Google's mobile-first indexing: everything we know (so far)

Since Google first announced it was experimenting with mobile-first indexing in 2016, a ton of information has been published.

Over the years, Google has provided us with new information and updates on how to prepare.

Below is a compilation of what we know so far about Google's mobile indexing.

There is no separate index for mobile phones.

Of all the things listed about mobile-first indexing, this one is widely known.

However, it is widely known to us in the research community, but it is still a confusing concept for those outside our field.

Just to ensure there are no misunderstandings, Google stated that there is no separate index for mobile devices.

Instead, mobile-first indexing means that Google primarily uses the mobile version of the web page for ranking and indexing purposes.

In 2018, Google explained that with mobile-first indexing, the URL of the mobile-optimized version of your website is indexed.

If your website has separate URLs for mobile devices and desktops, Google will show both the URL for mobile users and the URL for desktops.

However, regardless, the indexed content will be the mobile version.

You cannot force a change to indexing. mobile-first – you also cannot choose not to participate

In late 2017, Google announced it would begin slowly rolling out indexing for mobile devices. In March 2018, Google stated it was expanding the rollout and instructed websites to prepare.

At the time of this article, however, not all sites had been enabled for mobile-first indexing. In August 2019, John Mueller encouraged site owners to be patient because their sites would eventually be ported.

Martin Splitt, who works in Developer Relations at Google, explained that there's no way to know exactly when a site will be moved to mobile-first indexing, and at the same time, there's nothing you can do to speed up the process. .

Similar to not being able to force your site to be indexed on mobile devices, you also cannot opt out.

Google determines whether a website is suitable for indexing on mobile devices based on the parity of text, links, images, and videos, as well as structured data and other metadata.

Mueller also warned website owners some time ago that using too much JavaScript can prevent a site from being indexed on mobile devices.

If you're using an app interstitial to replace your website's homepage, that will also be problematic, according to Mueller.

Webmasters will be notified in Search Console when Google determines that the site is ready for mobile-first indexing.

You can hear Mueller and Splitt's explanation of when websites are moved to mobile-first indexing in the video below, starting at 25:08:

“"This may take some time. There's another question [in the queue] asking how I can switch to Googlebot for mobile. There's no opt-in or opt-out option, we're just progressively changing or moving sites to mobile indexing, but there's no way to say 'oh yeah, next week it'll be you'. Be patient. It will happen. Everything will be fine.".

Mobile-first indexing is applied to new websites by default.

If your website was published after July 1, 2019, mobile-first indexing is enabled by default. Google made this announcement in May 2019 and explained that the change applied to websites previously unknown in Google Search.

The announcement went into detail about why Google would make mobile-first indexing the standard for new websites.

According to Google, after crawling the web with a Googlebot smartphone over the years, they concluded that new websites are generally ready for this type of crawling.

Unlike websites published before July 1, 2019, Google does not notify webmasters in Search Console that their site is ready for mobile-first indexing.

Websites should provide the same experience on mobile devices and computers.

Google added its mobile-first indexing best practices in January 2020, and the main emphasis was on providing an identical experience across mobile devices and computers.

Matt Southern provided a great summary of what Google meant by the same experiment:

Google warns that if you intentionally display less content on the mobile version of a page than on the desktop version, you will likely experience a drop in traffic.

The reason? According to Google, they won't be able to obtain as much information from the page as before (when the desktop version was used).

Instead, Google recommends that the main content of the mobile site be the same as the desktop site. Google even suggests using the same titles in the mobile version.

Indexação do Google Mobile-First: tudo o que sabemos (até agora)

Mobile usability is not the same as mobile indexing.

If Google can crawl the text on your website and that text can be displayed on a mobile device, it may be added to the mobile-first indexing.

In January 2019, Mueller explained that if your content doesn't pass the mobile-first usability test, it can still be moved to mobile-first indexing. Even if the Search Console's "mobile usability" report shows that your site has valid URLs, that doesn't mean those pages are ready for mobile-first indexing.

According to Mueller, mobile usability is "completely separate" from mobile indexing. Consequently, pages can be enabled for mobile indexing even if they are not considered usable on a mobile device.

Therefore, you should not use Google's mobile-first usability test or the mobile usability report in Search Console as a sign that your site is ready for mobile indexing.

You can hear Mueller's explanation in the video below, starting at the 41:12 mark.

“"Therefore, first and foremost, mobile usability is completely separate from mobile indexing.".

A website may or may not be usable from a mobile device perspective, but it can still contain all the content necessary for mobile indexing.

To give an extreme example, if you were to take something like a PDF file and use it on your phone, it would be terrible to navigate. The links would be difficult to click, and the text would be hard to read.

But all the text is still there, and we can index it perfectly with mobile-friendly indexing.

Mobile usability is not the same as mobile indexing.”

In summary, mobile-friendliness and mobile-responsive layouts are not mandatory for mobile indexing. Since pages without mobile versions still function on mobile devices, they are eligible for indexing.

Google publishes (and updates) best practices for indexing mobile devices.

Google provides a list of Best practices for indexing on mobile devices “"to ensure that its users have the best experience.".

Most of the information that Google shares as best practices isn't actually new. Instead, the list is a compilation of various recommendations and advice that Google has provided elsewhere over the years.

In addition to the list of recommendations above for creating the same experience on mobile devices and computers, some other best practices include:

Google has an entire section on document of recommended practices Focused on suggestions for separate URLs. Here's a short list, but you can see all the recommendations in Google's best practices for mobile-first indexing.

Google also has a troubleshooting section in its best practices document, which is worth checking out.

This includes common mistakes that can cause your site to be unready for mobile indexing or lead to a drop in rankings when the site is activated.

Google provides a changelog for mobile-first indexing.

Google has published a changelog to its mobile-first indexing best practices, which provides a quick recap of changes since 2016. You can view this changelog below.

Stay up-to-date with indexing. mobile-first

As you can see, there's a lot in the mobile indexing section, and more will be released.

Make sure you are following best practices and monitoring your website's health in Search Console.

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