Google is all about being “mobile friendly” these days. Ever since it rolled out this update, website developers and owners have been scrambling to make their sites mobile friendly. For a site to be mobile friendly means it must adhere to the standards of being used on a smartphone. This algorithm scared many in the tech community, but it was necessary, because most people now use their smartphones to look up everything. When Google rolled out the mobile-friendly algorithm, everyone thought, “whew, we’re done!” but that wasn’t so. Google had a plan all along, and the mobile-friendly element was only half of the rollout. Therefore, enter: app indexing.
Google announced: “We will begin to use information from indexed apps as a factor in ranking for signed-in users who have the app installed. As a result, we may now surface content from indexed apps more prominently in search.” Google defines app indexing like so: “App Indexing lets Google index apps just like websites. Deep links to your Android app appear in Google Search results, letting users get to your native mobile experience quickly, landing exactly on the right content within your app.” In other words, if you do a Google search on a smartphone, the search results won’t include just web pages, but also relevant content that is within an app.
For instance, let’s say you’re doing a Google search on your Android smartphone. The most relevant content for your movie query is located in the IMDb app. Therefore, it will provide the link to the IMDB website and app. As Google once declared, “Sometimes the best answer is in an app.”
This idea of app indexing brings up some questions for the future. What happens to a company that doesn’t have an Android app? Will it be punished in regard to search results, especially if it’s a small company? And how will Google index other elements in the future? These are all questions to consider when building an app or website.
At Qseeker.com, we are happy to help your website be more accessible in Google’s new feature, and the best part is, we will do it for you. We’ve had years of expertise in search engine optimization (SEO), social media, content creation, and management of websites, especially in regard to top search results in Google. If you’d like to make your website mobile friendly, please contact us at 617-816-2969 or use our contact form.