Image from: Searchenginejournal.com
Back in 2016, Google has first announced about experimenting with mobile-first indexing. Since then, a lot of information about this has been published. Throughout the years, more and more information has been given to us by Google especially on how the mobile-first indexing works and what people can do to prepare for it.
Just recently, Google confirmed that 70% of sites have already made the shift to mobile-first indexing. The remaining 30% will be moved by September at the latest, as Google says that’s when all sites will be officially switched over.
How do I know if my website has been moved to mobile-first indexing?
A sign that your site has been moved is an increase in Googlebot’s crawling, particularly from mobile smartphones user end.
You can also check in Google Search Console also show on the settings page as well as in the URL inspection tool a website’s mobile-first indexing status.
Some things to watch out for when optimizing:
- On-page content is the same on mobile and desktop versions
- Meta data is the same on both versions
- Structured data is the same on both version
Google’s URL testing tool allows site owners to easily check both the desktop and mobile versions of a page. So you can ensure Google (and visitors) can see identical content on desktop and mobile.
Google specifically recommends not using separate mobile URLs (also known as “m-dot”) because they can cause “issues and confusion” for search engines and users. The standard for mobile-first indexing is responsive web design.
Source: Google, Search Engine Journal
