Can you help with some concerns over mobile site in SERPS

[TheUniqueSEO]

Hi Guys

I wonder if you can put me right on this query please?

We have a mobile version of our site, on an m. domain.  it is actually http://m.uniquemagazines.co.uk.

I have created a mobile sitemap, and added the sitemap reference to the robots.txt file.  I have setup the site in web master tools, and submitted the sitemap to web master tools.  The sitemap can be found at http://m.uniquemagazines.co.uk/sitemap.xml.  This is an index file, which in turn links to 3 sitemaps, one for pages, one for product pages and one for category pages.

I have not blocked any crawlers in the robots.txt file.

My query is we have some products showing up in the SERPS with both the mobile and normal website.

Secondly, in web master tools I am told that our mobile sitemap contains 3675 submitted URLs.  However, it states under the WEB banner that 3675 submitted, and 3675 indexed.  But under MOBILE it states 3675 submitted, none indexed...

I will attempt to attach a screenshot from WMT of this.

Do you have any ideas what has gone wrong here? is it wrong, or is this what you would expect to see?

Many thanks

Paul

ScreenHunter_18%20Feb.%2021%2010.55.jpg

[TheUniqueSEO]

Wow, so many responses

Just as an update I have implemented canonical and alternate tags on the desktop and mobile site to clarify to google et al that the mobile site is the same content as desktop, just an alternate delivery.

Will see what that does for me.

[MikeTek]

Hi Paul,

I'm a bit stumped here. I spot checked a bunch of mobile URLs from your sitemaps, and none of them are currently indexed by Google.

I've put this question out to all other Moz and associates who handle Q&A forums to see if there's someone who can share some insight here.

I don't see anything wrong with your mobile sitemaps, and the pages I checked that were not indexed are indeed loading properly with mobile content. So I'm frankly not sure what's preventing Google from indexing these pages.

Just wanted to post this response to let you know I've raised your question to the attention of our Q&A people, hopefully someone has some insight to share.

-Mike

[TheUniqueSEO]

Thanks Mike

I must admit I have done so much reading, to the point of confusing myself totally.  When you say no pages are indexed to you mean in the mobile index?

When I do a search on normal google, site:m.uniquemagazines.co.uk it tells me that 5480 pages are indexed.  Now, I am hoping this is because initially we didn't have a rel=canonical on the mobile content and so it has ended up being listed in normal serps as duplicate.

This may be why the m.uniquemagazines.co.uk domain is not indexed in the mobile serp index.

I am assuming that in web master tools our mobile site should show a number for indexed pages next to the Mobile submitted section.

Many thanks for your help

Paul

[MikeTek]

Hi Paul,

Sorry, yeah - indexation in the mobile specific index looks better for the pages in the sitemap.

An alternative approach to guiding Google's indexation of your mobile content is found here: https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details (scroll down to "Annotations in Sitemaps")

The initial lack of rel=canonical tags is likely part of the problem. This creation of rel=alternate annotations in your desktop sitemap may be a way to help sort it.

That's the best I've got right now, after some internal discussion with our Q&A team. Not sure why GWT showing no pages indexed of your Mobile sitemap, when clearly these pages are in the mobile index.

I'd probably look to analytics at this point - to determine whether/how many of your mobile pages are getting traffic from G mobile searches. This could just be a lag in GWT data, whereas the actual index is cleaning up nicely.

Best,
Mike

[TheUniqueSEO]

Thanks Mike

Silly question, but how to you check specifically the google mobile index?  Is this just by doing a site:m.uniquemagazines.co.uk search in a mobile device?

Thanks

Paul

[MikeTek]

Not a silly question at all, they've moved the mobile search a few times and now it seems the only way to get at it is:

1. Via tools like this http://www.mobilemoxie.com/site-analysis/mobile-seo/
2. By setting your user agent to iPhone/similar with the User Agent Switcher for Firefox (or similar) - then simply navigating to Google.com and running your searches
3. With an actual smartphone (slowest method IMO)

For spot-checking single URLs, I'm using the info: operator (the site: operator will return an index count for the full subdomain/directory, info: is for single URLs).

Best,
Mike

[TheUniqueSEO]

That's great Mike, thanks for your help.

I have also found this webmaster guideline

" Pages we determine aren't viewable on a mobile phone won't be included in our mobile site index (although they may be included in the regular web index). This determination is based on a variety of factors, one of which is the "DTD (Doc Type Definition)" declaration. Check that your mobile-friendly URLs' DTD declaration is in an appropriate mobile format such as XHTML Mobile or Compact HTML (3). If it's in a compatible format, the page is eligible for the mobile search index"

This links through to http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=72462

I think I should change the DTD to a mobile friendly one and see if that helps.

[MikeTek]

That certainly can't hurt either.

Seems to me these pages aren't actually having any trouble showing up in the mobile index, but GWT for whatever reason isn't associating them with your mobile sitemap.

I'd also take a look at inbound organic search traffic from mobile users landing on these pages. If they're pulling traffic, I'd assume the GWT thing is a bug/delay.

[TheUniqueSEO]

Just checked google analytics, and the mobile site is getting traffic from google, yahoo and ask engines.  So inbound traffic is coming through.  And it is converting to sales, which is the important bit.

I will update the DTD, and monitor it over the next few days/weeks and see what happens.

Thanks for all your help Mike.