Google is completing its transition to mobile-first indexing on July 5, 2024. From this date, all sites will be crawled using Google's mobile crawler, enhancing system efficiency and making debugging easier. Most sites won’t need to change anything, but if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, it will no longer be indexed.
June 3, 2024, Google announced that on June 5, 2024, Google will visit the website only from mobile bots. This means that from now on Google will not index any website which is not mobile friendly.
Currently most of the websites are mobile responsive. If your website is built on CMS (Content management system) like WordPress, Wix, Shopify, Wepro, then there is nothing to worry about, all of them are already mobile responsive.
Official Google Search Central Link : https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/06/mobile-indexing-vlast-final-final.doc
What Does Mobile-First Indexing Mean?
For years now, Google has been focusing on mobile-first indexing, which means we predominantly use mobile versions of websites to determine rankings and index content. This shift comes from the increasing trend of users accessing the web via smartphones rather than desktop computers. As a result, Google wants to ensure that our indexing system reflects this mobile-centric usage.
What’s Changing?
The key change is that after July 5, 2024, all websites that are currently crawled by desktop Googlebot will switch to being crawled by mobile Googlebot. This is part of our broader initiative to streamline our systems and make it easier for webmasters to diagnose and fix issues related to different devices. If your site has been accessible to mobile users, there’s nothing you need to do. Your site’s indexing and ranking will continue as usual.
However, if your site’s content is not accessible on mobile devices, it will no longer be indexed. This means that if a site is only viewable on a desktop and not optimized for mobile, it will not appear in Google Search results post-July 5, 2024.
What Should You Do?
Most websites will not need to take any action. Google has been progressively moving towards mobile-first indexing for some time, and a vast majority of sites are already optimized for mobile. If you’re one of the few sites still being crawled by desktop Googlebot, now is a great time to ensure your site is fully mobile-friendly.
To make sure everything is in order, check the following:
- Mobile-Friendliness: Test your site using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to ensure it meets mobile usability standards.
- Content Accessibility: Make sure that all critical content and functionality are accessible on mobile devices.
- Responsive design: Confirm that your website layout adapts smoothly to different screen sizes.
What about Googlebot Desktop?
You can still see Googlebot Desktop in your server logs and reports. It will continue to be used for specific search features such as listings and Google for Jobs. This does not affect how often most websites are crawled and indexed.
In summary, to summarize
As we make this final transition to a mobile-first index, most of you will not have to change. These changes are designed to improve the efficiency of our indexing system and ensure that you display your site content more accurately based on how users see it If you are already mobile friendly, you are all set. For those who aren’t, now is the time to fix mobile in order to maintain your visibility in Google search.
If you have any concerns or need help, our support resources are always available. Here’s to a smoother, mobile-friendly web experience for everyone!
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