Google has started using the phone version of some sites to index and rank them. If your phone pages carry the same content as your desktop pages, nothing changes; if they leave things out, fix that first.

What Google said on Monday

Google said on Monday that it has started moving a small number of sites to what it calls mobile-first indexing.

For those sites, Google now reads the phone version of each page rather than the desktop version when deciding what the page is about and where it ranks.

It first described the idea in November last year and has been testing since. Sites are moved one by one, when Google judges each ready, and owners are told by a message in Search Console.

There is still one index, and sites without a phone version stay in it. Google has also said a moved site gains nothing in rankings from the move itself.

For most small business sites nothing has happened yet. What matters is whether the phone pages are complete.

Why the phone version now matters

Until now, Google has read the desktop page, even when showing it to someone searching on a phone. That made sense when most sites were built for desktops first.

Most of Google's searchers now use phones, so it wants to index what phone visitors actually get. Once a site is moved, a phone page that is shorter than the desktop page is the version that counts.

Sites whose two versions carry the same content will not notice. Sites whose phone pages leave things out may find those things stop counting.

Where phone pages lose content

The first is the one few owners know exists. Page builders let a designer switch any section off on small screens with one setting, and it is often used to tidy a long page.

Rearranged, or missing

A phone page that looks different from the desktop page has not necessarily lost anything.

The same words, stacked into one column with smaller photographs, still say everything the desktop page says. That is how a well-built responsive site works.

The concern is content a phone visitor cannot reach at all: a section switched off for small screens, a page that exists only on the desktop site, a table replaced by a note to view it on a computer.

When in doubt, ask whoever built the site which sections change on phones, and how.

What sits in the code

Beyond the visible text, the code matters too. Page titles and meta descriptions should be the same on both versions, and some mobile themes shorten or replace them.

Structured data, a standard way of marking up details such as your address, hours and reviews, belongs on the phone pages as well. So do the descriptions on images.

A separate mobile site needs all of this added page by page, which is one reason those sites so often fall short.

A worked example

A crane rental company with a yard on the edge of a valley city rents mobile cranes and boom trucks with operators. Its fleet page lists each machine with its capacity, reach and load chart.

The site is responsive, but its designer used the page builder's settings to keep phone pages short. The specification tables, the load chart links and the paragraphs on each town the company serves were switched off on phones.

On a phone, each crane was a photograph, a name and a call button. That suited a site superintendent in a hurry, but a page about a forty-tonne crane no longer said forty tonnes anywhere.

Once the site is moved, those phone pages are what Google would read, and the details that matched people's searches would be missing.

The fix kept the short layout at the top and added the details below: tables restacked as lists that read on a phone, load charts as links, and the town paragraphs in full.

Checking your own pages

Open your five most important pages side by side, one on a phone and one on a computer. Look for anything the computer shows that the phone leaves out.

In Search Console, Fetch as Google on the smartphone setting shows a page as Google's phone crawler gets it, including anything it was blocked from loading.

If the phone version lives at its own address, make sure that address is verified in Search Console too, and that robots.txt, the file telling crawlers what to skip, does not block its images, scripts or style sheets.

When the notice arrives

Google says owners will hear through Search Console when their site is moved. That only helps if someone reads the messages.

Check that the version of the site visitors actually get is the one verified, with or without www and on https if that is what loads, and that messages reach an inbox someone checks.

When the notice arrives, nothing needs doing that day. Repeat the side-by-side comparison, and watch search visits from phones over the following weeks.

What does not need to change

A responsive site whose phone pages carry the same content as its desktop pages needs nothing. That is the setup Google has recommended for years.

A desktop-only site will still be indexed, Google says. It still frustrates phone visitors, which is reason enough to fix it on its own.

The counter-case

Plenty of sites will be moved without anyone noticing, because their phone and desktop pages already match.

The move is also gradual. Google is starting with sites it judges ready, so a site with a thin phone version may wait longer, which gives time to fix it.

That time is better used now than after the message. If phone pages leave out what desktop pages say, put it back in a form that works on a phone.

Before it reaches your site

  1. List your five most important pages.
  2. Compare each one on a phone and a computer.
  3. Note content phones cannot reach at all.
  4. Ask which settings hide sections on phones.
  5. Put missing content back in a phone-friendly form.
  6. Check titles and structured data match.
  7. Confirm Search Console messages reach someone.

Step four finds what a visual comparison misses. Settings that hide content on phones are invisible from outside, and the person who chose them may be the only one who remembers.

Google drawing on what the page actually contains is also behind the change covered in Google is showing longer descriptions in search results.

Frequently asked questions

What did Google announce on Monday?

That it has started indexing a small number of sites from their phone pages instead of their desktop pages, moving sites gradually as it judges them ready.

How will I know if my site is moved?

Google says it will send a message through Search Console. Make sure the version of your site in use is verified and that someone reads the messages.

Does my responsive site need changes?

Not if its phone pages carry the same content as its desktop pages. Check for sections hidden on small screens, which some page builders make easy.

Which content counts as missing on phones?

Anything a phone visitor cannot reach at all: sections switched off for small screens, pages that exist only on the desktop site, and tables replaced by a note.

Will my desktop-only site disappear from Google?

No. Google says a site without a phone version stays in its index. Phone visitors may still struggle with it, which is a separate reason to fix it.

What else should match on both versions?

Page titles, meta descriptions, structured data and image descriptions. Separate mobile sites often lack them, because each page has to be updated on its own.

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.

Phone pages shorter than desktop pages?

Send us the address. We will compare your key pages on both and list what phones cannot reach.

Start a Conversation