In an effort to make internet usage more pleasant for the mobile visitor, Google has begun rolling out a change to its mobile search rankings. This change, which came into effect on 21-April-2015, gives priority to those web pages which are considered mobile-friendly.
What Does It Mean to Be Mobile-Friendly?
For a website to be considered mobile-friendly, the text must be readable and appropriately sized for mobile devices, among other considerations.
Have you ever been to a website and had to tap the screen to zoom in to read the content? Sites that are mobile-friendly will not need to be zoomed in on or scrolled horizontally in order to be used.
A mobile-friendly website will also avoid using content that is unplayable on mobile devices, such as Adobe Flash. The update affects search rankings for individual pages viewed on mobile devices. As Google states,
If your site’s pages aren’t mobile-friendly, there may be a significant decrease in mobile traffic from Google Search. But have no fear, once your site becomes mobile-friendly, we will automatically re-process (i.e., crawl and index) your pages.
To determine if your site is mobile-friendly according to Google’s new standards, check out the Mobile-Friendly Test.
Get Help Making Your Site Mobile-Friendly
