Already over a year ago, Google announced that they wanted to react to the motto “mobile first”. The previous approach, in which the ranking was based solely on the desktop version of a website, should soon be over. Instead, there should also be an index for the mobile sites and the user will then get the right index for the used device. As far as the theory – the practice, however, was delayed.

Time and again, Google stated on demand that the technical implementation is not easy and still requires time. An approximate date when the Mobile Index is expected was not mentioned. Rather, one shifted this big step a few months ago indefinitely. So many were surprised when Google announced: The mobile index had started! Of course, not yet nationwide, but that was to be expected. Currently, selected sites are participating in a kind of live test and Google is looking at the impact of the change. If the test is positive, the mobile index will be gradually expanded.

For website owners, this means above all that no more excuses apply. At least now, the focus should be on the mobile version of the website, so that it is prepared for the mobile index and of course also rated as good as possible. It should therefore be understood that the mobile version of a website shows the same important content as the desktop version. This applies to the content but also to ALT attributes and metadata. Links between versions can be awarded Canonical and / or Alternate attributes.

If you have already done your homework, you can take another look at the server and see if the double crawling could cause performance problems. If this is not the case, you can sit back and look forward to the holidays. However, if there are still some points to be improved, it may make sense to spend a few hours of Christmas vacation, or you should at least set it as the first task for the new year.