Mobile Friendly Websites Earn Google Label – Get Yours!

February 18, 2015

Ever tapped on a Google Search result on your mobile phone, only to find yourself looking at a page where the text was too small, the links were tiny, and you had to scroll sideways to see all the content? This used to happen when the website had not been optimized to be viewed on a mobile phone.

Time for a Change

Google decided it was time for a change so if your website hasn’t been labeled mobile friendly yet then please read on to learn why it’s critical and how to get started and why it’s destined to affect your brand’s digital presence.

That’s Beneficial

A website that isn’t optimized for mobile and built using responsive web design can be a frustrating experience for all mobile users (80% of internet searches), so Google made this change to make it easier and more enjoyable for people on mobile devices to find the information that they’re seeking. They did this by simply adding a “mobile friendly” label to their mobile search results.

The Wait is Over

The added mobile friendly label is out now so if you’ve been waiting for motivation to update your business website, the time is now. You should take action asap if you haven’t already. Below is a visual example, required criteria, and online resources provided by Google.

A page is eligible for the mobile friendly label if it meets the following criteria as detected by Googlebot:

• Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash

• Uses text that is readable without zooming

• Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom

• Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped

If you want to make sure that your page meets  mobile friendly criteria check into it yourself or get some help:

• Check your pages with their Mobile Friendly Test

• See the Mobile usability report in Google Webmaster Tools, which highlights major mobile usability issues across your entire site, not just one page

• Check their how-to guide for third-party software like WordPress or Joomla, in order to migrate your website hosted on a CMS (Content Management System) to use a mobile-friendly template

(The tools and documentation above are currently available in English. Presumably Google will also make them available in additional languages at earliest.)

First Then Next

Google sees these labels as a first step in helping mobile users to have a better mobile web experience and we are so glad they finally did this. Reportedly, they are also “experimenting” with using the mobile friendly criteria as a ranking signal. Experience Alert: Anytime Google mentions ranking signals it is historically their indirect way of telling website owners something is changing or about to change related to their search ranking algorithms.

With this change to mobile search results, we feel they are politely saying “ignore these mobile friendly guidelines at your own risk”. Our advice is don’t run the risk. Please contact us here if you have questions about how we can help with this or your other marketing needs.

Source: Google Webmaster Central Blog.