Google & Bing Mobile-friendly ratings explained

Rightly, businesses and marketers quaked in their boots when Google announced yet another change to the way it ranks websites on mobile search. The recent mobile-friendly algorithm update rolled out on 21^st April is anticipated to lead to a significant loss of mobile search results rankings for business that are judged to be failing to give mobile consumers a less than positive website experience.

The monumental significance attributed to this single Google update has seen it termed ‘mobile apocalypse’ and ‘mobilegeddon’, suggesting a seismic shift for online businesses.

We should certainly pay attention to Google given that it is the biggest search engine in the UK search market. Focusing on Google alone risks missing out on the remaining quarter of our potential customers who are searching elsewhere. Microsoft’s Bing makes up nearly all of the rest of the UK search market while Yahoo has the smallest proportion of potential customers searching online that renders it virtually insignificant.

It does not make business sense to bypass this significant proportion of customers who are using Bing, so you should also consider what they are doing in terms of ranking sites on mobile-friendliness. Getting mobile-friendly labels on the biggest two search engines ensures your business can get in front of roughly 90% of your potential customers.

Ever wondered how other search engines measure mobile-friendliness? Read on to find out how to be mobile-friendly on Bing as well as on Google after the April 23^rd mobile search update.

Let us begin!

Impact of Google’s mobile algorithm update

Most experts agree that the effect of the algorithm update on small businesses has been mixed so far. Niall O’loughlin’s article suggests that many have felt the impact.

“Within the two weeks of the algorithm change, it emerged the number of websites deemed to be non-mobile friendly decreased by 21 per cent on the first three pages (30 results) of Google. Interestingly, the biggest change was on page three with a 25 per cent decrease – at the same time the fall on page one was a less pronounced 17 per cent”.

O’loughlin also cautions that if you thought that the worst was over, unfortunately you are in for a nasty surprise because Google has repeatedly insisted the full impact of the update could potentially take weeks. Furthermore, we are going to see further tweaks to the existing algorithm designed to squeeze out non-mobile friendly websites over time.Mobile devices (tablets an smartphones) have improved beyond belief in recent years. We have leapt forward from the days of mobile that only made phone calls through the advent of messaging, to the device that is so technologically advanced that it rivals every other device we use – from the desktop to TV and games console.

 

Mobile us has changed the way businesses and marketers engage consumers.

A recent Marketo report found that the 7.1 billion people on earth own 7.7 billion mobile handsets, with many people owning two or more devices. Furthermore, mobile is now the device of choice for consumers searching on the Internet for businesses and products, with three quarters of searches now on mobile.

The fact that roughly 80% of mobile searchers go on to make a purchase means that every business must be mobile-ready in order to get more customers.

Summer 2013 saw searches on mobile devices outstrip desktop searches, as illustrated in the following graph.

Data like this has prompted search engines to focus increasingly on better meeting the needs of mobile searchers, something that many businesses have not always done well.

Challenges of going mobile

Mir Rosenberg (Principal Program Manager at Bing) lists some of the challenges for mobile relevance when compared to “traditional” relevance as follows:

• It is easy to type URLs on PCs and Macs, but it’s more cumbersome on phones.
• Some sites have mobile-incompatible content. For example, a non-mobile friendly search result may send you to a page with fonts or buttons so small that you can barely use it without zooming or pinching — if at all.
• Some pages that work fine on a PC or Mac can be useless on some mobile devices, think Flash-only pages on iOS.
• In some cases, the “normal” URL redirects to a mobile version, which not only wastes user’s time but also consumes bandwidth on their data plans

Search engines are trying to mitigate against these issues by using mobile-friendly labels to inform mobile searchers about their likely experience on websites on mobile search results pages. Mobile searchers can be expected to be more likely to click on mobile-friendly websites.

Mobile search engine results pages

Google officially rolled out its mobile-friendly label system for websites on its mobile search engine results pages (SERPS).

A lot has been made of Google’s mobile-friendly label and what the recent April 2015 mobile search algorithm update mean for small businesses. We definitely know that it has the potential to affect businesses that rely on being found on mobile search, as we will all increasingly will.

Bing mobile-friendly rankings

Where Google goes, Bing tends to follow. So not surprisingly, Bing also has a mobile-friendly label that is displayed on its mobile search results, as you can see in this image.

Bing seeks to understand how webpages and websites behave specifically for mobile searchers by using crawlers that mimic some of the most common mobile device types. Identifying and classifying mobile and device-friendly pages and websites enable them to rank mobile-friendly URLs on mobile search engine results pages.

Mobile-friendly ranking factors

The following table shows how each search engine awards mobile-friendly labels.

Maxine-Laurie Marshall summarises the implications of Google’s mobile update as follows:

• Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like flash
• Uses text that is readable without zooming
• Sizes content to the screen so that users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
• Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped

Mir Rosenberg says that Bing views webpages from a mobile device’s perspective to ensure mobile relevance based on these factors:

• Assess mobile functionality to weed out junk, that is pages that are 404 on mobile or Flash only, etc
• Analyze content readability so that users don’t have to increase or decrease font or scroll from side to side
• Look at mobile compatibility to ensure that content is viewable on the user’s mobile device
• Assess whether the webpage’s functionality can be used on mobile device.

While there is no doubt that the search engines add secret ingredients to their mobile search algorithm mix and that the algorithms will be updated regularly, what we know is good news for many reasons, including these:

For one, Google and Bing essentially use the same factors to assess mobile-friendliness. This means that satisfying these search engines will not be as labour, resource and cost-intensive for small businesses as it could be. Basically, mobile-friendly webpages on one will also be mobile-friendly on the other.

Secondly, thankfully, none of these criteria is really new – many businesses and webmasters have known about doing these things for some time now. So, it is just a matter of reviewing what we are doing, testing our systems and making adjustments as necessary.

Lastly, we know that the mainstays of search algorithms have not changed – providing useful and relevant content and providing a great experience for your visitors. We know that businesses that get this right will rank highly on search results, even if the site is not mobile-friendly.

Testing for mobile-friendliness

If you are concerned about whether your website will pass the mobile-friendly test, follow Search Engineland’s Barry Schwartz’s great advice about how to find out:

“There are a few ways but the only way to know if your site is already indexed .. as mobile friendly is to see if your site has the mobile friendly label in the mobile search results. Using the mobile friendly testing tool will show if you pass the test…. You can also the mobile usability reports within Google Webmaster Tools”

Schwartz’s article is also worth a look for answers to any questions you may still have about Google’s April 2015 mobile search update.

Moving forward

Now we know with certainty how the biggest search engines rank websites for mobile-friendliness. Mobile-friendly labels have not made the Internet implode and they definitely should not destroy your business’ visibility on the major search engines. Follow the criteria we have been given to get mobile-friendly labels, but it will not necessarily make you rank as high as you want because everyone should have the label.

Getting these additional factors right will make your website more likely to rank higher:

• Produce unique and relevant content that searchers want.
• Ensure a great experience for users on all devices and avoid compatibility, readability, and functionality issues
• Move towards a responsive website that adapts to your user’s device at the same URL.
• Make sure search bots can crawl your site freely and that you are not blocking essential parts of your site (such as JavaScript or CSS files).

Getting all of these factors in place should ensure your website ranks highly regardless of whether consumers are searching on mobile devices or desktop.

Check out smallbiz-emarketing.com’s mobile services page to see how we can help to deliver all your mobile marketing needs. We are experienced at working with small businesses and start-ups to get mobile-friendly ratings and move up search rankings by producing unique relevant content and search engine optimisation. You can also subscribe to our monthly newsletter to be the first to receive updates, discounts and special offers.

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