On Monday Google Google announced the roll-out of the “mobile-first” indexing of the web. In 2016, Google first elaborated its plan to change the manner in which its search index functions, explaining how its search algorithms would eventually be shifted for using the mobile version of a website’s content for indexing its pages.
Google will start the second wave of expanding mobile-first indexing to a larger set of websites. Google’s Takeaki Kanaya tweeted that it seems that the notifications are a part of mobile-first indexing. In December 2017, Google stated that it had started to transition a small number of sites to mobile-first indexing. However, it declined to state which properties had made the transition.
In a blog post, Google stated that they will use mobile-version of a web page for indexing and ranking, to assist mobile users to find what they are looking for. By “primarily mobile”, Google is hinting at the fact that most people who use Google today use mobile devices.
Google also explained that it will have one index for search results instead of having a mobile-first index which is separate from its main index. So, Google will start looking for mobile web pages for indexing the web rather than the desktop version. Google specifically chose those websites which are already following the best practices for mobile-first indexing. It will give precedence to the mobile version of the webpage over its own fast-loading AMP pages.
Google also mentioned that those websites which have been shifted will be notified through Search Console will have increased visits from the Smartphone Googlebot.
After the shift, they will show the mobile version of site’s pages in its Search Results and in Google cached pages. However, webmasters of sites which are yet to be mobile-optimized don’t need to panic. Google announced that if they only have desktop content, they will continue to be represented in Google’s index. The company didn’t specify when the rollout of mobile-first indexing would be completed.
