Google recently announced that it will soon unleash mobile-first indexing, which basically means that Google will index the mobile version of your website before the desktop version. The update doesn’t mean that your desktop website won’t appear in search results – it just means that the mobile version of your content will be given priority.
The update reflects Google’s mission to stay on top of user behaviour trends, but it has caused a lot of confusion among webmasters and businesses all over the world. Below, we aim to clear up some of this confusion by shining a light on a few of the most important aspects of the mobile-first indexing update.
- URLs in Search
If your website has different URLs for mobiles and desktops, the mobile URL will be shown to mobile users and the desktop URL will be shown to desktop users, but the mobile version of the content will be indexed.
- Crawl Counts
While the number of crawled URLs per day is unlikely to change, we may see a shift from mostly desktop to mostly mobile crawls.
- Speed Update
Contrary to popular belief, the upcoming July speed update has nothing to do with mobile-first indexing.
- Mobile Website UIs
You’ll still be able to use features such as accordions and ‘hamburger-menus’ on mobile websites without causing problems for Google.
- On Requirements
Even if you don’t yet have a mobile-friendly website, your desktop website’s content will still be indexed by Google.
- On Ranking
Your website’s ranking should not be affected by the mobile-first indexing update. The only thing that will change is that Google will only index the mobile-friendly version of your content.
Need Help Optimising Your Website?
At Smart Traffic, our job is to stay on top of the latest developments in the search engine industry so that you can concentrate on doing what you do best. Find out how we can make sure your website is primed to rank highly following the update by calling us on 02 8205 3133