What are the best mobile-first indexing algorithm solutions for your website?

1 What is mobile-first indexing?

Mobile-first indexing means that Google uses the mobile version of your website as the primary source of content and ranking signals for its search results. This means that your website needs to be fast, functional, and user-friendly on mobile devices, or you risk losing traffic and visibility. Google started rolling out mobile-first indexing in 2018, and announced that it will apply to all websites by March 2021.

2 Why does mobile-first indexing matter?

Mobile-first indexing matters because more and more people are using their smartphones and tablets to access the internet and search for information, products, and services. According to Statista, mobile devices accounted for 52.6% of global web traffic in 2020, up from 35.1% in 2015. Google wants to provide the best possible user experience for its mobile users, and reward websites that meet their expectations and needs.

3 How to check your website's status?

You can check your website's status for mobile-first indexing by using Google Search Console, a free tool that helps you monitor and improve your website's performance on Google. To do this, you need to log in to your Search Console account, select your website, and go to the Settings section. There, you will see a section called Crawling, where you can find out whether your website is on mobile-first indexing or not. If it is, you will see a message saying "Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking". If it is not, you will see a message saying "Google uses the desktop version of the page's content".

4 How to improve your mobile performance?

One of the most important factors for improving your mobile performance is your website's loading speed. Mobile users are impatient and expect your website to load in less than three seconds, or they will bounce off. To speed up your website, you need to optimize your images, minify your code, enable compression, use a content delivery network, and leverage browser caching. You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Pingdom to measure and improve your website's speed.

5 How to improve your mobile user experience?

Another key factor for improving your mobile user experience is your website's design and layout. Your website should be responsive, meaning that it adapts to different screen sizes and orientations, and provides a consistent and intuitive navigation. You should also avoid using elements that are not compatible with mobile devices, such as Flash, pop-ups, or intrusive ads. You can use tools like Google Mobile-Friendly Test, Google Lighthouse, or HubSpot Website Grader to evaluate and enhance your website's user experience.

6 How to avoid common pitfalls?

Your website's ranking and performance on mobile-first indexing can be negatively affected by common pitfalls, such as having different content or structured data on your mobile and desktop versions. It is important to ensure that your mobile version contains the same essential information and features as your desktop version, and that your structured data is consistent and valid across both. Additionally, you should make sure that your robots.txt file does not block any resources or files needed for your mobile version to function properly, such as CSS, JavaScript, or images. Lastly, it is crucial to ensure that your mobile version is easy to use and accessible for all users, regardless of their device or ability. To do this, avoid using small fonts, buttons, or links, and provide clear and visible labels, headings, and calls to action.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?