# Mobile-first indexing

> Google indexes the mobile version of a site, not the desktop one — whatever the mobile page lacks does not exist for ranking.

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

- https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/glossary/indexing.md
- https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/glossary/core-web-vitals.md
- https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/glossary/lcp.md
- https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/glossary/inp.md

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Source: https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/glossary/mobile-first-indexing
DField Solutions — Dunakeszi, Hungary — dezso@dfieldsolutions.com
Booking: see https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/contact