This Is How Mobile-First Indexing Can Affect Google Rankings Today
- 4 October, 2018
- Jason Ferry
- Mobile-First Indexing
Mobile-first indexing is one of the main topics of discussion among SEO experts this year since it brought a huge change on how Google search works. To fully understand how websites appear in the search results today, it’s important to review the search indexing and ranking fundamentals.
Indexing and Ranking
Indexing is the process where a search engine indexing robot called GoogleBot reads information from a particular web page and stores it in its index. On the other hand, ranking is determined by evaluating the indexed information and see how it fits with the criteria based on various factors, mainly search queries. An unindexed website cannot be ranked.
Mobile-First Indexing
Mobile-first indexing changed how Google index websites, as it now prioritises mobile versions over desktop ones. However, this does not impact rankings, and the ranking process is not changed. Therefore, ranking factors and penalties that exist in desktop and mobile results will likely stay the same. However, if you have inconsistent website contents for your mobile and desktop versions, you might have some issues. For example, removing contents with important ranking signals in the mobile version of your site to make contents shorter can result in low rankings.
Some people think that when mobile-first indexing is implemented, desktop and mobile rankings will be identical. This isn’t the case. So when planning your SEO methods, remember that indexing and ranking aren’t the same. Each one has a different function and impact on how your website is shown in SERPs.
This story was first published in https://searchengineland.com/mobile-first-indexing-will-it-change-your-rankings-on-desktop-306023. Click here for more information.
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