Mobile-First Indexing – Google Says 70% of Websites Have Been Moved
As Google prepares to move all sites over to mobile-first indexing, the company confirms 70% of sites have already made the shift.
The remaining 30% will be moved to mobile-first indexing by September at the latest, as Google says that’s when all sites will be officially switched over.
Between now and September Google will continue to movie sites as they become ready.
A sure sign that your site has been moved to mobile-first indexing is an increase in Googlebot’s crawling, particularly from the mobile smartphone user-agent.
You can also check in Search Console, where a site’s mobile-first indexing status is shown on the settings page as well as in the URL inspection tool.
Google’s guidance with regards to optimizing a site for mobile-first indexing remains the same.
Some major things to watch out for when optimizing for mobile-first indexing are:
>>> On-page content is the same on mobile and desktop versions
>>> Metadata is the same on both versions
>>> Structured data is the same on both version
Google’s URL testing tool allows site owners to easily check both the desktop and mobile versions of a page. So you can ensure Google (and visitors) can see identical content on desktop and mobile.
Google specifically recommends not using separate mobile URLs (also known as “m-dot”) because they can cause “issues and confusion” for search engines and users. The gold standard for mobile-first indexing is responsive web design.
According to Statista, in 2018, over 47% of web traffic was conducted via mobile devices. This statistic demonstrates the increasing adoption and importance of mobile devices, and the importance web owners must place on ensuring their websites are mobile-friendly.
Mobile devices are now commonly used to research business information, products, including local search, or for general research, especially when users are on the go. They want access to information quickly and easily, without any obstacles, so ensuring your website is mobile-friendly will remove any obstacles in their way from getting the essential information about your business.
The Search Engine Journal have published a peice on Mobile-First Indexing: Everything We Know so far…
