What is Mobile First Index

A few years ago, a big shift in mobile device usage (Tablets, Mobile Phones etc) resulted in web browsing on such devices being greater than other devices (Desktop Computer, Laptops etc). As a result of mobile devices being on the increase year and year, google created mobile first index.

In September 2020, all websites were ported over to the mobile-first index by google. This means that Google will base what it places in the index on the mobile version of your site, whereas they used to index the desktop version of your site first.

What difference will mobile first index make?

Firstly, not all websites have a mobile version, older sites that have been around many years will suffer in ranking as a result. New sites are developed as responsive, this means that regardless of the device viewing the website, a clear (un-broken) experience is had by the user.

Check if your website is responsive?

Go to a desktop and open your website up, you (hopefully) see a full, (unbroken) website. Now reduce your browser and make it smaller (so it’s shaped more like a mobile), If the content adapts to whatever size, you have your window, your website is responsive. Now check your website on a mobile phone, hopefully, it should all display perfectly on there too.

Website Content with Mobile First Index

Ok, your website is responsive and works on all devices but, something more to consider…
Using a desktop or laptop, open your website homepage. Look at the content and imagine you were viewing on a mobile phone. Is there a lot of content? – would this result in a mobile user scrolling forever to view all your webpage?

You may need to adjust your content to be mobile friendly also.

Yoast SEO did a good article on this subject – Click Here to view.

As always, feel free to contact us here at Inline Data should you need help or assistance.