We’ve known for some time that mobile usage is on the rise and now google have announced that your ranking will be affected if your website isn’t mobile friendly.
I’m a big believer in device independent – responsive – websites, that is to say websites that work well across many devices and platforms. We don’t target specific Android or iPhone devices, we ensure that any of the responsive websites we build provide the best possible coverage from the outset.
So, what has google actually said. They are usually fairly cryptic about exactly what their algorithym changes will mean for website owners, but in this case the message is clear. Make sure your website works across many platforms and devices. In google’s own words “This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”
It should be fairly obvious if your website is optimised for mobile/responsive viewing, but if you are in doubt google has at least provided 2 options for you to determine whether you have any mobile issues.
- If you have google webmaster tools you will start to receive warnings about possible mobile usability issues.
- If you wish to test a few pages on your website you can use their mobile friendly test page.
Interestingly, the mobile friendly test page does give some idea of what google might use to determine whether your website is mobile friendly. They list 4 metrics. 1) Text too small to read. 2) Mobile viewport not set. 3) Links too close together. 4) Content wider than screen.
Full article on google’s official blog: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/finding-more-mobile-friendly-search.html
