The introduction of Google’s Mobile-First Index required both marketers and developers to reconfigure their strategic thinking moving forward. Now, as the update has come to fruition, Google is revealing common issues that have arisen as a result. Google has stated that sites will only be put into this new index once deemed capable of doing so. Given the standards set forth by the search engine, many sites have yet to experience hindrances.
Structured Data
Structured data, or schema markup, is a snippet of code added to a website to help search engines return more informative results for users. As Google makes more and more updates, this markup becomes more and more critical. With each update, in this case the mobile-first index, a new snippet of schema is created. Google has stated that once a site is put into this new mobile index, the search engine will only use the mobile version of each page that includes that specific structured data. Be sure to test each version of the page prior to creation to ensure the structured data matches on each version or has mobile-specific markup on the mobile version.
Missing Image Alt Text
Similar to structured data, many sites have image alt text on the desktop version of the site but not on the mobile version. Alt text makes it much easier for search engine crawlers to understand the context of each image. Google has made a formal recommendation to double check that the alt text on all images matches on both versions of the site; this will ensure no confusion with the algorithm occurs.