Mobile is very important for users, and Google knows it. In fact Google has stated that over 50 per cent of all searches done through it are on mobile devices. Due to this, Google released a mobile update on the April 21st. This update will expand the use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal in the mobile search results. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact on mobile search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high-quality search results that are optimised for their devices.
Fortunately Google has produced helpful tools to identify pages it deems mobile-unfriendly:
- To test a few pages, you can use the mobile-friendly test
- You can use Webmaster Tools to get a full list of mobile usability issues across a verified site using the Mobile Usability Report
How big will the update be?
Google’s Zineb Ait Bahajji from the Webmaster Trends team was quoted as saying at SMX Munich that the mobile-friendly ranking algorithm will have more of an impact on Google’s search results than the Google Panda and Google Penguin updates. Google did say when it announced the mobile-friendly ranking algorithm that this would have a “significant impact” on the mobile search results. This is key, as despite the fact it’s only impacting mobile results, it will have more of an impact than Panda or Penguin.
What has been confirmed so far?
- The algorithm update r0lled out on April 21st and will take a few days to a week to roll-out completely and globally
- Pages are either mobile-friendly or not, there are no degrees of mobile-friendliness in this algorithm
- The fastest way to see if your web pages are mobile-friendly is to see if you have the mobile-friendly label in the live mobile search results now. If not, check the mobile-friendly testing tool, which should match the live Google search results. The mobile usability reports in Google Webmaster Tools can be delayed based on crawl time, so will not reflect changes to mobile friendliness immediately.
- Google has said it will affect more search queries than Panda or Penguin
- Google is treating this as a big deal, more so than we have seen for pretty much any update in recent times
What does this mean to you?
Pages that are not mobile friendly will not rank as well in mobile search results for non-branded search terms as they otherwise would do. Pages that are mobile friendly will do better, pushing the pages that are mobile unfriendly further down the SERPS.
Is your site ready for the mobile revolution?