Posted by Cameron Francis on 12 Jun , 2019 in Digital Marketing News
Google has already announced they will begin to index new websites – starting July 1, 2019 – using mobile-first indexing by default.
This policy won’t affect old websites that are already indexed by Google.
In fact, sites that are not yet indexed by Google will be indexed using the mobile-first algorithm.
This article highlights how Google plans to index new sites using the mobile-first algorithm by default.
Google stated, “Mobile-first is supposed to be enabled by default for all new Google search websites starting from July 1, 2019.
The majority of new websites are mobile-optimised, and they will show the same content on both desktop and mobile devices.
Only brand new sites that haven’t been indexed by Google will be indexed using this algorithm. Older sites not yet migrated will be indexed the old-fashioned way.”
When a new website has been built, it will then be crawled by Google’s smartphone Googlebot.
The mobile-optimised content of the website is then used to index its pages and to understand the website’s structured data.
This is done in order to show relevant snippets from the respective website in Google’s search engine results page (SERP’s).
The mobile-first algorithm has come a long way since it was first introduced by Google in 2016.
In fact, Google began rolling out the mobile-first indexing to a small batch of websites in 2017.
In 2018, the mobile-first algorithm was rolled out on a much broader scale.
By the end of the year 2018, half of the new websites on Google’s search pages were indexed by Google’s smartphone Googlebot.
This change is aimed at providing a much better user experience to the mobile user.
As per the latest statistics, more than 50% of web search is done using mobile devices.
Mobile search has already surpassed desktop search for a couple of years ago. That’s why Google wants to serve their mobile search customers in a better way.
The company has already stated they will be giving preference to websites that are mobile-optimised to improve their customer experience.
Mobile-optimisation is essential in today’s technologically advanced society.
It ensures the visitor that accesses your site from a mobile device has an optimal web experience.
The design of your site will account for different screen sizes and load times.
If your site isn’t optimised for mobile, the visitor may leave your site due to inconvenience.
Google doesn’t want to lose their customers under any circumstances. That’s why they are planning to fully implement the mobile-first algorithm starting July 1, 2019.
You should be ready for this update by Google. If not, you will be losing a lot of traffic and sales over time.
Google won’t send any notifications to new website owners that their sites are being indexed using the mobile-first algorithm.
It will be the default behaviour after the 1st of July 2019. So you shouldn’t expect to be notified by Google about their latest algorithm update.
Make sure your new site is mobile-optimised to get the maximum benefit from Google’s latest algorithm update.
Google plans to handle older sites – less than 50% of the total sites indexed by them – using the desktop-first indexing algorithm.
That’s only until these sites are optimised for mobile and ready for mobile indexing.
Google will continue monitoring and evaluating such sites for their readiness for mobile-first indexing.
Google will notify these sites through Search Console once they are ready to be indexed using mobile-first indexing.
Google recommends all new sites to have a responsive web design to facilitate mobile-first indexing.
That’s because of the many issues Google has faced with separate mobile URLs for mobile websites.
The company recommends web owners to use a single URL for both mobile and desktop websites.
Mobile-first isn’t a ranking factor but a method of how Google indexes new websites.
However, being mobile-friendly is definitely going to be a ranking factor for your website.
That’s why you need to use a responsive web design for your site. It will benefit your website in the long run.
Google will begin to index new websites starting July 1, 2019, using the mobile-first indexing by default.
Now that you understand how Google plans to index new websites using the mobile-first algorithm, you can plan accordingly if you are planning to launch a new website.