Here’s a not so fun fact about me – sometimes the tip of my pointer finger on my right hand gets this weird ghostly sensate ache. It’s from brushing it over screens all day, every day. When this happens, I switch to using my ring finger, which promptly cramps. I do not stop using whatever device is causing the irritation.

Such is life in 2018.

The ubiquity of smart devices with touch screens, especially phones, has become an integral part of everyday life. It may seem shocking, but some people don’t even use a personal computer. Their phone is all the computer they need — which means we should all be paying attention to mobile interfaces.

Surprisingly, in spite of the phone’s dominating presence, the desktop experience has been the primary focus of most search engines, including Google’s. This is about to change sometime in 2018 though with the rollout of Google’s mobile-first index. This search engine that will index the web from the point of view of a mobile user – and though Google is fickle at best when it comes to adult content, we should all probably get ready.

Mark Munroe, founder and CEO of SEORadar.com, shared five general key steps as to how. Especially for sites that seek to stay PG-13, these tips are on-point.

Design small

With a smaller screen, every element matters. According to Munroe the core tenets of UX — ease of use, simple navigation and fast loading time, to name a few — are that much more critical. Attempting to imply miniaturize a desktop interface for a mobile screen doesn’t work, so don’t do that.

Optimize speed

For various reasons ranging from searchs-on-the-go to private-time consumption, mobile users demand fast load times – or they leave and move on to something else. Google data reports a slow or difficult-to-navigate site will lose 29 percent of smartphone users immediately – and 70 percent do so because of lagging load times.

According to Munroe, to tackle this issue, the first step is finding where your mobile site stands on speed. Common issues that cause slowdown include large images/files, busy page designs and not utilizing browser cache. Google also recently addressed another potential impact related to site speed that only affects sites with a separate mobile URL (responsive or dynamic serving sites won’t be affected) – a potentially increased crawl rate.

Work with your hosting company to ensure the servers hosting your mobile site have enough capacity to handle any changes.

Prioritize mobile UX

According to Munroe, the mobile-first index thinks like a mobile user — so your site has to be attuned to the different performance standards and expectations that come with that. Beyond site speed, navigation must be simple and intuitive. Design should be straightforward and clean. Links should be minimal.

This is key: Google has said they will index the desktop version of sites that do not have mobile counterparts in the mobile-first index. A desktop site will be judged by mobile standards, so a slow-loading or clumsy design could spell disaster with the new mobile-first index.

Content correspondence on mobile and desktop

For sites with responsive design configuration, matching mobile and desktop content should not be an issue. For other configurations however — adaptive, distinct mobile URL, etc — it is critical for sites to provide the same content on mobile that’s on desktop versions. Or, at least content that is as similar as possible.

This is also key: SEO elements, especially HTML titles and meta descriptions, should be the same across platforms. In addition, Munroe suggests taking a close look at priority pages (those pages that drive the most traffic and/or conversions). If there’s more keyword-rich content on the desktop page, with a more stripped down version on the mobile counterpart, the page could lose search visibility in the mobile-first index.

Consider the customer journey

Munroe suggests examining the click-paths users take on desktop and mobile to gain some insight into a typical customer journey. Make sure to keep your mobile path simple, and be aware of how users might view ad intrusion (Hint: It’s annoying).

With a small screen, pop-up ads and other conversion techniques can create a poor user experience. In fact, Google has already had an interstitial penalty put into place for mobile sites. Consider other ways to drive conversions that make more sense with the mobile experience. A balance must be struck between user interaction and pushing product and goals.

As we all know, Google and the adult business have a lukewarm, somewhat confounding relationship. We need to be mindful of that relationship though, regardless.

Image via Davide Guglielmo.