Furthering its push to improve services for mobile users, Google has decided to start indexing search results for mobile separately from desktop to offer mobile users better and fresher content.
According to Search Engine Land, the move will eventually see the newly introduced search index become the primary one. The standard desktop index will remain active, but it won’t be updated as frequently.
Google’s trend analyst Gary Illyes announced the news at Pubcon and consequently revealed the mobile index will be fully implemented “within months.”
.@methode: Google creating a sep mobile index, which will be it’s primary index. Desktop will be a secondary index,less up to date #Pubcon
— Lisa Barone (@LisaBarone) October 13, 2016
Mobile first index will change things since mobile sites tend to not be as large as desktop. @methode #pubcon
— Jennifer Slegg (@jenstar) October 13, 2016
The tech giant first said it’s experimenting with the new search index last year at SMX East, but it seems the company is finally moving forward with it.
Over the past year, Google has been streamlining its mobile capabilities.
Back in 2015, the company tweaked its algorithm to give priority to websites optimized for mobile. More recently, the big G has started adding Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) in search results to offer users the option to choose websites with faster loading pages.
The new search index should help improve mobile users’ experience of the Web, as more people begin to come online exclusively through smartphones.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.