Mobile First Index means that Google’s priority for ranking sites is the mobile version, and the second priority is the desktop. In the past, when users searched the Internet, the desktop version of your site was Google’s leading benchmark for ranking. But with the advent of mobile phones and their popularity, Google has also decided to change its ranking algorithm to prioritize the mobile version of websites. This change was the same as the Mobile First Index algorithm that was gradually activated for all sites from the beginning of 2018. In the article “An Ultimate Guide to SEO (Search Engine Optimization)” we introduce the First Index algorithm. In this article on the smart strategy blog, we explain the Mobile First Index algorithm.
What sites will be affected by mobile first index algorithm?
Although Google’s Mobile algorithm is currently enabled on all sites, the impact of this algorithm is not the same for everyone. With the introduction of the new algorithm, areas can be divided into four groups:
Sites that have the same mobile and desktop versions
If your mobile and desktop versions are the same, then Google Analytics will not change the content of your pages. After activating this algorithm, Google will give points to your site just like before (i.e., from your desktop version).
In addition, you should keep in mind that the non-responsiveness of your site in terms of SEO is a negative point, and Google does not give a good score to your site because of this shortcoming.
Responsive sites
The Mobile First Index algorithm does not change Google’s understanding of the content of responsive sites, as the content of these pages is the same in the mobile and desktop versions, and only the way it is displayed is different.
Here we must mention a crucial point; If your site is responsive but does not have the same content on both mobile and desktop versions, meaning that a significant portion of the content on mobile is hidden using CSS, the site may change position after the mobile-first algorithm is applied.
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