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The Definitive Guide To Technical Mobile SEO. Building Smartphone-Optimized Websites - Webmasters. Mobile Site Configuration & The Vary HTTP Header. Yesterday, Google announced more changes to the Google mobile search algorithm , which we can expect to roll out shortly. This update is intended to improve the search experience for mobile users by “address[ing] sites that are misconfigured for smartphone users” — presumably by improving mobile rankings for sites that have been optimized according to their Mobile Optimization Guidelines . In an attempt to prevent some confusion, Google also updated these guidelines to include a list of common mistakes , along with ways to avoid said mistakes. Unfortunately, confusion has been the name of the game with mobile SEO for some time now, as Google has historically sent mixed signals about what it considers mobile best practices.

In November 2011, when Google launched the GoMo project to help businesses make “m.” versions of their desktop sites, it seemed like a tacit endorsement for the development of mobile-specific pages from Google, and that was great. The Problem With Responsive Design. Vary with Care - IEInternals. About the Vary Response Header As described in the HTTP/1.1 specification (RFC2616), the Vary response header allows a cache to determine if a cached (still fresh) response may be returned for a subsequent request, based on whether or not the new request's headers match those that were sent when the the previously response was originally cached. The Vary field value indicates the set of request-header fields that fully determines, while the response is fresh, whether a cache is permitted to use the response to reply to a subsequent request without revalidation.

For uncacheable or stale responses, the Vary field value advises the user agent about the criteria that were used to select the representation. The Problem(s) Unfortunately, the WinINET caching engine (below Internet Explorer and other applications) does not cache outbound request headers. Note: IE's isn't the only cache with issues around Vary; see Internet Explorer 6. Mobile Site Configuration & The Vary HTTP Header. Google's Starting To Enforce Smartphone Penalties: The Evidence. In June, Google announced it would be adjusting search rankings appearing on smartphones based on how well the site in question handled the mobile user experience. The company didn’t say exactly when these changes would be rolling out, but only said it planned “to roll out several ranking changes in the near future that address sites that are misconfigured for smartphone users.”

These smartphone misconfiguration errors include faulty redirects like app interstitials or homepage redirects, and smartphone-only errors such as unplayable videos, smartphone-only 404 pages and serving 404 pages or redirects when equivalent content exists on the desktop site. It’s anyone’s guess how far away “the near future” is; so at SMX East, I presented results of a random sample of about a hundred queries where sites that exhibited these smartphone misconfiguration errors showed up in smartphone and desktop search results. Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Mobile Search. Use Google's Image & Mobile Optimisation Guidelines For SEO Advantage.

At the recent SMX Advanced conference in Seattle, Google’s Tech Lead for its developer program, Maile Ohye, spoke on a panel entitled, “Complicated Technical Issues That Sabotage SEO Efforts.” (There’s an excellent write-up on it here.) She discussed (among other things) the company’s recently announced changes to rankings in smartphone search results based on mobile user experience. Consolidate your image optimisation strategy with your mobile strategy to best affect your SEO traffic. Soon after, RKG chief product officer, and SEL contributing editor, Vanessa Fox produced an excellent write-up on technical SEO for mobile sites, in which she discussed different methods of optimising websites for different devices (in general URL architecture terms), including the benefits and challenges of each method.

Page Load Time Is Important For Mobile Google wants to provide mobile searchers with the best experience possible, and page response times are a part of this experience. Why? So what?