Since the rollout completed in 2023, the mobile crawler is the only crawler that matters for indexing: the content, links, structured data and images on the mobile-rendered page are what Google sees. Content that exists only on the desktop version — a sidebar hidden on small screens, a comparison table swapped for a 'download PDF' note — is simply absent from the index.
The practical rule is parity: whatever should rank must exist on the mobile page, not behind a 'desktop only' gate. The subtler failure is performance rather than presence — mobile is also where slow pages hurt most, which is why core web vitals are measured on the mobile profile.
Related terms
Indexing
A search engine adding a page to its searchable database — crawling fetches it, indexing makes it findable; unindexed is invisible.
Core Web Vitals
Google's three field metrics for loading, responsiveness and visual stability, measured on real visits rather than in a lab.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
The moment the biggest piece of content in the viewport finishes rendering — in practice, when the page looks loaded.
INP
Interaction to Next Paint — the Core Web Vital that measures how fast a page responds to taps and clicks, replacing FID since 2024.
The bench this belongs to
Web performanceA rebuild that loads on a phone on mobile data, in the country your customers are actually in. Core Web Vitals are the measurement, revenue is the point.
