Technical SEO · Beginner

Mobile-first indexing

Mobile-first indexing means Google uses the mobile version of a page's content for indexing and ranking. If content, links or structured data are missing on mobile, Google may not see them.

By Thryv StudioUpdated

Level
Beginner
Crawler
Googlebot Smartphone
Applies to
All sites (completed in 2023)

What is mobile-first indexing?

Google crawls and indexes pages as a smartphone would see them. Whatever is on the mobile version (text, images, links, structured data, meta tags) is what counts.

Best practices

  1. Serve the same content on mobile and desktop; responsive design does this naturally.
  2. Keep structured data and meta tags identical on both.
  3. Don't hide important content behind interactions that don't load it.
  4. Make pages usable on small screens: readable text, tappable buttons, no sideways scrolling.

Frequently asked questions

Is content in tabs or accordions indexed on mobile?

Yes, as long as it's in the HTML. Content loaded only after a click may not be.

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