Google To Use Mobile Usability As A Ranking Factor In Mobile SEO
Google dropped a bomb recently stating that, as of April 21st 2015, the search engine will be extending the use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal throughout all mobile search results.
This change will affect worldwide mobile search results across the world in all languages, and Google says it will have a “significant” impact.
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 web pages or apps. As more people use mobile devices to access the internet, Google algorithms have to adapt to these usage patterns. In the past, Google have made updates to ensure a site is configured properly and viewable on modern devices. They have now made it easier for users to find mobile-friendly web pages and introduced App Indexing to surface useful content from apps.
This will be Google’s first and most anticipated step towards delivering primarily mobile-friendly sites in mobile search. Some people may say that this change comes as no surprise and that if you have been closely following Google’s actions, you will have noticed the signs had been slowly building up over the recent months.
Back when Google announced an official set of mobile-friendly criteria and a mobile-friendly site test tool that would determine whether your site met Google’s criteria, they hinted on these new changes. They stated that it may start to use this new criterion as a ranking signal for the future, and just a few months down the line, here we are!
To be sure that your site is still appearing in Google’s mobile search engine results after April 21st, give your website a test run with the mobile-friendly testing tool. If yours passes through, you shouldn’t have any issues worth worrying about.
However, if you find that your website hasn’t passed through, the tool will give you a number of suggestions to help you improve your website so it can be shown in the results. Additionally, you can use a Webmaster Tools account to get yourself a comprehensive list of mobile usability issues across your site with the mobile-friendly usability report.
As we speak, Google will now be using information from indexed apps as a determining factor in ranking for signed-in users who now have the app installed. As a result, you will now be able to see content from indexed apps across search results.
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