Google said it was coming and we knew it was coming – we just didn’t know when. Well, on March 26, Google made its mobile-first indexing live.
The best thing you can do is start by reading the fine print about Google’s mobile-first index:
- There is still one single index. Google doesn’t have a mobile-first index that is separate from the main index.
- Mobile-first indexing means that Google uses the mobile version of your pages and website for indexing and ranking. The goal is that this helps those using mobile find what they’re looking for more easily and faster.
- If your website is migrated to the mobile-first index, you will be notified through the Search Console. You will also see an increased crawl rate from the Smartphone Googlebot.
- If your mobile site is indexed, it is displayed in the Google search engine results pages and in Google cached pages.
- If you have AMP and non-AMP pages, Google prefers to index the mobile version of your non-AMP pages.
- Google reiterates that slow-loading content may perform less well for those searching by desktop and mobile.
- Being indexed in the mobile-first index does not have a ranking advantage.
Now that you’ve stopped stressing and panicking about this mobile-first transition, the next thing we want you to do to is contact us. We’ll audit your website and give you suggestions on how you can improve the design, content, structure, and SEO to make sure it’s following best practices for mobile-first indexing.
Google knows that not every website owner is ready for mobile and makes this very clear statement in its recent blog post about rolling out mobile-first indexing:
Mobile-first indexing is about how we gather content, not about how content is ranked. Content gathered by mobile-first indexing has no ranking advantage over mobile content that’s not yet gathered this way or desktop content. Moreover, if you only have desktop content, you will continue to be represented in our index.
However, this doesn’t mean you can ignore mobile-first indexing. It’s time to move forward and get on board with the way people are using the Internet and their mobile devices. Remember, mobile websites are key to success in standing out in voice search.
Keep in mind these two important points from Google:
- Having mobile-friendly content is still helpful for those looking at ways to perform better in mobile search results.
- Having fast-loading content is still helpful for those looking at ways to perform better for mobile and desktop users.
Know Agency is here to help you with your mobile-first website and indexing questions. Contact us, we’ll help you out. We promise it won’t be stressful or confusing – instead it will be all unicorns, rainbows, and funny jokes. You get exactly what you need from us without the fluff and buster – damn good SEO, digital marketing, content and website expertise.
