Mobile First Indexing: Definition and Optimization Guide

In this digital age, almost all information is accessed from smartphones. The importance of using mobile devices has made Google apply the concept of mobile first indexing for indexing and crawling.

The indexing algorithm has been around since 2018. Google applies this concept to provide the best web browsing experience for users who frequently use mobile devices to get information.

Until now, the concept of indexing for mobile devices was used to improve the quality and convenience of user browsing. This makes it a ranking factor that influences the SEO performance of websites.

In this guide, we will provide comprehensive information about mobile first indexing. Some of the points that will be discussed in this article include implementing this algorithm and how to optimize it to improve SEO.

What is Mobile First Indexing?

The concept of indexing and crawling that focuses on the mobile version of a website page is known as "mobile first indexing." Google has been implementing this system for the past few years with the aim of improving the user experience.

Automatically, the indexing system makes mobile friendliness a metric that should be considered in optimization activities. That way, websites that provide content in the mobile version can rank highly in the SERP.

Google will still show web pages with URLs according to the device used. This is because crawling for desktop and mobile is done by different bots. Therefore, sometimes there are differences in the average position of website pages for each device.

The Application of Mobile First Indexing

Since 2018, Google has been running a prioritized indexing algorithm for mobile versions of website pages. However, there are still many websites that do not adjust their settings according to the indexing rules.

The crawler that is used for crawling is also different in this regard. Google has a smartphone version of Googlebot for indexing and crawling mobile versions of websites.

Over time, more and more websites are implementing the concept of mobile friendliness. Therefore, the concept and implementation of indexing with mobile priority are still ongoing. That way, smartphone users can access quality information in the SERP more comfortably.

Comfortable Browsing Experience on Smartphone

Google wants to provide a quality search experience for its users. With an indexing system that prioritizes the mobile version, ranking on search pages can be adjusted according to the quality of the content and user needs simultaneously. This is because 59.6% of traffic is obtained from users using mobile devices.

Browsing via smartphone has become more comfortable because users can access content designed for mobile devices. In other words, there is no need to adjust the size of text or images to read content on web pages for desktops.

The existence of mobile first indexing also provides a signal for SEO practitioners to pay attention to website performance in terms of mobile friendliness. If you ignore these aspects, the ranking of website pages in the SERPs may decrease over time.

How to Optimize Website by Prioritizing Mobile First Indexing

After recognizing the importance of mobile first indexing, you need to know how to optimize your website by prioritizing it. But before that, it is necessary to pay attention to the performance of the mobile version of the website by using the Mobile Friendly Test tool.

By knowing the mobile friendliness of your website, you can plan the right strategy to carry out website optimization effectively. Here are some choices you can make:

Create a Mobile-Friendly Site

If your website doesn't yet provide a mobile version, all you need to do is create a mobile-friendly design. That way, users can visit the website via smartphone wherever they are.

To make working on a mobile friendly website more effective, you can use a dynamic design and presentation. In other words, the website can be accessed on desktop and mobile devices via the same URL.

Structured Data Verification

To present content that is mobile friendly, you need to ensure that the website has the same structured data for both desktop and mobile. Be sure to verify the structured data to see if the URL used matches the content for both device versions.

Make Sure Google Can Access Content

The most important thing in website optimization is ensuring that Google can access the content and render it. Not only that, but Google also needs to look at the resources on a website to assess it as a whole.

Here are some things you need to do:

• Using the meta robot tag on the mobile version of the website. Be sure to avoid using noindex or nofollow tags on pages you want to appear in the SERPs.
• Avoid implementing lazy-load in the main content. Google will not load pages that require user interaction.
• Allow Google to crawl the resources section. For that, you can avoid using disallow on some crucial URLs on the website.

Use the Same Meta Data in Desktop and Mobile Versions

Even if the content is the same, Google can read the desktop and mobile versions of pages differently. This understanding is obtained from differences in page layout and the DOM (Document Object Model). For that, you need to make sure that the contents remain the same in both versions.

If the mobile version of the page has less content than the desktop version, then you need to fix it. That way, the page will look the same in Google's eyes even though the layout looks a little different.

Check Image Usage on Pages

Make sure the images used on the mobile version of the page are in accordance with SEO rules. For that, you need to implement an image SEO strategy. Some of the image criteria that need to be considered are:

• High resolution images in small sizes
• Image format supported by the Google system
• Add descriptive alt text to the image
• Use images that are relevant to the content

Pay Attention to Possible Errors

As with other SEO practices, optimizing a website on the basis of indexing for mobile devices will encounter some problems. You need to check Google Search Console to identify and resolve issues with the mobile version of the page. For this reason, carry out regular monitoring of mobile usability and Core Web Vitals reports on GSC.

Increase Page Speed

Website page speed is a factor that needs to be considered. Google's algorithm update in the form of "Page Experience" makes page speed an important aspect to optimize. To find out how fast your website pages are, use the Page Speed ​​Test tool from cmlabs.

Check the Use of Internal Links

Apart from page speed, you also need to pay attention to the use of internal links. Each link must be properly connected and visible on the mobile version of the page. Make sure users can see important links on the website from their mobile devices. If not, then the PageRank flow on the website can change.

Thus, a guide about mobile first indexing, its implementation, and how to optimize according to this concept. To provide a quality browsing experience, Google keeps updating this algorithm.

Mobile first indexing is an important factor that needs to be considered in maintaining website quality. Therefore, use SEO services to optimize the website as a whole so that its quality can increase in the eyes of search engines.