Web design
Mobile-First Indexing Explained for Business Owners
Google mainly uses the phone version of your website to decide where you appear. Here is what that means and a simple way to check yours.
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Most of your customers look at your website on a phone. Google does too, in a sense: it mostly looks at the phone version of your site to decide how to list it.
This guide to mobile-first indexing explains what that means in plain English and gives you a short list to check. Everything comes from Google’s own page on its mobile site guidance.
What is mobile-first indexing?
Google says it uses the mobile version of a site’s content, crawled with its smartphone crawler, for indexing and ranking. If your phone page is missing something that your computer page has, Google may never see it.
A mobile version is not strictly required to be included, but Google very strongly recommends one.
Is your website complete on a phone?
Tell us about your site and we will check what Google sees on mobile. No obligation.
The simplest setup: responsive design
Google recommends responsive design, where the same page adapts to the screen. It serves the same HTML at the same address, so there is only one version to keep right. Most modern websites work this way. Google also supports separate mobile sites and dynamic serving, but warns that these need more care.
If you are weighing a rebuild, see our guide to bespoke websites versus templates.
What to check on your own site
Google lists these recommendations. Check them on your phone version:
- Same content. The main content should be equivalent on mobile and desktop. Google says to use accordions or tabs rather than removing content on mobile.
- Same headings. Use clear, meaningful headings on both.
- Same title and description. The page title and meta description should match across versions.
- Nothing hidden behind a tap. Google says not to lazy-load main content behind actions like clicking, swiping or typing, because Google will not trigger them.
- Same images. Use good quality images, the same image addresses and the same descriptive alt text on both versions.
- Same structured data. Include the same structured data on mobile and desktop.
- No blocks. Do not block the mobile version, or its resources, in robots.txt, and use the same robots instructions on both. A mismatch, such as a noindex tag on one version only, can stop pages being indexed.
- No intrusive ads. Google points to the Better Ads Standard and says to avoid large adverts at the top of the page that fill a phone screen.
How to test it
Google suggests the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to check that your content is visible on the rendered page. Our guide to what Google Search Console is shows where to find it. Verify your site in Search Console so you get data and messages for it.
Speed matters on mobile too. Our guides to website speed and SEO and Core Web Vitals explain how to measure it.
If you have a separate mobile site
If your phone site lives at a different address, Google says to take extra care: return the same error status on both versions, do not redirect many desktop pages to one mobile page or the mobile home page, and make the desktop page canonical with the mobile page as its alternate. For most UK business websites the simpler fix is a responsive redesign.
Want your website checked on mobile?
We design bespoke, responsive websites and fix mobile problems on existing ones. See our web design service, or try our free website check and tell us about your site.
Google’s mobile-first indexing guidance checked against its Search Central page on 23 October 2026. Google changes its guidance over time, so check its page if something looks different.
Frequently asked questions
Does Google rank my site by its desktop version?
Google says it mainly uses the mobile version for indexing and ranking.
Do I need a separate mobile website?
No. Google recommends responsive design, which uses one site for every screen size.
What should I check first?
Open your own pages on a phone. Make sure all the important text, images and links that appear on a computer also appear there.
Will hiding content in tabs on mobile hurt me?
Google says to use accordions or tabs rather than removing content, but not to hide main content behind actions it will not perform. Check with the URL Inspection tool.
How do I fix a website that is poor on mobile?
Often a responsive redesign is the best route. See our web design service and our speed and accessibility work.
