Google Announces ‘Mobile-Friendly’ Web Search

For a couple of years now we have been hyping up the importance of Responsive web design, so much so we offer it as an inclusive service when producing new websites.

Now we have confirmation that it is in-fact a necessity that your website be responsive to feature in Google’s latest web search results.

Google will soon be releasing a new search algorithm over the next few weeks, that prioritises ‘mobile friendly’ websites in their search results. This is a huge change, as many websites will now be punished as a result of this decision by Google.

A website 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

You can read all about this on Google’s blog right here >

If your website is not responsive, then we would seriously advise you to consider updating your website as soon as you can, the world is changing fast and Google knows it.

It is widely predicted that in 2014 mobile internet use will overtake the desktop, with the rise of 3g and now 4g it has become faster and more convenient to use mobile internet.

Are you unsure whether your website is safe from this change, then there is an easy online test you can take right now to check whether your website meets the necessary criteria, why not click here and give it a whirl >

On a final note, but! your website is not responsive I hear you cry, well fear not, as we are in the process of building a shiny new responsive website for ourselves, it’s looking rather great, watch this space.