Mobile version in search results from mobile devices

[dr_cell]

Hello

There is a site, in the index more than 300k pages on the main domain site:example.com. On the pages of the site is a tag <link rel=‘alternate’ media=‘only screen and (max-width: 640px)’ href=‘https://mobile.example.com/’>. Everything is done in full compliance with google rules on mobile versions of the site. The same content is shown in both versions.

But when viewing through site:mobile.example.com it shows only 20k pages. A couple of months ago it indexed these 20k and stopped at this one figure. Accordingly, there is very little showing in the search mobile subdomain from mobile devices. And I need to show the mobile subdomain from mobile devices.

In serch console both domains are added, no errors or warnings show.

What do you think could be the reason for not indexing the mobile subdomain?

[edited by: not2easy at 12:15 pm (utc) on Nov 9, 2024]
[edit reason] Please use example.com for example URLs [/edit]

[not2easy]

Hi dr_cell and welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

Are you using a mobile device for your site:search? It is not unusual if you are using a desktop machine to search, to see fewer mobile results.

It can also help if you are using a canonical meta-tag to relate each duplicate content URL.

For better results, the domain should be responsive so the same pages/URLs for desktop and mobile are indexed.

PS - we use example.com for examples because no one can own that domain, it was reserved for examples only. ;)

[dr_cell]

Hi not2easy,

Are you using a mobile device for your site:search? It is not unusual if you are using a desktop machine to search, to see fewer mobile results.

from a mobile device, google doesn't show the number of results for the query site:domain.com

For better results, the domain should be responsive so the same pages/URLs for desktop and mobile are indexed.

The site design is adaptive, and shows completely the same content on the desktop and mobile versions.

the whole problem is that for some reason google doesn't want to index the mobile subdomain :(

[RedBar]

The site design is adaptive, and shows completely the same content on the desktop and mobile versions.

If I understand this sentence correctly then this is a duplicate site, yes / no?

[dr_cell]

If I understand this sentence correctly then this is a duplicate site, yes / no?

If the user is on a desktop computer, they see example.com in Google search results. If the user is on a mobile phone, they see mobile.example.com in the search results.

The meta tags on the pages:
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/">
<link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="https://mobile.example.com/">

There is no duplicate content.
Currently, the issue is that mobile users are seeing example.com instead of mobile.example.com.

[edited by: not2easy at 11:10 am (utc) on Nov 10, 2024]
[edit reason] Please use example.com for example URLs [/edit]

[RedBar]

the whole problem is that for some reason google doesn't want to index the mobile subdomain :(

There is no duplicate content.

You are serving two identical sites, one desktop, one mobile?

If so Gogle used to allow this however I think it was 3-4 years ago that Google advised to signify your one preferred site ... Can someone clarify this?

I converted to fully responsive html5 some 11 years ago however I don't have 300K pages!

[not2easy]

They rely on sitemaps, one for desktop, one for mobile, but that does not mean they will index all pages, it only indicates that they exist and where they can be found. It is possible that they will only index one of two identical sites. Google recommends that you use the URL Inspection Tool in GSC to verify that your pages can be indexed. If there is a problem with indexing, that is one place to start.

See more tips here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9012289

[ankit68]

Try using the URL Inspection Tool in Search Console to check for indexing issues. Also, ensure your sitemaps are updated. You might consider switching to a responsive design for better indexing.

[ashleydent4u]

t sounds like the issue could be related to how Google is handling the mobile subdomain in terms of indexing. Even though you've set everything up correctly with the <link rel="alternate"> tag and both domains are added to Search Console, Google may still be having trouble properly crawling or recognizing the mobile version of the site. It could be a crawl budget issue where Google isn’t prioritizing the mobile subdomain, or perhaps it’s a matter of duplicate content since the mobile and desktop versions have the same content. You might want to check the mobile version for any potential crawl restrictions like robots.txt, noindex tags, or redirects that could be limiting visibility. Also, ensuring the mobile subdomain is fully optimized and accessible could help Google crawl it more effectively.

[RedBar]

Specifically read the last two paragraphs here from almost 5 years ago:
[developers.google.com...]