The canary in the coal mine isn’t just feeling dizzy, it’s not moving much. That’s because there have been whispers about the changing Google algorithm that’s going to affect everything we do online, but today it became official.
Google announced today that when it comes to search on mobile devices, users should get the most relevant and timely results, no matter if the information lives on mobile-friendly we pages or apps.
As more people use mobile devices to access the internet, Google changes its algorithms to adapt to this evolving usage pattern. They’ve now made it even easier for people to find mobile-friendly web pages and introduced App Indexing to surface useful content from apps.
Today, they announced two important changes on their Webmaster Central Blog to help put mobile-friendly content to the top of the search engine rankings:
1. More mobile-friendly websites in search results
Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. 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.
To get help with making a mobile-friendly site, check out our guide to mobile-friendly sites. If you’re a webmaster, you can get ready for this change by using the following tools to see how Googlebot views your pages:
- If you want to test a few pages, you can use the Mobile-Friendly Test.
- If you have a site, you can use your Webmaster Tools account to get a full list of mobile usability issues across your site using the Mobile Usability Report.
2. More relevant app content in search results
Starting today, we will begin to use information from indexed apps as a factor in ranking for signed-in users who have the app installed. As a result, we may now surface content from indexed apps more prominently in search. To find out how to implement App Indexing, which allows us to surface this information in search results, have a look at our step-by-step guide on the developer site.
What does this mean to you? Simply, if you don’t have a mobile-friendly website, you’re not going to show up in search engine rankings. If you haven’t already, now is the time to consider launching a WordPress or other type of Responsive theme that will give you the visibility you need across all mobile and computer devices. Not sure how? Give us a call.