Published: February 28, 2015
Mobile, mobile, mobile. For quite some time, mobile has been at the top of our list in terms of digital importance — for a seamless end user experience, in determining context and content, and now, for impacting search.
Big changes to Google’s search algorithms are coming: beginning April 
21, the company will increase the ranking of sites that are mobile-friendly and surface app results much higher.
Within the last two months, Google Webmaster Central released a handful of updates and information on the importance of a good mobile experience, including the presence of ‘Mobile-friendly’ text in search results for websites that have an optimal viewer experience. That increased focus led us to believe that greater emphasis was being put on ‘mobile-friendliness’ of websites and the distribution of content according to the relevant context of a user. Now, that assumption is confirmed.
The company says that the change will have a “significant impact” on all mobile searches in all languages worldwide, but as a result Google says that users will find higher quality results.
Along with this change, Google will start to use more information from indexed apps as a factor when ranking search results for users that are signed-in and have the app installed. To understand where your site falls in the eyes of Google, use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test or take a look at your Webmaster Tools Mobile Usability section, which will warn of any mobile usability errors.
“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, our algorithms have to adapt to these usage patterns.”
Want to dominate the search results? Let’s chat!
By Stevie Sleeter, Content & Social Media Manager
