Google’s John Mueller answered a question about whether it’s okay to stop optimizing a desktop version of a website now that Google is switching to exclusively indexing mobile versions of websites.
The question asked is related to a announcement they did a week ago:
“…the small set of sites we’ve still been crawling with desktop Googlebot will be crawled with Googlebot mobile after July 5, 2024. … After July 5, 2024, we’ll crawl and index these sites only with Googlebot Smartphone. If your site’s content is not accessible at all on a mobile device, it will no longer be indexable.”
Stop optimizing the desktop version of a site?
The person who asked the question wanted to know if it’s okay to abandon optimizing a purely desktop version of a site and focus only on the mobile-friendly version. The person is asking because they are new to a company and the developers are very much in the process of developing a mobile-only version of a site.
This is the question:
“I am currently in a discussion at my new company, because they are implementing a different mobile site using dynamic publishing instead of being responsive. Along with requirements such as the http header vary, my reasoning is that by having two codebases we need to crawl, analyze and optimize two websites instead of one.However, this was closed because “due to mobile indexing we no longer need to optimize the desktop website for SEO”. google docs etc but I couldn’t find any reason why I should keep improving the desktop website for SEO ie crawlability, indexing, using correct HTML, etc. etc. What are the reasons, can you help me?”
Mobile only and responsive website
Google’s John Mueller expressed the benefits of a responsive website version. This eliminates the need to maintain two websites and is desktop friendly for site visitors visiting a site using a desktop browser.
He answered:
“First of all, not making a responsive site in this day and age seems odd to me. I realize that sometimes things haven’t been updated in a long time and you may need to keep them for a while , but if you’re making a new site”
Keeping a desktop compatible site is a good idea
Mueller then offered reasons why it’s a good idea to keep a functional desktop version of a website, such as other search engines, crawlers and site visitors actually being on desktop devices. Most SEOs understand that conversions, which generate revenue with a website, depend on it being accessible to all visitors to the site, that’s the big picture. Optimizing a site for Google is only part of this picture, it’s not the whole thing.
Mueller explained:
“With mobile indexing, it’s true that Google is focusing on the mobile version of web search indexing. However, there are other search engines and crawlers/requesters, and there are other requests that use a desktop user agent (I mentioned some of these in the recent blog post, there are also the ‘user that are not searchable in the user agent documentation. page).”
Then he said that websites exist for more than just being crawled and ranked by Google.
“Overall, I don’t think you can completely ignore what’s served on the desktop in terms of SEO and related. If you had to pick one and the only reason you’re running the site is for Google SEO , I’d probably choose mobile now, but it’s an artificial decision, sites don’t live in isolation like that, companies do more than just Google SEO (and TBH I hope you do – a healthy mix of traffic sources is good for peace of mind lity).And also, if you don’t want to have to make this decision: respond.”
After the questioner explained that the decision to focus on mobile had already been made, Mueller responded that it’s a case of pick your battles.
“If it’s an ongoing project, switching to a dynamic service is already a big step forward. Pick your battles :). Depending on the existing site, sometimes it’s better to launch earlier with a better version than not optimal than waiting for the ideal version to be completed I would just consider the fact that it is a dynamic service, with whatever tool you use to diagnose, monitor and track it, but it is not impossible -vos that the desktop version is not completely ignored 🙂 Maybe there is also room to grow what the team (developers + leaders) feel comfortable with, maybe a smaller part of the site that people could work on to make him answer. Good luck!”
Pick your battles or stay cool?
John Mueller is right that there are times when it is better to pick your battles than to compromise. But just make sure that your recommendations are on the record and that those who decline are on the record. That way, if things go wrong, the blame goes back to those responsible.
Featured image by Shutterstock/Luis Molinero
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