As of March 2021, Google will only index websites that are compatible with mobile browsers.. This has been confirmed by John Mueller, an SEO expert at Google, who emphasized this will be removed from the search engine index to all those websites that are not suitable for cell phones.
Mobile First Index has been running since 2018 and prioritizes the content and performance of the mobile version of a page when it comes to indexing and positioning
In 2018, Google launched its first algorithm “Mobile First Index”, in which the mobile version of a website was used as a reference for the positioning of a page and not the desktop version as was previously the case. This means that since then all the pages are that adapted for mobile surfing they position themselves better.
In fact, the mobile version of the pages has already been prioritized in searches since September 20th, but another step will be taken from March 2021. With the new announcement made by Google during PubCon Pro Virtual 2020, the company has will be removed from your index All web pages that are not compatible with mobile navigation, as well as all images and associated files contained therein.
While Google has not provided any official information on why this decision is being made, the truth is that it affects any website that has not been updated in a long time and therefore could be abandoned. On the other hand, they also affect many official agency websites, which are usually out of date designs and almost always do not have a useful mobile version. You have until March next year to update.
With that in mind, Mueller warned that websites with mobile versions hosted in “m-dot” subdomains, websites with mobile versions hosted in “m.domain.com” subdomains, and websites with “hreflang “Attribute, a tag created to tell Google what content to index when a webpage contains subdomains, e.g. B. for several versions of the same page in other languages. This can lead to errors or problems, especially if the traffic is not directed directly to the mobile version of the website.
The company hopes that this time that is offered to users to customize their web pages will be more than five months long as all desktop-only content will disappear from their search results starting March 2021.
