Now that majority of Google searches are via mobile devices, it’s no surprise that Google decided to launch mobile-first indexing. This opens up a lot of opportunities. There will be an impact on search engine optimization as well. That is why businesses should prepare to adjust to the new algorithm.

Mobile-first Indexing

Until now, Google prioritized the desktop version of webpage content for ranking the page. This continued even when mobile users started dominating in terms of using search engines. 

Since the rising majority of mobile users prefer pages to appear optimized for their mobile devices, Google decided to release a mobile-first index to improve their experience. Though businesses have already started optimizing their websites for mobile devices, the practice requires more attention now more than ever. 

Now to determine the position of a page on the search results, Google will be take mobile pages into account. The Google search results will now show snippets, structured data and other content. 

Even if you have been optimizing your pages for mobile devices for a long time, there are still many things your business needs to do so as to be fully prepared to adapt to the indexing change. 

How businesses should prepare

Do these 3 things to get started.

• Check Google’s mobile guide for instructions and information on mobile optimization
  
• Check Google’s how-to guide to ensure that your hosting site is working fine
  
• Perform a test run to see if your website is mobile optimized 
  

Things to do to properly to optimize for mobile-indexing

Check Mobile Responsiveness – Make sure your site has a responsive design adhering to Google’s standards. 

Mobile Site Configuration – Check if the markup and content of your site is the same on desktop and mobile versions. If they aren’t, you will have to make some changes. 

Googlebots – The key to indexing is to make sure that Googlebots can access the mobile version of your website. 

Verify Mobile Version – Just like you’ve verified the desktop version of your website, verify the mobile version as well. 

Structured Data Testing – Execute structured data tests on the URLs, compare outputs, identify the errors, and resolve them. 

Canonical Links – Google will still be using canonical links while responding to search queries. So if the website already has canonical links, you don’t have to make changes.