Google Will Switch to Mobile-First Indexing in September

Google first proposed the mobile-first indexing policy back in 2016. In recent years, over 70% of websites in Google search results have been indexed with mobile-first indexing. Google's latest notification indicates that it will switch all websites to mobile-first indexing in September.

What does this mean for Google SEO?

First, it's the switch of the crawling agent.Common Google search bots include Desktop Googlebot and Mobile Googlebot. After September, Google's primary crawler will use the mobile Googlebot. If your website's interface is not suitable for mobile access, it will undoubtedly make Google perceive it as unfriendly to mobile users, which will indirectly affect indexing results and rankings.Then, there's the impact on website templates.Some large companies or older corporate websites have separate domains for their PC and mobile versions, so they need to properly coordinate content, images, and other resources between the two sides. For websites we build using WordPress, it's relatively simpler because we use responsive layout Themes, which automatically recognize the user's access device based on the browser and switch the layout to display content.

What can we do?

1. If you have designed a separate mobile webpage, according to Google's recommendation, it's best to switch to adaptive web design, which is what we call using a responsive layout. Google does not recommend using a separate subdomain, such as m., to build a mobile site, as this can cause confusion for search engines and users. 2. If you are already using an adaptive Theme template, you can also consider installing an AMP Plugin to make the mobile results more friendly inGoogle SEO.References:

1. Five Recommended WordPress AMP Plugins
2. Google Mobile-First Indexing Announcement