If you haven't made your site mobile friendly or responsive yet, you might want to get to work on it. Google is increasing the push for pages that are friendly to the mobile experience.
As a next step in our efforts to help users find more mobile content, starting in May, we will begin rolling out an update to our algorithm that increases the ranking effect.
Here are the most important things to know about mobile-friendly design. Only affects smartphone results. So there is no impact on desktops or tablets.
- It affects all countries and languages.
- It only affects “blue links” – the regular organic search results, and not any part of the search results (so it doesn't affect things like news, images, unless those teams decide to implement something independent.)
- You must unlock resources and elements (such as Javascript and CSS) to be considered mobile friendly.
- Using interstitials will prevent a site from receiving the mobile tag and ranking.
- There is no need for a specific mobile sitemap.
- Mobile updates are on the fly, so page changes will be reflected after Googlebot crawls again.
- An update to the mobile ranking algorithm is not a surprise, Google had previously commented that it would evolve over time. Site owners had been waiting for it to be updated before.
But here's what we know about the signs of the rise of mobile sites in search results.
Will only ranking be boosted?
When Google initially launched the mobile-friendly algorithm last year, it was essentially a filter it applied to determine whether a page was mobile-friendly or not. If it was, you put the tag in the search results and the associated ranking boost, and if it wasn't mobile friendly, you didn't do that.
There were no other signals applied that made any difference to how strong that impulse was.
A Google spokesperson has confirmed that at the moment It is only the “mobile friendly or not” signal that is being increased.
Will some other factors increase the ranking signal?
Although suggestions have been made that perhaps page speed will be added to mobile signing at some point, it doesn't appear to be something soon to happen yet.
Will any other changes made affect the mobile friendliness of a site?
A Google spokesperson also confirmed to SEM Post that there are no other changes being made that could cause a site to lose its mobile-friendliness. So if your site is mobile friendly today, as long as nothing changes at the moment, it will still be mobile friendly when the boost occurs in May.
The brand is still important
There is always a concern about whether a popular brand will still rank for its brand name, even if the site is not mobile friendly. And it seems that Google is still taking this into account.
And remember, the intent of the search query is still a very strong signal – so even if a page with high-quality content is not optimized for mobile, you could still rank well if it has great, relevant content.
After all, if a user searches for a specific brand, expect the brand name to be first in the search results – or at least, as one of the best results.
A Google spokesperson also confirmed that “Mobile friendliness is one of many search ranking factors. "
If Google does not serve pages for that brand, simply because it is not mobile friendly, then a user might think that Google's search results are bad because the brand is not located where it should be to be found easily.
And if a user ends up on a brand's site that offers a horrible mobile user experience, then it's badmouthing the brand itself, not Google.
Tablets?
Google confirmed that there are still no plans to carry it out on tablets. This is only on smartphones.
When will it be released?
Google's blog says it will launch in May, but the exact date is not yet known. According to a Google spokesperson, “We don't have an exact date as of today, but you'll know when we do.”
If you are looking to make sites mobile friendly before the ranking boost increases, aim to finish before the update shortly before the end of the month of April, it could take time for Googlebot to re-crawl the site and recognize the mobile friendly pages .
And don't forget to use the mobile checker to ensure that the pages are actually mobile friendly.
Source: The SEM Post
