What is Google Mobile First Indexing And Why Is It Important?

Introduction

In the past few years, we have seen a change in how people access information from search engines like Google. Before, people used to rely on their desktops to search on the Internet. But slowly, we have grown to be more dependent on our cell phones. Now, this major shift has caused the phenomena of the Google Mobile First Index. After looking at how the focus has now shifted to mobile, many website owners and businesses also started to adapt their sites to a more mobile-friendly version.

Google decided that making the Internet more mobile-friendly would be much more beneficial. In particular, the Google mobile first indexing update has now shifted the process of indexing from the desktop to the mobile version of the website. This approach has entirely changed how Google’s search engine functions. Furthermore, this change also signifies the importance of providing mobile users with seamless and optimized experiences.

What Is Google Mobile First Indexing?

Before we move any further into the topic, it is important that we properly understand what google mobile is first indexing. So, here is a simple explanation of mobile-first Indexing:

This update basically ensures that the previous process of indexing websites on the desktop version is now based on their mobile version. In turn, this will also ensure the sites that are more mobile-friendly will rank higher to give the user a great overall experience.

Simply speaking, Google will now use the mobile version of your site instead to understand if it is relevant to the user's specific search query. Further, this indexing does not give priority to what device users are using to search queries. Regardless of the device, indexing and ranking would always depend on the mobile version of the website.

Reasons for Shifting to Mobile First Index

In 2017, Google first announced that it would slowly be rolling out the mobile-first index. In July 2019, Google Mobile's first indexing update was enabled and made default for all new websites. The reason for these changes was to accommodate the needs of people that rely on their phones.

Following are a few reasons that made them change their indexing process:

• Statistic states: Over 60% of Google searches are performed from mobile devices, which is the primary reason why this shift happens.

• Mobile devices have different needs in comparison to desktops. Therefore, the Google mobile first indexing will ensure that they are specifically ranking the mobile-optimized websites.

• Lastly, the majority of user traffic is coming from mobile. Therefore, Google wants to ensure a consistent user experience.

All these facts are reasons why Google decided to roll out the mobile first indexing update throughout the Internet.

How Long Does Google Indexing Take?

Google mobile-first indexing takes anywhere between a few hours to several weeks. In addition, indexing depends on a variety of factors, including:

• The size of the website

• The content quality

• Technical issues

How to Speed Up the Google Mobile First Indexing Process?

Use can use the following methods to fasten the indexing process:

• Submit your website to Google Search Console.

• Optimize your content to make it high-quality and relevant.

• Use Mobile friendly themes to improve your user experience and make your website more appealing.

These are some of the tips that can help you speed up the indexing process. By following them, you can get your website to find more users.

Google Mobile First Indexing: Essential Tips To Optimize Your Website

Here are some essential tips you can use to optimize your website for Google mobile-first indexing:

• Your website should be mobile-friendly. This will help the site to automatically adjust and adapt according to the device of the user.

• Ensure that Google can easily access and render your mobile page content.

• The content on your mobile should be the same as the content on your desktop. This way, both versions will rank for the same keywords.

• The metadata, like title and metatags in both versions of your site, should be the same.

• Optimize your visual content to follow the best practices and ensure that both versions of your site have structured data.

Conclusion

The number of mobile users has seen a rise in the past few years since Google decided to shift to mobile-first indexing. Google mobile first indexing was implemented in order to improve the user's experience. And a lot of websites have also decided to optimize their website to be more mobile-friendly, which can also help them with indexing and ranking.

By following essential tips like mobile-friendly forms, mobile SEO, structured data markup, visual content optimization, and more, they ensure the ranking of their website is always high. If you are a business looking to optimize your site with advanced SEO strategies and SEO best practices, we recommend reaching out to GigDe Global Solutions!