Nichola Stott outlines 9 things webmasters should check for a mobile-first index, including mobile handling, HTTP/2, front-end optimization, tag management, structured data, service workers, URL hierarchy, content experience, and journey experience. Checking these areas can help provide a great user experience for mobile users and improve site speed, which can reduce abandonment rates and help sites rank higher in mobile search results. Stott emphasizes the importance of testing sites using a device lab to avoid making assumptions about mobile performance.

2. Nichola Stott
Nine Things We’re
Checking for a Mobile
First Index
nicholastott

3. @nicholastott
“experiment over the coming months
…and we’ll ramp up this change
when we’re confident that we have a
great user experience.”
Webmaster Central:Nov.16

4. Opportunity to BlowAway Competitors
@nicholastott

5. @nicholastott
“Multiplexing is a method… by
which multiple HTTP requests can
be sent and responses can be
received asynchronously via a
single TCP connection.”
MultiplexingTutorial:QNIMATE -Link

6. Opportunity to BlowAway Competitors
Site Speed
3G
19 Seconds
Average Load Time
>3 Seconds
53% Abandonment Time
DoubleClick:SEP.16

7. Make no assumptions
Check sample in device lab
01.Check MobileAgent/ClientHandling
@nicholastott

8. 02.Speed/HTTP2
@nicholastott
HTTP/2

9. 02.Speed/HTTP2
@nicholastott
HTTP/1.1 HTTP/2
Head of line – resources Multiplexed resources
Priority queue – ‘educated’ guess Prioritised by type & context
Queue held on client Browser to server
Keep-alive – stated Keep-alive enabled default

10. 03.Speed/Front-End
@nicholastott
• Image optimisation –
change driver
• Google’s RAIL
framework

11. 03.Speed/Front-End/Image Spriting
@nicholastott
Image spriting - top 5
change-driving performance
improvements

12. 03.Speed/Front-End/SPRITING
@nicholastott
Image spriting
HTTP/1.1 still beat
HTTP/2 in these
experiments.
Octo: Dec 15
Link

13. 03.Speed/Front-End
@nicholastott
Google Developers:Link

14. 04.Speed/Front-End/RAIL
@nicholastott
RAIL Guideline
Response Response <100ms
Animation Frame 10ms (scrolling/touch drag)
Idle • Use to complete deferred work
• Keep pre-load to minimum
Load Deliver <1000ms

15. 03.Speed/Front-End/RAIL
@nicholastott

16. 04.Tag Handling
@nicholastott
Make no assumptions
Check if different/dynamic

17. @nicholastott
04.Tag Handling
• Free Chrome Extension
• Analyse andfix
• Audit andcompare
• Navigate toURL
• Use devtools tospoof agent

18. @nicholastott
04.Tag Handling/GTM
GTM takes tags out of inline code.
Speed down = site performance up.

19. @nicholastott
05.Structureddata

20. @nicholastott
20%
05.Structureddata
Of mobile
searches are
voice search
SEL:May 16Link

21. @nicholastott
05.Structureddata
• Be top 3
• Answer on the Page
• structured data for lists,
tables, charts
Get intoFeatured
Snippets
FeaturedSnippets :RobBucci-STAT
“star wars
cast”
QUERY

22. @nicholastott
06.Service Workers
Seek to solve biggest problem – no connectivity
Replacement to AppCache
Browser runs in background – separate to web page

23. @nicholastott
06.Service Workers
SEE Pierre Far – MobileSEOGuide:Link

24. @nicholastott
06.Service Workers/MoreReading
Service Worker API – W3C Schools
Using Service Workers – Mozilla
Service Workers: An Introduction - Google

25. @nicholastott
07.URL Hierarchy/Ecosystem
Mobile
Desktop AMP
Canonical
AMPAlternate
Don’t Rely on Alternate/Canonical to infer hreflang!

26. @nicholastott
08. ContentExperience
9.58
%
Higherbounce
rate on mobile
DoubleClick:SEP.16

27. @nicholastott
08. ContentExperience
• Use words efficiently
• Natural language helps voice and scan
• If not mobile first – then mobile smart design

28. @nicholastott
“…needs to provide the user with
journey(s) and functionality to
complete their priority tasks .”
09.Journey Experience
ThinkWith Google

29. 09.Journey Experience
@nicholastott
Simple UX review and scoring system for
top revenue driving landing
pages/templates if wide-range ecommerce

30. Appendix: Ten Things We’re checking
01. Mobile Handling
02. HTTP/2
03. Front End
Optimisation
04. Tag Management
05. Structured Data
06. Service Workers
07. URL
Hierarchy/Rel
08. Content
Experience
09. Journey
Experience

31. Armageddon
Lostin Space
DeepImpact
Sphere
Star TrekInsurrection
Appendix: Filmsof 1998
Thanks for listening: Nichola Stott, theMediaFlow, Opus House Stables, Herriard, +44(0)1256
384890