Get Set! Go Mobile-Indexing
Mobile-Indexing for your website. Google has started to follow best practices for mobile first-indexing as part of their migrating sites initiatives.
Crawling, indexing and the ranking system has relied on the desktop version previously, thus not being able to provide the best user experience to people who search on the mobile, as the versions on mobile and desktop is vastly different. That being said, Mobile-first indexing ensures that indexing and ranking is derived from the mobile version to help mobile users find what they are looking for. Contents which are more mobile-friendly will perform better in mobile search results. As simple as that!
To worry or not?
Even if your website does not have a mobile-friendly version, the search results will still display the desktop version. Therefore, even if you do not have a mobile-friendly version, you will still be up on the search results, but the lack of a mobile-friendly experience could impact negatively on the ranking of the site.
What should I do if my mobile page is not ready?
Fret not. The mobile indexing by Google is still at a very early stage of testing. Google will not penalize any websites which are not ‘ready’ and will have minimal effect towards it. If your website is responsive or identical to the desktop version, you might not be required to do anything with the website – that is if you are happy with your current average position. Just ensure that your mobile page speed, load time and photos are optimised as they are taken into consideration for ranking on Google.
Help! I do not have a mobile site
Your site can still be indexed but it may just not be rank as well as compared to a mobile-friendly website. By not having a mobile-friendly website, it could potentially impact your website negatively as it will be perceived by Google that you are having a poorer user experience as compared to other site (did someone say Competitor’s website?). Creating a mobile site and good user experience is ultimately still the key!