Earlier this year, Google announced that their mobile first index would roll out in batches. Google has shared some new information this week regarding that rollout plan.
Google shared that it is testing its mobile first index with a small percentage of users. This testing is targeted towards users who have equivalent desktop and mobile pages. This testing process is designed to ensure that there are no systemic problems found among all users.
Google will begin to communicate to those users who are experiencing issues. Potential avenues for such communication include blog posts, direct communication, or notifications via the Google Search Console.
Google may decide to communicate out to users in batches. In this instance, Google will choose to group all similar concerns together and communicate problem-solving instructions to all affected users. The more problems that Google can identify and solve, the more assistance and aid that they can provide to webmasters on how to fix these issues.
Here is the link to the video where John Mueller, Google Webmaster, discusses the potential ways that Google will work on this rollout.
In the video, John Mueller discusses the importance of ensuring that the proposed changes will actually work out in the intended way. Mueller goes on to explain that Google is creating classifiers to ensure that the mobile pages are equivalent to the desktop version. Mueller notes that this process needs to occur with real web pages, as opposed to Google simply creating fake pages to test their index.
Mueller’s main point was to emphasize that Google plans to do everything in batches as opposed to making all the changes all at once. This shows Google’s goal is to make gradual changes and fix problems as they arise in hopes that this will be an easier transition to mobile index first.
If you’re wondering how this change may impact your business, reach out to Hall Analysis today!