Google’s Mobile Algorithm Update and Its Effect on Your Website
On April 21st, 2015 Google released its newest mobile algorithm update focused on giving mobile friendly websites a boost in smartphone search results. Search experts and media outlets have nicknamed the new update “Mobilegeddon.”
Unlike other Google algorithm updates, such as Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird, the search engine giant gave plenty of notice before this monumental update. Google first announced the plans for a mobile algorithm update in December 2014. Google told news outlets “they are experimenting with a new mobile friendly ranking algorithm” and officially announced the release date in February 2015.
As for its impact, Google’s new mobile friendly algorithm will only impact searches on mobile devices, giving a boost to mobile friendly pages and driving non mobile friendly pages down. The Mobile Friendly Algorithm will only impact mobile rankings; there will not be an effect on desktop and tablet rankings.
How Do You Know if Your Website is Mobile Friendly?
There are currently a few ways to test if your site is already indexed by Google as mobile friendly website.
- Use Google’s mobile friendly testing tool.
- Check your mobile usability reports within Google Webmaster Tools.
- Does you site have a mobile friendly label in mobile searches?
Mobilegeddon’s Impact on Mobile Search Results
How much of an impact the Mobilegeddon update will create is still unknown. However, it has been said that it will be more significant than the Panda and Penguin algorithms updates. This potentially means more than 11% of search results will be affected by the algorithm update.
The new mobile algorithm will evaluate on a page-by-page basis. While some of your pages could be deemed not mobile friendly, others could benefit from this update. However, in Google’s eyes, a page cannot be partially mobile friendly; you either are or you are not.
Google’s Mobile Friendly Algorithm runs in real-time across sites. According to Google, it will take a few weeks for the algorithm to roll out. Keep an eye on your site’s mobile traffic, as you may not notice the changes for a few days to a few weeks. Sometimes the mobile friendly label can be delayed in showing up in search results, but Google will pickup on any changes you make in real time.
Google published a Mobile Friendly FAQ and document with the top seven mistakes webmasters make when going mobile friendly. Check out this document, test your site’s mobile friendliness, and speak to one of our webmasters about how you can assure your website is on the correct side of Mobilegeddon.