Over the last year or so we have posted a number of articles talking about and showing the importance of mobile friendly websites. These ‘factors’ have ranged from anything to giving websites a rankings boost or just simply showing how mobile search has taken over desktop search more recently.
Google has also been very interested in this concept and keen to promote it and as such, has included a mobile friendly label on search results to websites which it deems to be showing mobile friendly content (on mobile phone searches that is, not desktop – obviously!?)
This is now about to change – not because it was a waste of time but because its purpose has been served and many people have taken the desired actions. Google reports that around 85% of all searches on mobile phones can now be said to be mobile friendly. This is very good news because as we all know, there is nothing worse than having to search for something quickly on your mobile phone only to find out that the result which you click brings up text you can’t read because the layout is all out of proportion. Google has decided this ‘problem’ occurs less and less, so it is now a good idea to remove the mobile friendly tag as a means of clearing up the search results. Let’s face it, mobile phone screens are smaller anyway and the less ‘clutter’ that is displayed is for the better.
If you are still unsure about mobile friendly pages or search results, then don’t panic! Google is still keeping its tools that allow users to check for this. Therefore, the facility in search console and the tool which allows a mobile friendly test to be run will still remain.
This is a small change (and a small removal of a feature) but it tells a much bigger story. The fact that 85% of mobile search results are mobile friendly shows the increase in demand of the mobile for faster, quicker and more convenient searching which is often ‘on the go.’ Now that an announcement of such a higher figure has been cited, expect more developments in mobile searching in the near future (and possibly penalties for those other 15%?)
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