Regardless of your web development skills or knowledge, the following is important to know for your multifamily marketing strategies. For property management marketing teams, you can relay this information to your web developer in preparation for the coming changes. Earlier this year, Google announced new updates regarding mobile first indexing for online ranking for websites. Initially announced and rolled out back in 2018, Google’s mobile-first indexing takes the mobile versions of our websites into consideration first and foremost for ranking.
Here at Street Digital Media, we see traffic of up to 80% from mobile devices for some multifamily websites. It makes sense for Google to continue to think mobile-first. With that in mind, Google’s update encourages web developers to use the same content across the mobile and desktop versions of your website. While this may seem obvious, many companies, small businesses, and agencies create mobile and desktop versions of their websites in an effort to accommodate for page speed, load time, AMP, etc. According to Search Engine Journal, “Google has advised developers to maintain the same primary content across the desktop and mobile versions of their sites.”
While your web development skill set might be limited as a marketer, there are steps in working with your developers to make sure this doesn’t have a negative impact on your traffic. It’s important to check with your web development team on the following:
- Structured data- make sure structured data is consistent on the mobile and desktop versions of your site.
- Photography & Video- Make sure to use the same alt text across desktop and mobile. “As is this case with images, videos should also use persistent URLs. Site owners are also reminded to use the same video structured data across both versions of their site and to avoid placing videos in hard-to-find locations on mobile pages, such as areas that would require a lot of scrolling to find the video,” says SEJournal.
As your marketing team continues to drive high quality leads to your property websites through multifamily PPC campaigns, social media advertising, ILS referrals, and more, it’s important to take into account the ever-changing digital landscape that your websites must play within. As a multifamily marketer, confirming that the items above are in good order with your web team will put your mind at ease knowing you are evolving with Google’s changes. In the end, this will help ensure less loss of traffic, reduced bounce rates, and better overall website performance for your multifamily marketing strategies.