Mobile-first indexing means that Google primarily uses the mobile version of a website’s content for crawling, indexing, and ranking.
Before 2020, Google predominantly crawled the desktop version of a website. However, as the use of mobile devices – such as smartphones and tablets – for conducting online searches has dramatically increased, Google decided to prioritize crawling and indexing the mobile version of websites using the smartphone user-agent.
This transition had been anticipated for some time. In fact, the first reports of Google’s experiments with mobile-first indexing emerged in 2016.
Subsequently, in 2019, Google announced that mobile-first indexing would be applied to websites launched after July 1 of that year. Essentially, the changes affected websites that were either new or previously unknown to Google.
By March 2020, based on Google’s reports, approximately 70% of crawled websites had transitioned to mobile-first indexing. The aim was to complete this switch by March 2021.
However, as of February 2023, Google still needed to transition some sites from desktop-first to mobile-first indexing.
It’s important to note that it’s not mandatory for your website to have a mobile version to be shown in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). If a mobile version isn’t available, Google will simply index your website’s desktop version. Nonetheless, having a mobile-friendly website is strongly recommended, as Google’s indexing system will continue to prioritize mobile websites.
Mobile-first indexing is important because it encourages webmasters to create mobile-friendly websites. Google’s objective is to ensure that its users receive the best possible experience when accessing search results from their mobile devices.
Numerous studies have revealed that approximately 65% of searches are conducted on mobile devices. This statistic underscores the growing importance of catering to mobile users.
Understanding the importance of mobile-first indexing for both search engine optimization and providing a superior user experience is crucial to the success of any website. Thus, your website needs to be mobile-friendly to align with mobile-first indexing.
Here are the key points to bear in mind:
Additionally, you can use our free Ahrefs Webmaster Tools to run a Site Audit using a mobile user-agent. This will help you detect any SEO issues on your website.”
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