Mobile-first indexing means Google will mainly utilize the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. Traditionally, the index primarily utilized the desktop version of a page's content while evaluating the relevance of a page to a user's query. Since the majority of users now access Google via a mobile device, the index will mostly utilize the mobile version of a page's content going forward. We aren't making a separate mobile-first index.
General questions about mobile-first indexing
Is mobile-first indexing addition mobile pages to a divide mobile index?
By mobile-first indexing, there is only one index (the similar one Google uses now). The modify to mobile-first indexing does not generate a new “mobile-first” index, nor is it making a separate “mobile index” with a “desktop index” remaining active. Instead, it simply changes how content is inserted to the existing index.
Will this change how I should serve ads/content/etc. on my mobile site?
If your existing approach to ads is making a slow or otherwise poor user experience you would certainly require addressing that. If you presently opt to hide some of your mobile site content in accordions or tabs to save space, this is really not a problem as this content will be treated in the similar way as if it was loaded totally visible (as long as the content is still crawled able/accessible).
Does this change how I use rel=canonical/switchboard tags?
No. For now, Google has assured that if you have previously implemented switchboard tags, you should leave them as they are.
Is the mobile-first index live as well as affecting my website now? If not, while does it go live?
Google has been experimenting with this technology for indexing on a small number of sites, which were selected based on perceived “readiness”. A wider rollout is likely going to take a long time as well as in June 2017, Gary Illyes stated that it will maybe take a few years before “we attain an index that is only mobile-first.” Google has also stated the following on the Webmasters Blog, in a blog post dated Dec 18, 2017:
“We will be evaluating sites independently on their readiness for mobile-first indexing based on the above criteria as well as transitioning them while preparing. This process has previously started for a handful of sites as well as is closely being monitored by the search team.
“We maintain to be cautious with rolling out mobile-first indexing. We believe taking this slowly will help webmasters get their sites prepared for mobile users as well as because of that, we presently don't have a timeline for while it's going to be completed.”
While might Google utilize the desktop site to determine rankings vs. the mobile site?
The primary utilizes case I’ve seen referred to so far is that they will utilization the desktop site to determine rankings by Website SEO Services while there is no mobile version.
It is possible that for websites where the desktop version has additional ranking information (such as backlinks), that information could also be taken into consideration - however there is no guarantee that they will crawl or index the desktop version once they’ve seen the mobile version as well as I haven’t seen any official statements that this would be the case.
Therefore one of the official recommendations is that once the mobile-first indexing rollout happens if you’re in the procedure of building your mobile site or have a “placeholder” type mobile version presently live it would really be better to have no mobile site than a broken or incomplete one. In this case, you should wait to launch your mobile site until it is completely prepared.
Will Google only utilize my mobile site to determine my rankings?
Mobile-first means that the mobile version will be measured the main version when it comes to how rankings are determined. However, there might be circumstances where the desktop version could be taken into consideration (for instance, if you don’t have a mobile version of a page).
That being said, you will potentially still see varying ranking results between mobile search results as well as desktop search results, so you’ll still want to track both. (In the same way that now, Google primarily uses the desktop site to determine rankings however you still want to track mobile rankings as these vary from desktop rankings based on user behavior as well as other factors).
What if someone doesn’t have a mobile version of my site?
If you don’t have a mobile version of your site as well as your desktop version is not mobile-friendly, your content may still be indexed; yet you might not rank as well in comparison to mobile-friendly websites. This might even negatively impact your overall rankings on desktop search as well as mobile search results because it will be supposed as having a poorer user experience than other websites (as the crawler will be a “mobile” crawler).
Is there dissimilarity between how responsive sites, as well as separate mobile sites, will be treated?
Yes and no. The main difference will be in terms of how much work you have to do to obtain ready for this change.
If your Responsive Web Design Company make fully responsive site, you should previously have everything present in your mobile version that is presently part of the desktop version as well as your main challenge will merely be to allow that the mobile experience is well optimized from a user perspective (e.g. page speed, navigation, load time, etc). With a separate mobile website, you’ll need to make sure that your mobile version contains everything that your desktop site does, which could be a lot of work depending on your mobile strategy so far.
My mobile website contains less content than my desktop site. Should I be nervous?
Potentially, yes. Google has told that it will seem at the mobile version of your site. If that has less content on page A than the desktop version of page A, then Google would maybe just see the mobile version with less content.
This is why Google recommends you go with a receptive approach — the content is the same on a page-by-page basis from your desktop to your mobile site. You may perform the same with other mobile implementations, but there is more room for error.
