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What should I watch out for if I redirect mobile visitors?

 
 

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Question: “What should I watch out for if I redirect mobile visitors?”

Answer: Just make sure you are showing Googlebot the same content that you would show to a typical user and then there is no problem in checking for mobile clients as long as the content stays the same.

0:00
All right we have a question from Chris A. in Erie, Pennsylvania and its one about Mobile, which is pretty interesting: “I have a server-side script that automatically redirects visitors to a mobile version of a site if they are using a mobile browser. My question is: What are some things to watch out for (if any) when serving different content based on the visitor?”

0:22
Great question. So, a lot of people think, just because they change what's happening if it's a mobile browser thats coming, that they're worried that might be cloaking. And let's just go back and review the definitions: cloaking is showing different content to a typical user than it is to Googlebot.

0:42
Well, a typical user is going to be browsing using a desktop browser. They're not going to be using a mobile browser, so whenever Googlebot comes, don't do anything special, don't do any hardcoded “if you are Googlebot”. And so what will happen is, you'll just flow through into what the typical user gets, so Googlebot will get what the typical user gets.

1:00
Now, if you have someone who visits with an iPhone or with Android or with some other mobile browser, it's totally fine to check: “is this mobile browser”, something thats a completely different kind of client and show up a different page. And that's not showing up different content for Google than for a typical user, so you're totally fine on the cloaking and yet a mobile user will get mobile content, a desktop user will get desktop content, everybody is happy and you don't need to worry about any sort of risk.

1:27
So if you want to be really ambitious, in theory, you can serve up the same content to desktop and mobile users and you can just be really careful with the content that you generate that it'll work on a smaller mobile screen as well, but checking for mobile browsers and serving mobile content is totally fine. The only thing to be careful about and it's the same rule as always, is treat Googlebot like you would treat a typical user, which, in this case, is just a desktop user.

1:52
So give Googlebot the exact same content you would give someone surfing in Firefox or Internet Explorer, not on an iPhone or an Android sort of capability. As long as you do that, you should be totally fine and mobile users will be happy and your desktop users will be happy, too.