Google Adds Best Practice for Better Page Discovery on Mobile-First Indexing

Google Search Central has updated its documentation to introduce a new best practice aimed at improving page discovery for large websites with separate mobile and desktop versions. This change is particularly significant for websites looking to enhance their SEO by ensuring faster and more comprehensive indexing by Google’s mobile-first crawler.


Key Updates:

  • Link Consistency Across Mobile and Desktop: Google now recommends that all links available on the desktop version of a site should also be included in the mobile version. This ensures that Google’s mobile-first crawler, which primarily uses the mobile version for indexing, doesn’t miss important pages.
  • Alternative for Missing Links: If replicating all desktop links on mobile isn't feasible, Google suggests including these links in a sitemap file. This ensures that Google’s crawler can still discover and index these pages through the sitemap, even when the mobile and desktop versions differ.
  • Focus on Large Websites: This update targets large websites that often have complex structures with differing HTML across mobile and desktop. Ensuring uniform links across both versions can help Google’s crawler discover new pages more efficiently.
  • Crawl Budget Optimization: By aligning links on both versions, websites can maximize their crawl budget—that is, the number of pages Google’s bot can crawl within a certain period. When links are missing from the mobile version, it may limit the crawler’s reach, slowing down the discovery of new content.

Impact on Users:

This update is essential for SEO managers, webmasters, and large website owners. If a website’s mobile version lacks key links present on the desktop version, it could lead to missed opportunities in page discovery and indexing. To adapt to this guideline, users should:

  • Audit Link Consistency: Review both mobile and desktop versions to ensure all important links are accessible on mobile.
  • Monitor Crawl Rate and Page Discovery: Use tools like Google Search Console to track the crawler’s activity and detect any missing pages.

Conclusion:

This best practice update reinforces Google’s commitment to mobile-first indexing and serves as a reminder for large sites to align both mobile and desktop versions closely. Incorporating these recommendations could streamline the crawling process, allowing Google to use its crawl budget more efficiently on sites with high volumes of content.


References:

Added notice about links for large websites with differing mobile and desktop pages. — by Google Search Central.


Previous Updates

Google Search Central Adds New Page on Google Trends.

Google Updates Favicon Requirements for Search Results.

Google to Retire Sitelinks Search Box as Usage Drops.

Google's Big Shift: Cache Operator Gone, But There’s a New Way to Access Archived Pages.

Google Clarifies Supported Fields in Robots.txt Files.