Google Encourages Webmasters to make their Sites Mobile-friendly
Google Want Websites in its Search Results to be Mobile Friendly
A Few days ago, Google announced through its Webmaster blog site that the company is officially going live with the mobile friendly label in its search results. Google is showing new efforts to encourage webmasters to make sure that their websites are compatible with mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. As you know with the ever growing popularity of mobile devices, the web development industry is now focusing on developing responsive websites that are compatible with both desktop PCs and mobile devices at the same time. Google’s mobile friendly label means that your website will be labeled as “mobile friendly” below your site link in the Google search results.
In its official Webmaster blog, Google also mentioned about the launch of brand new mobile testing tool and they are experimenting with the new mobile-friendly ranking factors in their search algorithms. It is well known that mobile users ignore websites that are not entirely mobile-friendly and can be a frustrating experience for them. Google said that with the roll out of mobile-friendly labels on their search results, it will be easy for mobile users to find information that they are looking for. According to the internet search giant, this change will be rolled out worldwide over the next few weeks. According to Google, a web page is eligible for the “mobile-friendly” label if it meets the following requirements as detected by Googlebot.
- The Web page must use a test that is readable without zooming
- Avoid the use of software such as Flash that is common on smartphones and tablets.
- Web sites need to position their links minimum distances apart so that users can easily find the link they are looking for.
- Users don’t have to scroll horizontally or same as the site content is sized to the mobile screen.
Web sites can check their pages with Google’s mobile testing tool to find whether it meets mobile-friendly criteria. Web site owners can read Google’s updated Webmasters Mobile Guide on how to create and improve their mobile site. You can view the Mobile usability report in Google Webmaster Tools which highlights major mobile usability problems across your entire website not just one web page.
If you are using third party software such as WordPress or Joomla, you check the Google’s how-to guide in order to migrate your website hosted on content management system (CMS) to use a mobile-friendly template. Currently, all the tools and documentation mentioned above are available in English and Google will provide these features and tools in additional languages within the next few weeks.
When it comes to SEO, Google is now experimenting with a set of new mobile ranking aspects around various metrics you find in the mobile testing tool. Even though they didn’t explain it in detail in their blog, but they are indeed testing it. In its blog, Google believes that these “mobile-friendly” labels can be seen as a first step in helping mobile users to have better mobile online experience and considering mobile-friendly criteria as a possible SEO ranking signal.
