Google Announcement – Mobile-Friendly Websites To Rank Higher Starting April 21

Google made a big announcement yesterday regarding their mobile search algorithm. In an unprecedented move, they have announced the exact date that they intend to change their mobile organic ranking algorithm to more heavily weigh “mobile friendliness” as a ranking signal. That date is April 21.

Back in November we posted about Google adding “Mobile-Friendly” labels to mobile search results and predicted that this would affect mobile search rankings in the near future. This has now been confirmed.

Starting on April 21, we can assume that mobile-friendly sites will see a dramatic boost in rankings, especially in spaces where their competition has not taken the time to get their “mobile houses” in order and do not enjoy the mobile-friendly distinction. To be clear, this announcement specifically talks about mobile search rankings — NOT desktop rankings.

Although the language of this announcement indicates that this is a change to mobile search results, there has been speculation that mobile friendliness will also impact desktop rankings in the future. (Some believe it already does to a small degree.)

Here is a link to the official announcement from Google. Is your website responsive?