After testing it for a year and a half, Google has eventually started migrating websites to the mobile-first indexing.
Yes, it is here, but hold on you need not panic about it. Obviously, the sky is not falling and the search will continue going on.
So before we proceed with this, it is important to know what mobile indexing is? Well, in the latest release Google defines it like:
Crawling, to recap, indexing and ranking systems have literally used the desktop version of the page’s content, which may obviously cause issues for mobile searchers when that particular version is completely different from the mobile version. By mobile first indexing means that Google will use the mobile version of the page for ranking and indexing, to help our primarily mobile in a better way and make the users find out what they are actually looking for.
Now that you know what mobile-first indexing is, it is important that you should be aware what it means for the marketers and the webmasters.
Google will have a single database of content (index) only that it will be used for offering the search results. Till now, Google used the website’s desktop version in order to index the content. Heading further Google will now be using the mobile version of a blog’s content or a website.
Here are some more details related to it:
Since this change is coming up, it will be done in forms of waves. With this, there are chances that you may not be involved in the changes initially.
Google will inform you about it through Google search console when such change is processed on your blog or the website. Mobile-first indexing is all about how Google collects the content and not about how content is ranked. Content gathered by the mobile-first indexing has got no ranking benefit over the mobile content that is obviously not gathered this way yet or the desktop content.
If you have got the desktop website only, also known as not mobile responsive, you will keep on getting represented in Google’s index although there are fewer chances of getting ranked in the search.
Being indexed in this new style operated independently from Google’s mobile-friendly assessment that can obviously alter your ranking.
Conclusion
Most of our readers already possess a mobile responsive website in place. And if this is you, mark that you won’t definitely worry about this kind of change.
And if you think your website is not mobile responsive, you should correct the issue and move quickly. You can also update the existing website for responsive behavior or you can make use of a new website template which is already coded for the mobile responsive activity.
And yes, if you have a mobile and a desktop website then you should obviously review Google’s guide in order to ensure Google understand your content and can crawl it properly.