Google will now rank mobile-friendly sites higher when a search is performed from a phone
Here’s a bit of Google Search news you should know about. As we were warned about back in February, Google has flipped the switch on a Google Search algorithm change that will now rank websites that are optimized for mobile devices higher when the search is performed on a smartphone.
It’s a natural step for any search engine in a world that’s become increasingly mobile, though it’s a change that’s sure to be scary for web developers everywhere. It might also be scary for your common user as it could bury a lot of relevant information that the mobile-optimized sites might not have.
There are a few things you should know about the algorithm change:
- It only affects search on phones. Tablets and desktops will continue to go by the normal algorithm.
- You can check to see if your website is mobile friendly using Google’s quick tool here. If you see green, you should be good to go.
- This change only impacts raw search results, so searches that feature video, Google News and other special result types at the top will will not have those result types affected.
- If the algorithm determines your unoptimized site has higher quality or more relevant content than optimized sites, they may still opt to rank your link higher.
Search Engine Land has a much deeper Q&A for you to check out if you want to know more about the change and everything that’s going on. Your site not mobile friendly? Funnily enough, Google is a good place to start to figure out how you can adapt your site to mobile whenever someone visits from their phone, so be sure to poke around and get going on that as soon as possible if you haven’t already gotten with the program.