you would think, with BeBizzy Consulting anyways. All of our development is built on the WordPress CRM system. The code is installed in our shared server environment, backed up nightly, secured and kept updated by some great software, and is incredibly easy to navigate and edit. Best of all, the themes we purchase and use are all responsive and have been tested on many devices across many browsers to ensure your potential clients are getting to you regardless of which device is used.

So what’s the next step? Well, contacting us would be the best, easiest next step towards determining if you need to complete the migration to a responsive site. There are definitely a few more items to be concerned about like current SEO efforts and other special coding that may exist. If you want to do some checking for yourself I would suggest making a list of competitors or businesses similar in other areas and checking their websites. If you’re seeing others already configured for responsive, you’re already behind. If not, it’s a chance to jump out front and potentially capture some market share.

Responsive web design is not new, nor will it be going anywhere soon. Designing a site that’s capable to be displayed on virtually any device and display similar information is huge in minimizing the cost of multiple SEO campaigns and managing several versions of one site. Contact BeBizzy Consulting and let’s see how we can move you towards that mobile-friendly website. You decide what you want on the site, then leave the technical stuff to us.

 

What is WordPress

What is WordPress

Mar 1, 2016

wordpress-logoYou need a website, right?

So to get one, you’ll need to do a little research online, find a company or agency that “does” them, pay a designer to create some page templates, pay a programmer to create the pages from the ground up, and wait months and months for all of this to get done… then make changes.

Or… you could use WordPress.

WordPress had its beginnings as an easy way to host a blog and if you knew a few technical things you could create a few pages to flesh out the rest of the site. But now, WordPress is the single largest tool used to create websites on the internet. In fact, around 26% of ALL OF THE SITES ON THE INTERNET are done on WordPress. Narrow that to sites that have content management systems, and that number jumps to nearly 60%.

So what does all of this mean? First the bad. It means that if you can hack WordPress sites you MAY have the ability to hack nearly 26% of the websites in the world. But that’s not entirely true. The vulnerable sites contain outdated code, pirated or compromised plugins, or free themes. They can also have pages that were designed custom and have not been updated or put through any security audits. And finally, they can be hosted on virtually any server that runs PHP and a few other things.

But don’t let lazy security issues keep you away from WordPress. First of all, ANY server or website that doesn’t have security enabled or updates performed at a regular basis is at risk. At BeBizzy Consulting we develop all of our websites using WordPress and use the following options to reduce the risk or compromise:

  • We have a tool called ManageWP installed on our computers, tablets and smartphones that allow us to update ALL of our sites several times per day.
  • The same tool informs us when SPAM comments are made on these sites AND allows us to clear them out with one keystroke as well as keep the sites databases clear of overhead data.
  • Another tool is loaded with all sites to check for malicious code on a regular schedule. If any is found an email is generated to BeBizzy so the files can be removed and/or repaired.
  • Yet another tool runs on every site and performs periodic scans on files AND notifies BeBizzy via email with every successful and unsuccessful login to the dashboard.
  • Themes are purchased through reliable, trusted sources and all photos are purchased through an iStockPhoto account.
  • The hosting account includes daily backups of the sites which are downloaded to local storage twice a month. This ensures that if something does emerge on one of the sites, strategic updates can replace the malicious files.

So as you can see, hosting a site where it can be monitored and updated on a regular basis is a huge benefit when using a powerful tool like WordPress. And speaking of power, check out these other features of the world’s largest CMS:

  • Themes make changing the look of your site as easy as copying some files and activating the new theme.
  • Blog posts and other pages can be created visually in an interface that’s as easy to use as Word or your email program.
  • Integrate your social media accounts into your site without hours and hours of coding.
  • Easily control who has access to what within your site and even within your admin dashboard.
  • Drag and drop your photos or other media onto the Media Library and it gets uploaded and easily shared.
  • Thousands of plugins have been developed to make shopping carts, booking calendars and  sharing available with very little coding.
  • Self-manage your SEO by either installing plugins or controlling your page descriptions, tags and other information right on the page or post.
  • Want visitors to comment on your page or post? It’s built in by default!
  • Easy integration of Google Analytics, Adsense and other tools to make reporting and analysis easier.

Still not sold that WordPress can house your website? Check out this list of world-class sites hosted on the WordPress platform.

So what are you waiting for? Contact BeBizzy Consulting today to talk about how we can bring your website, SEO and other technical visions to life. You know your business, leave the technical stuff to us.

 

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