You’ve always heard that content is king, even Google says that the easiest way to increase your ranking in the search engine results pages is to publish fresh, relevant content that provides value for your readers. Websites with in-depth content, typically 1,000 to 2,500 word articles on a subject, fill the top positions in the SERPS, however, this may soon change as Google moves toward mobile-first indexing.

As an experiment, Google will begin looking at the mobile version of a web page and ranking that page as opposed to the desktop version. While Google’s blog says the program is an experiment for 2017, their other mobile initiatives all point to a mobile first index as a reality very shortly. Although websites without a mobile version will remain in the single index, Google’s made it clear that people are searching for information from their mobile devices more than ever now, and the trend is expected to continue.

While Google has said that websites with responsive designs don’t need to change anything, long form content isn’t compatible with mobile devices with small screens. As individuals with a seven inch screen click on a link to a responsive website with a 1,000 word article full of fluff, they may hit the back button quickly, causing the site’s bounce rate to climb. Marketers will have to serve content in shorter form when possible, while still trying to pack in as much useful information as possible. Finally, the obsession with long blog posts will end as people really just want to read high quality content; they do not care about the length.