New Google Search Console Doesn't Use The Mobile First Index, It's One Index

Tuesday, while I was on stage on the mobile-first Google panel I heard a rumor that Google's Gary Illyes may have said that the new Google Search Console shows data only from the mobile first index.

Here is a tweet covering that from the panel:

o.O @Suzzicks says that @methode confirms that the index report in the new GSC reflects the mobile first index, while the old GSC is desktop index.

— Jennifer Slegg (@jenstar) March 13, 2018

Well that is wrong.

I was actually shocked to hear that and while on stage I said I find that hard to believe.

Gary Illyes from Google confirmed it was a miscommunication and posted on Twitter "I think we misunderstood each other, most likely I misunderstood you: both reports are fed from one index, there's no differences between the reports in that sense."

I think we misunderstood each other, most likely I misunderstood you: both reports are fed from one index, there's no differences between the reports in that sense

— Gary "鯨理" Illyes (@methode) March 14, 2018

Gary clarified it again on Twitter:

The data differences are Search Console backend related, yes. The data sources SC is pulling data from haven't changed

— Gary "鯨理" Illyes (@methode) March 14, 2018

Even John Mueller said no, this is not right:

That's not the case, there's no separate mobile index. Maybe he was thinking of something different. I'm curious though! If it were the mobile index, what would that change for you with regards to how you used it?

— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) March 14, 2018

And Danny Sullivan also:

There is only one index. There's no "new" vs "old" index. One single index, where mobile-first indexed pages and desktop-first indexed pages both reside happily.

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) March 15, 2018

Logically it just does not make sense. The same data is fed to both versions of Google Search Console. Google's mobile first index switches on a site by site basis, if your site is not yet in the mobile first index (which is the case for most sites) then Google doesn't index your site yet as a mobile phone and thus doesn't have data from the mobile first index for your site to pass to the new or old Google Search Console.

It is an indexing thing, it is separate from how the Google Search Console reports work, separate from ranking, etc. Yes, they are somewhat related because it is all search but they are very separate.

So if anyone thought this, get it out of your head. :)

Forum discussion at Twitter.