Google search update now favors mobile-friendly sites

Google search update now favors mobile-friendly sites
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Google new update will rank mobile-friendly sites higher when searching on smartphones.

Google's new update to its search engine improves the search rankings of mobile-friendly sites while others will be penalised. The new search algorithm is meant for searches only on mobile devices.

Google says that the update applies only to individual pages, so if a site is not mobile-friendly as a whole, but it could still score higher in search results because some of its pages do. An other criteria would be how closely the information on the site matches the wording of your search. However sites which are penalized for not being mobile-friendly could see a dip in users as well as sales. Google Earth Day 2015 doodle asks 'which animal are you'?

Mobile web browsing has been growing tremendously driven by cheaper smartphones and higher internet penetration, according to a recent report by research firm ComScore. Google aims to boost its appeal to smartphone users with the update, since nearly 60 percent of all online traffic is now generated by mobile devices.

Google is also providing web developer tools to test if their website is mobile friendly.

Google says in a blog post, "Today's the day we begin globally rolling out our mobile-friendly update. Now searchers can more easily find high-quality and relevant results where text is readable without tapping or zooming, tap targets are spaced appropriately, and the page avoids unplayable content or horizontal scrolling". Read: Google now lets you download your search history

"The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query," Google said.

Here's a video explaining what Google's new search changes mean for you.

Source: Google

Silky Malhotra

Silky Malhotra

Silky Malhotra loves learning about new technology, gadgets, and more. When she isn’t writing, she is usually found reading, watching Netflix, gardening, travelling, or trying out new cuisines. View Full Profile

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