According to Google, individual sites that are ready for Google’s mobile-first index will be indexed first.
Hall Analysis first covered the mobile-first index announcement a few weeks back. According to Google webmaster trends analyst, Gary Illyes, Google’s mobile-first index is expected to begin in 2018. Although a mobile-first index had been hinted at since 2015, Illyes’ statement finally gave a timeline.
Now, John Mueller has recently revealed new information during a Google office hours hangout session.
During the hangout session, Mueller shared that sites which have already prepared to be mobile-friendly have the chance to be indexed first.
When Will The Mobile-First Index Happen?
Another piece of information shared by Mueller was that sites may not be informed when the mobile-first switch happens. This has the potential to create problems for both tracking intelligence and ranking analytics as the website owner may be ignorant of the changes.
Considering that Google is updating the mobile-first index site by site, websites that are ready for the change are likely to be indexed before those who are not prepared. This will result in a longer wait for those websites that are not prepared to be indexed.
While Mueller stated that Google will share more in the future, the current news can be seen as a helpful change. Now, mobile-friendly sites will be shown first in search results. This is positive for searchers as they will receive mobile-friendly content first and it will encourage site owners to prepare mobile-first indexing in hopes of receiving priority indexing.
Per our last update on mobile-first indexing, the estimated switch is still not expected until 2018.
To hear the details directly from Mueller, you can watch his response here, beginning at the 3:35 mark:
Looking to take advantage of being a site that receives priority indexing? Let us help you to prepare for the mobile-first index!
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