Moving from M. to Responsive: Rel Alternate Considerations

[TakeLessons]

Hey Guys,

We’re in the process of transitioning our key traffic generating pages on our website from m. to responsive.

Today, our site uses Google’s ‘Separate URLs’ method.

• Rel alternate on desktop pages to m. pages
• 302 redirects pushing mobile visitors to m. pages
• Canonical on m. pages back to desktop pages

As we make the transition to responsive we’ll be taking the following steps:

• Removal of 302 redirects pushing mobile visitors to m. pages
• 301 redirects from m. pages to desktop pages

With those changes in mind, I’d love to get the communities opinion on how to best handle the real alternate attribute on desktop pages.

I'm considering leaving the rel alternate attribute in place on desktop pages for 30-90 days so that search engines continue to see the alternate version without the 302 redirects in place, crawl it, and as a result discover the 301 redirects more readily.

If we remove the 302 redirects as well as the rel alternate, then my feeling is that search engines would just index the responsive page accordingly and be less likely to catch the 301 redirects pointing from the m. pages and make the transition of mobile pages in search indices take longer than necessary.

Ultimately, I'm probably splitting hairs and getting a bit nuanced because I believe things will work themselves out whether we leave the rel alternate or remove it but I thought it would be great to get any opinions or thoughts from community members that have made a similar transition.

Thanks in advance for stopping by and providing your thoughts.

All the best,
Jon

PS - for your reference, the only mention that I was able to dig up in Q&A for a move from m. to responsive are the following:

• Redirecting M Dot Mobile Website to Responsive Design Website Questions
• SEO Concerns From Moving Mobile M Dot site to Responsive Version?

[bridget.randolph]

I think this is great! I agree with all of your thought process. I wish all migrations could be this thorough

It looks like you posted this question a little while ago though, so if you've already started the process I'd love to hear how it's going!