Gary Illyes from Google has confirmed that a significant number of websites will transition to the mobile-first index within the next month and a half.
Illyes revealed Google’s forthcoming plans regarding the mobile-first index during his address at Pubcon in Austin, Texas.
“Announcement – In the next month and a half or so, Google is moving a LOT of sites to mobile first,” tweeted Marie Haynes on February 21, 2018.
Last summer, Google’s John Mueller shared that the mobile-first indexing was being rolled out to individual sites prepared for it. Following this, an article was published offering guidance on preparing for the mobile-first index.
Initially, Google aimed to migrate all sites to the mobile-first index by early 2018, but this target seems unattainable. Additionally, Google has stated it won’t disclose when the migration is fully complete.
Post Illyes’ keynote at Pubcon, it appears the mobile-first index might never be entirely implemented across all sites.
“It is very likely that Google will never have a complete mobile first index. Why? Because some sites are desktop only,” Marie Haynes also tweeted on February 21, 2018.
Currently, only a limited number of sites have been added to the mobile-first index, and no significant impact on traffic is anticipated.
“Google has started adding sites to the mobile first index, but right now, there aren’t very many sites that have been added. These sites should not have noticed any changes in traffic,” tweeted Marie Haynes.
Webmasters can determine if their site has been included in the mobile-first index by examining server logs to see which crawler is most active. If Googlebot mobile is the primary crawler, the site is likely on the mobile-first index.
“How to tell if you are on mobile first index – check your server logs to see if Googlebot mobile is crawling you the most,” tweeted Marie Haynes.
There is no other way to confirm if a site has migrated to the new index without manually checking server logs, as Google is not notifying webmasters individually. If a site is “ready” for mobile-first indexing, it might be selected in the upcoming weeks.
