Google’s Search Index Algorithm is Shifting From Desktop to Mobile-First

Google announced on Friday that their search index algorithm will primarily use the mobile version of a website’s content to rank pages from that site. This is major news for digital marketing companies, because Google has always prioritized the desktop version to determine its relevancy. The change comes along with the recent breakthrough that more searches are being made on mobile.

Mobile-first indexing is only in the experimental stage, at the moment. A shift from desktop to mobile will eventually take place, but Google assures that they will continue building a great experience for both mobile and desktop users.

Some tips from Google if you are a webmaster that is concerned about the move towards a mobile-focused index:

• If you have a responsive site or a dynamic serving site where the primary content and markup is equivalent across mobile and desktop, you shouldn’t have to change anything.
• If you have a site configuration where the primary content and markup is different across mobile and desktop, you should consider making some changes to your site.
  • Make sure to serve structured markup for both the desktop and mobile version.
  • Sites can verify the equivalence of their structured markup across desktop and mobile by typing the URLs of both versions into the Structured Data Testing Tool and comparing the output.
  • When adding structured data to a mobile site, avoid adding large amounts of markup that isn’t relevant to the specific information content of each document.
  • Use the robots.txt testing tool to verify that your mobile version is accessible to Googlebot.
  • Sites do not have to make changes to their canonical links; Google will continue to use these links as guides to serve the appropriate results to a user searching on desktop or mobile.
• If you are a site owner who has only verified their desktop site in Search Console, please add and verify your mobile version.
• If you only have a desktop site, Google will continue to index your desktop site just fine, even if we’re using a mobile user agent to view your site.

The first thing a customer usually sees when searching for a business is the website. AVX Digital’s graphic design and web development team are skilled at creating beautiful websites that will give the user a memorable experience. With Google’s focus on mobile-first indexing, we work to develop an interface that interacts with the user and operates as mobile friendly as possible. We have the team and expertise to build a website with a responsive design, no matter your industry. Visit our services page for more information.