Google is changing the way that it is ranking your website. In the past, Google has used bots to crawl websites like a real desktop user, following links on websites and gathering information such as keywords. It then ranks websites based on these and other metrics.
Statistics show that several years ago the number of mobile searches being performed surpassed the number of desktop searches, meaning that eventually Google would likely be putting more emphasis on the mobile aspect of websites.
With that being said, Google has already started to test it mobile-first index box to crawl websites as mobile user. This means, if the mobile version of your website doesn’t contain all the links that your desktop version does, then the mobile-first index bot will not take any of the missing links into consideration when determining the rank of your website.
Expandable content, such as hidden tabs or a read more link, is one feature that the mobile-first index bot will take into consideration, weighing it the same as it weighs visible content on the page.
As the new mobile-first bot produces quality results, Google will continue to implement more of the mobile-first bots, making it more and more important for websites to put more focus on their mobile versions. For now, Google is using both the desktop and mobile-first bots, and there is no timeline for when they will be using 100% mobile-first bots, however, barring any significant issues, the future for the desktop bot is limited.
