Mobile-First Indexing
Google evaluates and indexes mainly the mobile version of a website.
What is mobile-first indexing?
Mobile-first indexing means that Google mainly uses the mobile version of your website for indexing and ranking, not the desktop version.
Example: an online shop shows full product descriptions on desktop, but its mobile version cuts them down to a single line. Because Google looks at the mobile version, it only sees that one line and evaluates the product pages on that basis.
What does this mean for SEO?
- Responsive design – your website has to work well on every device
- Identical content – mobile and desktop should show the same content
- Performance – load times on mobile devices are decisive
Mobile-first indexing is part of technical SEO. Our guide to optimizing Core Web Vitals explains how to improve load times, and the technical SEO checklist covers the other points.
Frequently asked questions
What is mobile-first indexing?
Mobile-first indexing means that Google mainly uses the mobile version of your website for indexing and ranking, not the desktop version.
Why does mobile-first indexing matter for SEO?
What Google sees on your mobile version is what it ranks. Your site needs a responsive design, the same content on mobile and desktop, and fast load times on mobile devices.
What is an example of mobile-first indexing?
An online shop shows full product descriptions on desktop but only one line on mobile. Google evaluates the product pages based on that shortened mobile content.