Mobile first indexing means Google will consider mobile friendly websites first when deciding how to rank content. If Google is taking mobile websites more seriously, shouldn’t you?
If your site has a responsive design that is mobile friendly, Google might rank you based on how your website performs on mobile devices.
What is Mobile-First Indexing?
Mobile-first indexing means Google will predominantly use the mobile version of your website content for indexing and ranking.
In the past, Google primarily used the desktop version of your website’s content when evaluating the relevance of your content to a person’s search query.
With the majority of users searching from their mobile device, Google will use the mobile version of your website content first. Now the Googlebot primarily crawls and indexes pages with the smartphone agent.
Google has been slowly rolling out this new strategy in 2018 and more websites will be affected in 2019.
(Per Google: There’s one index with mobile content being primary.)
Is Your Website Responsive?
If you don’t have a responsive website that is mobile friendly now, don’t panic. You are not doomed to start dropping off the search results just yet.
Mobile first doesn’t mean mobile only. Even if you lack a mobile-friendly version of your site, you can still rank in search results – for now.
Google has made it clear that it considers its mobile users a top priority. Now is the time to switch your desktop-only website to a responsive design that is mobile friendly.
Google is taking mobile websites more seriously. You should, too!
