Google is testing ranking from the mobile version of pages, and nothing has switched yet. Responsive sites with the same content on every screen are safe; thinner phone versions should be brought level first.

What Google announced

On Friday Google said it has begun experimenting with a mobile-first index. Its systems will eventually look mainly at the mobile version of a page when ranking it.

The same version will be used to understand structured data and to choose the snippet shown under each result.

Until now Google has generally evaluated the desktop version, even for people searching on phones. Google says most searches now come from phones, and the change brings the two into line.

Nothing has switched yet. Google describes small experiments over the coming months, widening only when it is confident, and it has given no date.

Who is affected

What matters is how a site serves phones today.

Stripped-down versions have the most to check. A mobile version built years ago to be quick and simple often carries a fraction of the desktop text, and that fraction is what Google will eventually read.

Responsive sites start ahead

A responsive site sends one page to phones, tablets and computers alike, and lays it out to suit each screen. Google has said such sites should not need to change anything.

The exception is content dropped on phones. Some responsive themes hide testimonials, long descriptions or whole sidebars below a certain width.

Google has not said exactly how it will weigh text that is in the page but hidden on small screens. Text the phone version never receives is the clearer risk, because it will not be there to read.

Opening the same page on a phone and on a computer, side by side, shows the difference in a minute.

Separate mobile sites

A separate mobile site is a second set of pages, usually at an address beginning with m., that phones are redirected to.

Many were built quickly: a home page, a contact page, a list of services with one line each. Product descriptions, reviews, articles and answers to common questions stayed on the desktop pages.

Under a mobile-first index those missing pieces would stop counting. A desktop page that ranks because of a detailed description would be represented by a mobile page without one.

Redirects deserve a look as well. Some mobile setups drop every phone visitor on the mobile home page, regardless of the page they wanted, so the matching mobile page never exists to be read.

Google's advice for these sites is to serve the same structured data on both versions, make sure Googlebot can reach the mobile pages, and add the mobile version to Search Console. Bringing the content level is the bigger job.

Structured data and titles

Structured data is extra code that tells search engines what a page contains: a product's price, a business's hours, a recipe's cooking time. It feeds the extra details some results show, such as review stars.

Mobile versions often leave it out, especially those generated by a separate tool. Google suggests testing both versions in the Structured Data Testing Tool and comparing the output.

Titles deserve the same comparison. Some mobile sites give every page one title, which repeats the duplicate title problem on a whole second set of pages.

A worked example

An outdoor furniture store with a showroom near a highway sells patio sets, loungers and fire tables, and publishes a page for each collection with dimensions and care instructions.

Four years ago it added a mobile site through an outside service. Phones were sent to an m. address with a home page, a gallery of collections and a contact page.

The gallery showed photographs and prices, but none of the descriptions, dimensions or care pages. Every mobile page had the same title, and none carried the product markup the desktop pages had.

Compared side by side, the mobile version was what phone searchers already saw, and it would eventually be what Google read as well.

The store's quiet season is winter, so the timing was easy. A responsive rebuild was booked for January, with every collection page carrying its full description on every screen.

Until then, the mobile site was added to Search Console, its robots.txt was checked, and the main collection pages were given proper titles.

Desktop-only sites

A site with no mobile version at all will still be indexed. Google has said it will keep reading the desktop pages when there is nothing else, even when it visits as a phone.

That is not a reason to stay desktop-only. Phone visitors still have to pinch and zoom, and pages that are not mobile-friendly have been at a disadvantage in phone results since last year.

Google also warned that a broken or incomplete mobile version can be worse than a working desktop site. Building one in a hurry is the wrong response.

What not to do

An announcement without a date invites two mistakes: panic and indifference.

Do not cut desktop content to match a thin mobile version. The fix runs the other way.

Do not change the canonical links between mobile and desktop pages; Google has said they can stay as they are.

And do not ignore it because nothing has switched. The direction is set, and a rebuild planned now can happen on your schedule rather than in a hurry later.

The counter-case

For most small businesses with a responsive site built in the past three or four years, this changes very little. The phone version already carries everything.

A business whose customers search mainly from office computers, such as some suppliers to other businesses, has less at stake in phone results, though Google will still read its mobile pages.

And nothing has to happen this month. The experiments are small and undated.

Still, a phone version with less on it than the desktop pages is the weakest position to be in. Close that gap first.

Before the experiments widen

  1. Open your site on a phone beside a computer.
  2. Compare the text on your five main pages.
  3. List anything missing from the phone version.
  4. Test both versions in the Structured Data Testing Tool.
  5. Add the mobile site to Search Console if separate.
  6. Check robots.txt lets Googlebot reach mobile pages.
  7. Plan a responsive rebuild for your quiet season.

Step three is the one that sizes the job. A short list means a few edits; a long one means the phone version needs rebuilding, and it is better to know that this month than next spring.

Titles copied across a whole mobile site are the problem described in duplicate page titles across the whole site.

Frequently asked questions

What did Google announce on Friday?

Experiments with a mobile-first index. Its systems will eventually look mainly at the mobile version of pages for ranking, structured data and the snippets shown in results.

Has anything changed in rankings yet?

No. Google describes small experiments over the coming months and has given no date for widening them. The direction is set, so planning now avoids hurried work later.

Does a responsive site need changes?

Generally not, because every device gets the same content. Check for sections hidden or removed on small screens, since text phones never receive cannot be read.

What about a separate mobile site?

Bring its content, titles and structured data in line with the desktop pages, make sure Googlebot can reach it, and add it to Search Console.

Will a desktop-only site disappear from Google?

No. Google says it will keep indexing desktop pages when there is no mobile version, though phone visitors still struggle and phone results already favour mobile-friendly pages.

Should I trim desktop content to match?

No. The fix runs the other way: bring the missing descriptions, reviews and answers onto the phone version, ideally through a responsive rebuild.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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