Google Mobile Algo - April 2015 Roll Out

[keyplyr]

---

System: The following message was cut out of thread at: http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4743698.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 3:18 am on Apr 21, 2015 (PDT -8)

---

Different DataCenters probably, but I'm seeing new SERP for everything I search for... that I'm familiar enough with to notice a change. So Cal

[Rlilly]

This will be another case of Brands which sites are not friendly getting preferential treatment.

[petehall]

I understand the update may take time to rollout, but surely somebody, somewhere around the globe should have noticed some movement by now? I see absolutely no difference across any of the verticals I watch closely.

In the UK this update even made the BBC Tech News headlines on the 20th.

[McMohan]

somebody, somewhere around the globe should have noticed some movement by now?

I did! A non-responsive site ranking below me just overtook my responsive site a while ago :-) And my site was firm on that rank for last 2 months.

[chalkywhite]

I seem down on mobile traffic today, im very mobile friendly. Most likely still a lot of churn.

[Jez123]

One site that is in my SERP has gone from the bottom of page 3 / mid page 4 to #1. It's not mobile friendly either! Good job G!

[keyplyr]

I understand the update may take time to rollout, but surely somebody, somewhere around the globe should have noticed some movement by now?

Haven't you been reading the entire thread? Lots of us have seen significant differences between desktop & mobile search.

[Johan007]

It is said to take a week to role out to UK etc...

[goodroi]

One of my sites Google mobile traffic went up 2.8% yesterday ... but that site isn't mobile friendly yet. The mobile code for that site is still being finalized and will be rolled out soon because it will help usability and have a side effect of making Google happy.

Let's be careful to avoid overreacting like scared rookies. Mobile friendliness is just one of well over 100 other ranking factors. Google has also said it will take a week to roll out and we have no idea if mobile friendliness is a weak ranking influencer or a strong ranking influencer.

I expect we will see some movement but I also expect sites likes WebmasterWorld.com will rank #1 in mobile serps when you search for their name regardless if they are mobile friendly or not. I don't think Google is silly enough to throw away relevancy just for mobile friendliness. If you are a smaller website with weak backlinks in a competitive industry then you better make your site as attractive as possible to Google.

[rustybrick]

I think 10 minutes ago it started rolling out. I am in New York and the queries I am tracking have changed on mobile.

[Wilburforce]

I am still seeing no changes here in the UK.

+1

[enchant]

No changes in Boston on my mobile.

[MichaelP]

I understand the update may take time to roll out, but surely somebody, somewhere around the globe should have noticed some movement by now? I see absolutely no difference across any of the verticals I watch closely.

One of my sites got a big boost yesterday. Mobile users at least doubled. Just the mobile users jumped so it is definitely this. Sadly no difference in sales . Funny thing is the site is not really mobile ready. I added viewport to get rid of viewport errors but it is not really responsive site. I am just finishing a responsive redesign and now I don't know anymore if I should apply new theme or not :D

[Kelowna]

[googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.ca...]

...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.

Thanks Google for wasting a bunch of our time with this crap. Our non mobile sites are still ranking just as good as the mobile sites, just a big waste of time and money.

[support.google.com...]

Quality guidelines - basic principles

Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.

Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"

...because search engines lie and trick webmasters into doing crap and spending unnecessarily. Now time to get back to real work and banking again after this non-update, what a waste of time this whole update thing was!

[supercyberbob]

Thanks for the tip MichaelP. I will roll back my site to non-responsive today.

[Wilburforce]

I don't know anymore if I should apply new theme or not

Why wouldn't you? My site was mobile-friendly long before Google said anything. What do you want to happen if a mobile user finds your site?

[ember]

I think there aren't enough quality responsive sites yet for google to rank them above non-responsive sites, at least not across the board. Maybe that's why they gave notice about this several months ago, so there would be more mobile sites ready and worth a bump in rank. Yes, users like mobile friendly sites on their phones, but they also like to find sites with good information, responsive design or not. What good are the SERPs if they are full of responsive sites that are just there because they are responsive, not because they are quality sites with relevant information?

[EditorialGuy]

I will roll back my site to non-responsive today.

Since you've already made your site mobile-friendly, what do you have to lose by waiting to see the results?

[mrengine]

Since you've already made your site mobile-friendly, what do you have to lose by waiting to see the results?

Some just don't have any patience. We are one day into an algo update that Google said would take a week to finish. The impatient should find something else more productive to do in the meantime and reserve judgement until the serps have become stable.

[ChanandlerBong]

If some of you actually cared about your mobile users, be they 3% or 30%, you wouldn't have been waiting until G's mobile domesday to do something about it.

"Waaa waa, my sales didn't double, G lied to me, I'm rolling it all back."

So, you are acting precisely because a search engine existed and didn't do what you wanted....if it was your users you cared about, you should have had either responsive design or dedicated mobile site YEARS ago.

[Wilburforce]

if it was your users you cared about, you should have had either responsive design or dedicated mobile site YEARS ago.

My point exactly.

Hopefully this rollout will reward those of us who have already done what all of us should have already done, but whether or not it does I am surprised that anyone needs to be "tricked" into improving their site for a fast-growing section of users.

I still don't see any changes in the UK mobile SERPs, but I think it quite likely that something with a predictably high impact will be implemented gradually and cautiously.

[vphoner]

Because some sites have quality content, in my opinion, I would not like them to rank lower, friendly or not. What google should do is leave the ranking alone, put a mobile friendly tag on the sites that are (like they are doing now), and leave it up to the user as to how important the mobile friendly aspect is to them. Some mobile friendly sites are terrible, and worse than their desktop versions.

Many non-responsive websites just need a quick pinch to get rid of the sidebars and they are perfectly usable. Well produced Mobile friendly sites (not a responsive compromise), do hold promise, but google is not separating out ugly responsive hacks vs. truly well designed mobile sites. Let the user decide, with already cooked in factors like bounce rate, time on page, and pages read. IMO mobile friendliness should only be a small ranking factor, as the other factors are already ranking the page.

[thudufushi]

Is there any tool for finding mobile rankings so we can compare to desktop...or do I have to pick my phone up..? I am used to using serpfox, webceo etc but these dont check mobile rankings.

[Wilburforce]

Because some sites have quality content, in my opinion, I would not like them to rank lower, friendly or not.

How far that turns out to be the case will depend on the weighting of the mobile-friendly factor against other ranking criteria, but I would hope a responsive site with high-quality content might now cause an unresponsive site of similar quality to rank lower.

I like a good book, but I like a good book I don't have to read with a magnifying glass even better.

[vphoner]

You could try google chrome, which when on a web page, you right click to "inspect element", and then click on the icon that looks like a cell phone. You can spoof almost any cell phone there. I assume that google will show the mobile results when you emulate a smart phone, but could be wrong. See link below for full details of this feature.

[developer.chrome.com...]

[chewy]

interesting...

so um, can I truly emulate a smart phone using Chrome per vphoner and see Google SERPS as a way to manually check ranking in that SERP?

[supercyberbob]

ChanandlerBong

My sites were responsive in 2012.

Might wanna check your facts before spewing. Thanks.

[ChanandlerBong]

so you've had responsive sites for three years but because a G search algo is rolling out too slowly, you're going to punish your mobile users and go back to non-responsive?

I will roll back my site to non-responsive today.

[EditorialGuy]

I like a good book, but I like a good book I don't have to read with a magnifying glass even better.

Perfectly put!

[Savanadry]

I had really high hopes for this update as mine was the only responsive site on the first page for our main keywords, some of the other sites are very dated. Unfortunately it seems everyone else is mobile friendly too, without actually being mobile friendly :)

[supercyberbob]

ChanandlerBong

Yes, I'm going to punish my mobile users because their behavior is unbecoming.