Google Makes Mobile-First Indexing The Default for New Domains

Mobile has changed the way people browse online, perform online searches, use social media and even do online shopping. Google just announced that it is making Mobile-First indexing the default for all new domains. So, it is fantastic to see that new websites are now generally showing users – and search engines – the same content on both mobile and desktop devices.

The mobile-first indexing will be enabled by default for all new, previously unknown to Google Search, websites starting July 1, 2019, so there are no plans for Google to notify webmasters. Google suggests that website owners check for this indexing through the URL Inspection Tool in Search Console. By looking at a URL on their website there, they can get information on how the content was crawled and indexed. For older websites that are not indexed using the mobile-first indexing method, Google will continue monitoring and evaluating pages for their readiness for mobile first indexing, and will notify them through Search Console once they are seen as being ready.

If your site has separate desktop and mobile content, Google offers the best practices for you to prepare for mobile-first indexing. See the changelog below to know more about the updates around mobile-first indexing:

• November 4, 2016 We are experimenting with making the index mobile-first.
• December 18, 2017 We will be evaluating sites for readiness and cautiously rolling out mobile-first indexing for sites that are ready.
• December 19, 2018 We notify the site owner through Search Console when we move the site to mobile-first indexing. Prepare for mobile-first indexing by verifying that structured data and alt-attributes are on both versions of your pages.
• March 26, 2018 Mobile-first indexing is rolling out more broadly. We published documentation on how to prepare for mobile-first indexing. Content gathered by mobile-first indexing has no ranking advantage over mobile content that’s not yet gathered this way or desktop content.
• May 28, 2019 Mobile-first indexing is enabled by default for all new, previously unknown to Google Search, websites starting July 1, 2019. For older sites, we’ll continue to monitor and evaluate pages for readiness, and will notify site owners through Search Console once they’re ready.

Published & last updated on September 6, 2019 by Erik V. Miller