Google has announced the official rollout of mobile-first indexing. Although the process began before this announcement, this marks Google’s formal recognition through its communication channels. According to Google representatives, many sites have already transitioned to mobile-first indexing.
Reaffirming what was known, Google has specified that only websites adhering to best practices are being migrated. Sites utilizing responsive web design or dynamic serving are ideal for mobile-first indexing. For sites offering both AMP and non-AMP content, Google favors indexing the mobile version of the non-AMP pages.
In an effort to enhance user experience across devices, mobile-first indexing involves Googlebot exclusively crawling and indexing the mobile version of a page. Given the rise in mobile searches compared to desktop, this strategy ensures that users encounter content optimized for mobile screens. Sites without a mobile-friendly version will still be crawled and indexed in their existing format.
It should be noted that there is no separate ‘mobile-first index’; all content remains within the same index, but mobile versions will now be prioritized when available.
Rankings Will Not Be Affected
Google reassures that mobile-first indexing will not impact rankings. This change only affects how content is collected for Google’s index. Sites that have been migrated to mobile-first indexing will not gain an advantage over those that have not.
However, mobile-friendly content generally ranks higher in search when users are on mobile devices, a practice in place since 2015.
Google is Notifying Site Owners
Sites that have transitioned to mobile-first indexing are being informed through Search Console. Additionally, site owners may notice increased crawl rates from the Smartphone Googlebot.
Notices from Google’s Search Console will resemble the example below:
