Beginning on Tuesday, April 21, Google updated its search algorithm to give mobile-friendly websites preference over non-mobile-friendly websites in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
While many small businesses are scrambling to execute responsive website designs, it’s important to put the change into perspective.
While Google is going to consider mobile-friendliness among it’s criteria for page rank, content is still king. The New York Times reported that a Google spokesperson clarified the among of weight given to responsive design:
“While the mobile-friendly change is important, we still use a variety of signals to rank search results,” said a spokeswoman. “The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so if a page with high-quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query. The ranking update will not make it rank below lower-quality pages that are mobile-friendly.”
If you’re interested in learning more about why Google is giving mobile-freindly sites such an advantage (they are finding that roughly 60% of web traffic is done on mobile devices and are trying to improve the user experience) check out these articles:
Business Insider