Logo
CLOSEMENU

The Latest on Google’s Mobile-Friendly Algorithm – Due To Roll Out on April 21st

Justin Aldridge

Google’s mobile-friendly algorithm is released on the 21st April, so we’re interested to see what this means as far as SEO is concerned and what else can be expected.

The mobile-friendly algorithm, which Google confirmed will roll out over the course of a week, will be on a page-by-page and real-time basis. So how can you be sure if your page is going to benefit?

Big Expectations

This is one hell of an algorithm update as far as Google are concerned, with the impact likely to be much more significant compared to the likes of Panda and Penguin. It’s no surprise that there are plenty of webmasters out there who are sitting anxiously on the edge of their seats in anticipation for the release.

A Google+ hangout that took place on Tuesday brought up the new algorithm update and a number of important questions were answered in the process. Here’s what we found out:

  • There are no set degrees of mobile friendliness, which means you will be judged on whether you are mobile friendly or you aren’t. It’s as simple as that.
  • The easiest way to discover whether you are currently mobile friendly is to check live mobile search results and see if you have the mobile-friendly label attached to it. You can also use the mobile-friendly testing tool to match live Google search results. Mobile usability reports in Webmaster Tools may be delayed based on crawl time.
  • The algorithm will take between a few days and a week to roll out on a global scale.

The Dates

So firstly, the 21st is more of a guess as the algorithm will take a few days or so to roll out. It’s not unheard of for algorithms to take a little longer than expected, so we can’t be too sure on the dates just yet.

You Are or You Aren’t

Now comes the interesting part. This is an on-or-off algorithm that works on a page-by-page basis, but you have to be mobile friendly to see any benefits. In other words, it doesn’t matter how mobile friendly your pages are.

Some of the criteria mentioned in the Google+ hangout were small font sizes, tap links being spread out and content being readable from a mobile viewpoint. However, it was also stated that there were over 200 different factors that will determine whether you are, or indeed aren’t, mobile friendly.

Are You Mobile Friendly?

The easiest way to see if you are mobile friendly is to check for a mobile-friendly label in the live mobile search results. The label confirms Google understands you are mobile-friendly.