July 5th, 2024
A new era is about to begin.
Remember, you heard it first from White Label IQ.
Well, technically, it was Google, but Potato Potahto.
“We’re embarking on our final last step (that’s the plan!) of our migration to a mobile-first index for Google Search: the small set of sites we’ve still been crawling with desktop Googlebot will be crawled with mobile Googlebot after July 5, 2024.”
~John Mueller, Search Advocate, Google Switzerland
Your clients, regardless of their business, thrive on growth and visibility in search engines. Agencies need to act now to save their clients and themselves. Don’t worry, most websites don’t need to do anything! The ones that need to worry are those sites whose content is not accessible at all with a mobile device. They won’t be indexed, at all.
But is SEO just about getting indexed?
Google’s verdict is out-and-loud-and-clear: Go Mobile or Go Home!
The battle has shifted from being alive on mobile to thriving on mobile.
Since we care about this so much ourselves, we thought you might find it useful, too. So we found this checklist for mobile-first indexing best practices and have simplified it for you here so you can use it to verify if your clients’ websites are in line with Google’s verdict. It covers everything from mobile-friendly design to unified content, ensuring your clients’ sites are fully optimized for Google’s mobile-first indexing.
This is an opportunity to build better relationships with your clients and to potentially earn more work.
Mobile-friendly Design
A mobile-friendly website has always been crucial and now with mobile-first indexing, there is no way around it. The content needs to be accessible and functional on mobile devices, with clickable elements, readable fonts, and appropriate spacing.
For custom sites, you can choose from either of the following 3 configurations:
Responsive Design
This approach serves the same HTML code on the same URL regardless of the users’ device (for example, desktop, tablet, mobile, or non-visual browser) and still displays the content differently based on screen sizes. Google recommends this as it’s the easiest to implement and maintain.
Dynamic Serving
Uses the same URL regardless of device. This configuration relies on ‘user-agent sniffing’ and the ‘Vary: user-agent’ HTTP response header to serve a different version of the HTML to different devices.
Separate URLs
This approach is the same as Dynamic Serving, serving a different version of the HTML to different devices but using separate URLs here.
Now if your client uses a CMS, you might need to find a new mobile-friendly theme for your site if you can’t modify your existing theme.
Google Accessibility and Rendering
Make sure that Google can access and render your mobile page content and resources.
Robots Meta Tags Consistency
Use the same robots meta tags on the mobile and desktop sites. If you use a different robots meta tag on the mobile site (especially the ‘noindex’ or ‘nofollow’ tags), Google may fail to crawl and index your page when your site is enabled for mobile-first indexing.
Avoiding Lazy-loading for Primary Content
A Google bot won’t load content that requires user interactions (for example, swiping, clicking, or typing) to load. So avoid adding lazy-load completely for your primary content.
Allowing Google to Crawl Resources
Some resources have different URLs on the mobile site from those on the desktop site. If you want Google to crawl your URLs, make sure that you’re not blocking the URL with the ‘disallow’ rule.
Content Consistency Across Devices
Even with equivalent content, differences in structure or layout between the desktop and mobile pages can cause Google to understand the content differently. However, having the same content on the desktop and mobile versions ensures that the two versions can rank for the same keywords.
Same Content on Desktop and Mobile
The mobile site should contain the same content as the desktop site, including text, images, and videos. If your mobile site has less content than your desktop site, consider updating it so that its primary content is equivalent to your desktop site.
You can have a different design on mobile to maximize user experience (for example, moving content into accordions or tabs); just make sure that the content is equivalent to the desktop site.
Using Clear and Meaningful Headings
You are writing for readers, whether in the entire content or just the headings. Bots understand this.
Headings help Google understand the structure and relevance of the content. They should be descriptive and accurately reflect the content of each section/page. Avoid generic headings like “Introduction” or “Conclusion” and instead use specific headings like “Implications of Google’s Mobile-first Indexing” or “Consequences of Not Complying with Mobile-first Indexing.”
Using the same clear and meaningful headings on both mobile and desktop sites helps Google maintain a consistent understanding of the content hierarchy.
Metadata Consistency
Metadata, including titles and meta descriptions, plays a crucial role in how search engines understand and display the content.
Having consistent titles and meta descriptions on both mobile and desktop versions helps maintain keyword relevance and ensures users get the same information regardless of the device.
Check Placement and Usage
Proper placement and usage of metadata ensure that search engines can easily identify and display the most relevant information about the site.
- Correct Placement
Verify that titles and meta descriptions are placed within the
section of the HTML on both versions. - Implementation
Review the HTML source code to ensure metadata is correctly placed. Tools like W3C Validator can help check for HTML errors and correct placement.
Review and update metadata regularly to align with best practices and any changes in SEO guidelines.
Visual Content Optimization
Images and videos are essential components of web content that enhance user engagement and experience. Optimizing visual content for mobile-first indexing ensures that these elements contribute positively to SEO and user satisfaction.
Image Best Practices
- Using High-quality Images
On the mobile site, avoid using images that are too small or have a low resolution. Instead, use high-resolution images scaled appropriately for different screen sizes. Tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim can help compress images while maintaining decent quality.
- Use Supported Formats
Google Search supports images referenced in the ‘src’ attribute of ‘
tag’ in the following file formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, and SVG. It’s also a good idea to have the extension of your filename match with the file type.Don’t use unsupported formats or tags. For example, Google supports SVG format images, but they can’t index a .jpg image in the
tag inside an inline SVG. - Avoid Ever-changing URLs
Don’t use URLs that change every time the page loads for images. Google won’t be able to process and index your resources properly if you use constantly changing URLs.
- Consistent Alt Text
Alt text is critical for accessibility and SEO. Ensure that alt text for images is consistent across both mobile and desktop versions. Provide descriptive alt text for images: use clear and concise language for alt text, accurately describing the image content. Avoid keyword stuffing and keep the alt text relevant.
- Maintain the Same Content Quality
Use the same titles, captions, filenames, and text relevant to the images on the mobile site as you do for the desktop site.
Note
If your site is using different image URLs for the desktop and mobile sites, you may see a temporary image traffic loss while your site transitions to mobile-first indexing.
This is because the image URLs on the mobile site are new to Google indexing, and it will take some time for the new image URLs to gain enough historical search results to improve their ranking.
To avoid a temporary image traffic loss, use the same image URLs across both versions of your site. If you don’t mind a temporary image traffic loss, you don’t need to take any action.
Video Best Practices
- Avoid Ever-changing URLs
Don’t use URLs that change every time the page loads for videos. Google won’t be able to process and index your resources properly if you use constantly changing URLs.
- Use Supported Formats
Use a supported format for your videos and put videos in supported tags. Videos are identified on the page by the presence of an HTML tag, for example:
,, or. - Consistent Structured Data
Use the same video structured data on both your mobile site and desktop site.
- Easy to Find Placement
Place videos in easily accessible and visible locations on the mobile site. Avoid placing videos where excessive scrolling or user interaction is required.
Structured Data
Structured data helps Google understand and index the site’s content. To prevent indexing issues, ensure structured data is present on both mobile and desktop versions.
Consistent Structured Data
Make sure that your mobile and desktop sites have the same structured data. If you have to prioritize which types you add to your mobile site, start with Breadcrumb, Product, and VideoObject structured data.
Correct URLs in Structured Data
Make sure that URLs in the structured data on the mobile versions are updated to the mobile URLs.
The Way Forward is Up—Up There!
Mobile-first indexing is not just about Google’s indexing guidelines. This is also about our commitment as agencies, to helping our clients with their presence and reach.
As an agency, we are intrigued by what’s about to unfold on the 5th of July… and by our clients’ ranking post-dawn.
Are you, too?
If yes, the only way forward is going higher than where we are today… and we like it steep.
FAQs
What is Mobile-first Indexing?
Mobile-first indexing means that Google predominantly uses the mobile version of a site’s content for indexing and ranking.
This approach is based on the increasing use of mobile devices to access the internet, ensuring that mobile-friendly content is prioritized in search results.
What Are the Benefits of Mobile-first Indexing?
The benefits of mobile-first indexing include improved search rankings for mobile-friendly sites, a better user experience for mobile users, and increased website visibility and accessibility across all devices.
How Does Mobile-first Indexing Affect SEO?
Mobile-first indexing affects SEO by prioritizing the mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking. Sites that are optimized for mobile devices tend to rank higher in search results, while those that are not may see a decline in their rankings.
Does Google Use Mobile-first Indexing?
Yes, Google uses mobile-first indexing for most sites. This means that the mobile version of the website is considered the primary version for indexing and ranking purposes.
How Does Mobile-first Indexing Work?
Mobile-first indexing works by Google using a smartphone user agent to crawl and index a website’s mobile version. The mobile site’s content, metadata, and structure are then used to determine its ranking in search results.
When Did Google Switch to Mobile-first Indexing?
Google began switching to mobile-first indexing in March 2018. By July 2019, mobile-first indexing was enabled by default for all new websites, and the process has continued to expand to existing sites.
How to Check if a Website is Mobile First?
To check if a website is mobile-first, use Google Search Console. Look for the “Mobile Usability” report and check the “Coverage” report to see if the mobile version of the site is being indexed.
You can also use the Mobile-friendly Test tool (Lighthouse) provided by Google to analyze the site’s mobile performance.
How Mobile-first Indexing Affects Website Ranking in Search Engines?
Mobile-first indexing affects website ranking by prioritizing sites that offer a good mobile experience. Websites that are optimized for mobile devices tend to rank higher, while those that are not may see a decrease in their rankings.
Ensuring the site is mobile-friendly is crucial for maintaining and improving its position in search results.
