Now Google postponed Mobile-First Indexing due to Covid-19.

Since the COVID-19 wreaked havoc in the entire world nothing is as easy as before. Everywhere is chaos whether it’s the physical world or digital world. COVID-19 has created mayhem around the world. In the physical world, people are already suffering the most but the online world also is in the same situation. You know why? It is because new features, improvement, advancement, or updates are postponed due to coronavirus. One such Google’s decision also got delayed and it is completely switched to “mobile-first indexing.”

Now mobile is the first priority of every webmaster. Mobile has become the most used tool to search for anything on the internet. Before I talk about what Google said on it, let’s understand first what mobile-indexing is.

What is mobile-indexing?

Mobile-first indexing simply means that now Google will first look at the mobile version of the page when determining the rank of the website. Mobile users are growing every day and people search on mobile than desktop or laptop. Therefore, webmasters should make the website a mobile-friendly one to get a better rank on Google’s SERP.

Moreover, the tech giant has been prioritizing mobile-first indexing since 2016. As per the recent data, the last quarter of 2019 saw 52.6% of website traffic originating from mobile devices.

Google to delay mobile-first indexing due to COVID-19

In the month of March, Google announced that it will fully switch over to mobile-first indexing by September 2020. However, Google seems to change its decision and decided to delay it due to COVID-19. Google first said, “The mobile-first indexing would be complete within “the next six to twelve months.” You can read our article on this particular update what Google said before regarding this under the title: Google expects to apply mobile-first indexing to all websites within 6-12 months

Google’s John Muller said that it seems like things are on schedule but they may decide based on feedback to delay it. If they find sites are not moving over due to resource issues. In the recent video, Muller talked about the delay of mobile-first indexing. Here read the statement of exactly what he said.

John Muller’s statement on Google’s decision on mobile-first indexing

In a video, Muller said, “my guess is within the next month or so we’ll make that call and go one way or the other,” when it comes to this September deadline. “So far we’re still seeing lots of sites shifting over and getting ready for mobile-first indexing,” he added.

It’s clear that Google has not yet made up mind to fully stick with the date. They’re just planning to give it more time to settle down and see how things will work.

What could be the impact for business owners about mobile-first indexing?

This is not the first time that Google is planning to prioritize mobile-first indexing. Above you read that since 2016 Google started to give preference to mobile version sites than desktop. So if your site is only desktop-friendly and not for mobile then make sure to make it mobile-friendly. Google’s first index sites that are mobile-friendly.

Therefore, it is good to follow Google’s advice and make sure your site is as indexable as possible. This enables Google to understand the value of your mobile pages. Thereby, this is the best way to get quality traffic and ranking to your site.

Concluding words

As a website owner, you must prioritize the mobile version of the site over the desktop version. You can also make your website mobile-friendly to have it first-indexed by Google. Furthermore, you should include in your content: data, metadata, and relevant information. Don’t over stuff your content with irrelevant details rather make it unique and fill it with quality. Google’s update for indexing mobile site is delayed just for now due to coronavirus.

We’ll inform you if any update comes regarding this, till then get in touch with us and keep reading.