Google answers some FAQs about Mobile First Indexing

Google answers some FAQs about Mobile First Indexing

With an increasing number of websites now being crawled and indexed with Google’s Mobile First Index, Google has released a series of Tweets today answering some of the more frequently asked questions surrounding Mobile First Indexing.

 URLs in Search

URLs in search: With Mobile-first indexing, we index the mobile version. When we recognize separate mobile URLs, we'll show the mobile URL to mobile users, and the desktop URL to desktop users - the indexed content will be the mobile version in both cases.

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) June 14, 2018

Crawl Counts

Crawled counts: The total number of crawled URLs/day generally won't change, but the balance will shift from mostly-desktop to mostly-mobile crawls. During a switch-over to mobile-first indexing we may temporarily crawl more as we reindex everything.

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) June 14, 2018

Page Cache Bug

Cached page: Unfortunately, it looks like we're currently still not showing a cached page for many mobile-first indexed sites. This is a bug, not by design, and should get resolved over time. It's just the UI, it doesn't affect crawling, indexing, or ranking.

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) June 14, 2018

Page Speed

Speed and mobile-first indexing: The mobile speed update in July is independent of mobile-first indexing. Fast sites are awesome for users, especially on mobile, since devices & connections there tend to be slower than with desktops.

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) June 14, 2018

Hidden Content

Mobile website UIs: Using "hamburger-menus" and "accordions" on mobile websites is fine.

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) June 14, 2018

Mobile Friendliness

On requirements: Neither mobile-friendliness nor a mobile-responsive layout are requirements for mobile-first indexing. Pages without mobile versions still work on mobile, and are usable for indexing. That said, it's about time to move from desktop-only and embrace mobile :)

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) June 14, 2018

Ranking Impact

On ranking: The mobile-first index doesn't change anything for ranking other than that the mobile content is used. While mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor on mobile, being in the mobile-first index is not.

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) June 14, 2018

Want to know more about the switch to Mobile First Indexing? Or about search engine optimisation in general? M Training offers a Beginners SEO course and an Advanced SEO Course.

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