According to Google’s official Webmaster Central Blog published at the end of February, the search engine giant announced they would be updating their algorithms to adapt to internet users’ changing usage patterns in April.
Due to the widespread use of smartphones for accessing the internet, Google has to address this changing nature to offer better service to users with smartphones everywhere.
In its blog, Google stated that this update means there will be more mobile-friendly websites in search results.
Who or what will this affect? This expanding use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal will affect mobile searches worldwide.
What does this mean? The algorithm change should make a big impact on search results, meaning that it will become easier for users to get search results that are optimized for their devices, whether that’s a smartphone, tablet or some other device.
When is this all happening? The update is planned to roll out starting April 21, 2015.
What about companies, organizations and individuals who need some guidance on making their site mobile-friendly? Google has a guide to mobile-friendly sites.
It also provides a Mobile-Friendly Test so webmasters can test out a few of their site pages. For full site information. According to the blog, people can use their Webmaster Tools account to get a full list of mobile usability issues across your site using the Mobile Usability Report.
Another change that goes along with the mobile-friendly algorithm rollout is Google’s recent announcement that they have begun (as of Feb.26, 2015) “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.”
Google’s Zineb Ait Bahajji from the Webmaster Trends team was quoted as saying that the upcoming mobile-friendly ranking algorithm will have more of an impact on Google’s search results than the Google Panda update and the Google Penguin update did.
Need help making your site mobile-friendly? Make sure your website is among (or better yet, at the top!) of the search results when users search for products and services related to your business, contact the internet technology experts at Liquori Co.
We can help develop or jumpstart your company website’s online visibility through a number of technological and Internet marketing tools. Call 877-659-8498 or fill out our short contact form for more information.
