This update was released in all countries and languages simultaneously; nonetheless it was an ongoing update that took a week to fully roll out. The update also received a lot of media attention because it’s one of only a few updates that was announced well in advance of its release by Google, who also suggested website owners to prepare for it.
The update causes mobile-friendly websites to appear more frequently in search results. That is to say – making a website compatible with mobile devices becomes a parameter in determining a website’s ranking. The official announcement states that only mobile searches will be affected, and in reality it would seem that after the update the results have fluctuated even less than expected.
Another change caused by this update: users that are logged in to their Google account will see content from apps that are installed on their mobile devices in their search results. This subject is very significant and greatly impacts mobile device search result visibility.
Points regarding this update:
- A page can be either “mobile-friendly” or “not mobile-friendly” – the update does not recognize an intermediate state.
- The update affects each page on the website separately and doesn’t impact the entire site – certain pages can be affected by the update while others won’t.
- The update does not affect news items (Google News).
Official information from Google:
Google’s official announcement on the update can be found here: https://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.il/2015/04/rolling-out-mobile-friendly-update.html
A team from Google answered questions regarding the update for an hour this week. The full segment can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-0Q4s9ThU0
How to deal with this update?
Identifying:
- If your website demands mobile compatibility an announcement will appear on the website’s Google Search Console
- The following tool can be used to check for mobile compatibility on specific pages by entering a page’s URL: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
Coping:
- Google provides information on the changes they’re making in the following link: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.il/2014/11/helping-users-find-mobile-friendly-pages.html.
- Make sure your website is mobile friendly by following these guidelines, and use the Mobile-Friendly Test toolafterwards to check if it’s indeed compatible.