Google Mobile Algo - April 2015 Roll Out

[keyplyr]

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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)

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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

[Martin Ice Web]

I See eine changes in my niche. We webt eine places up, eine other Non Mobile sites webt dien. The Adels See still very brand Biased, Mobile it Not.
I have the feeling that some other Update is running too.

Ecom, Germany

[flatfile]

I See eine changes in my niche. We webt eine places up, eine other Non Mobile sites webt dien. The Adels See still very brand Biased, Mobile it Not.

Just thought I'd quote this.

[seoskunk]

Don't believe the hype.. This algo is either still running or less significant than Googlers led us to believe.

[seoskunk]

I See eine changes in my niche. We webt eine places up, eine other Non Mobile sites webt dien. The Adels See still very brand Biased, Mobile it No

Either his German is crap or google translate is #*$!ed here......

[EditorialGuy]

Don't believe the hype.. This algo is either still running or less significant than Googlers led us to believe.

Google said it was going to be a slow rollout.

Also, don't forget the expression "A watched pot never boils." :-)

[seoskunk]

On top of Panda Penguin and Brand Promotion I can't help feeling this is more #*$! from Google EditorialGuy. Just like the SSL thing this is just more jumping through hoops for Google just to get let down and see some sub page from a brand outrank your whole site. Its all #*$! from Google IMHO.

[fathom]

This is why I wanted to see the full throat difference between the prelude and the aftermath... so I could appreciate the SEO implication on driving traffic.

I'm sure in time there will be a major impact but you need time to realize that.

[EditorialGuy]

Something to remember about the "SSL thing": Google said it would be a minor ranking factor. It turned out to be less than a big deal because it wasn't supposed to be a big deal.

This "mobile-friendly update" is different: Google gave several months' warning and said it was going to be a big deal (though only for mobile search).

[fathom]

Something to remember about the "SSL thing": Google said it would be a minor ranking factor. It turned out to be less than a big deal because it wasn't supposed to be a big deal.

This "mobile-friendly update" is different: Google gave several months' warning and said it was going to be a big deal (though only for mobile search).

Totally agree!

[keyplyr]

Google gave several months' warning and said it was going to be a big deal

I agree there was a so called "warning" but I have not seen anywhere Google says the mobile search update "was going to be a big deal." I only read where Google said mobile-friendly sites would be given "added weight" in mobile search.

[dethfire]

yeah honestly the seo blogs made it out to be all dramatic with the stupid mobilgedden moniker. they milked it for traffic.

[fathom]

I agree there was a so called "warning" but I have not seen anywhere Google says the mobile search update "was going to be a big deal." I only read where Google said mobile-friendly sites would be given "added weight" in mobile search.

Google is always vague on specifics (and does have self-serving reasons to launch this algorithm) and while the talking heads in the SEO community also have self-serving interests... that may not match your own interests.

If you have 100% mobile traffic it is a huge deal, if it's more like some days I get 5% and other days I get 50% mobile... today could be the 5% day... and no one said you would be booted from results so a 5% traffic day could be the lost of 5 visitors over all your lost ranks if you lost any ranks... if you upgraded you shouldn't see anything unless your industry didn't upgrade.

A week is the minimum sampling rate to see an impact (for me) I won't even look until next Tuesday, a month is better.

[AnkitMaheshwari]

I cannot see any changes in the serps I watch regularly in India. Some of the BIG non-mobile friendly are still ranking in top 3. It may be because the algo is rolling OR will not affect the Biggies as this is just one of the ranking factor in many others.....

[EditorialGuy]

I believe the words used in the original announcement were "significant impact," and in the rollout announcement on April 21, Google said:

"If your site’s pages aren’t mobile-friendly, there may be a significant decrease in mobile traffic from Google Search."

Still, the announcement also said:

"While the mobile-friendly change is important, we still use a variety of signals to rank search results. 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."

In other words, whether a page is mobile-friendly will be an important ranking signal, but it won't be the only ranking signal. How important will it be? That's likely to depend on the query: If Google has plenty of mobile-friendly candidates for the top spots to pick from, pages aren't mobile-friendly may get bumped down a few notches (or more than a few notches) for that search.

Here's a link to the announcement in Google's Webmaster Central Blog:

[googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com...]

[Martin Ice Web]

@flatfile, this was a panda friendly and unique posting!

Sorry my amazing android smartphone keeps on changing words. It it is like google search, ignoring the users intentions.

[MrSavage]

I just want to update my situation because I've posted a number of times leading up to this earth shaking update.

First, I have no problem with my Wordpress sites getting the GREEN CHECK MARK.

I do have some older sites which generate revenue and needed changing. I can honestly say that the "tool" essentially choked me until I gave into a responsive design. A tweak here and a tweak there will still result in some aspect getting the RED X of death. It seems virtually unavoidable. Pushing an agenda? No idea. I don't have hours in my day trying to tip the scale. I put in a viewport, but you can't make a fixed width. You can increase font size so that it's legible if you're standing a football field away from your monitor, yet it's still too small for the "tool". Etc, etc, etc.

Ultimately I have been able to learn via Dreamweaver, which is something I haven't done in years, to change my sites. For me it's time vs. reward. I could move those old site into wordpress, but that's 301's and that's just sketchy in my books. I've learned enough in the past few days to change over a 8 page site. Don't laugh. This site was dead and now has something to live for. For a smaller site, this is a doable solution. Believe me I hate a great number of website redesigns out there and this strategy isn't about getting ugly quick for the sake of a GREEN CHECK MARK of joy.

I have no need to pay somebody to do this or to buy some service or software. For me Dreamweaver did deliver. I think my copy had about 2 inches of dust on it. I'm surprised that it's relevant in 2015, but for me, it's about saving time.

[Nutterum]

@Robert Charlton - I did mention this two weeks ago, when there was a discussion going about the usage of WMT Submit to Google best practices. I actually did what Google wrote in their post and got almost full recrawl in 72 hours. (total of 9k pages) So yes their tip is legit and works like a charm even before their post.

[docbird]

Expecting my sites to tank on mobile search; I have dabbled w mobile, but latest effort [Drupal 6] just led to pages not even appearing.

But just got to wondering: if google is separating mobile and computer searches, rather than blending together, might my sites perform better in computer based searches? [they deserve to of course; and back in the day did nicely...]

[Nutterum]

I doubt it. I honestly doubt we will see major changes in the mobile search SERPS as well so long as relevancy>mobile friendly design. So my bet is on the no-big-changes horse.

[keyplyr]

if google is separating mobile and computer searches, rather than blending together...

A computer search is performed on a computer. A mobile search is performed from a mobile phone. How could they be blended together? Obviously they are separated.

Desktop search results are not affect by this update. The update only affects search results done from a mobile phone. Those pages determined to be mobile-friendly will get added weight in ranking in searches done from a mobile phone. However, pages that are not mobile-friendly but determined high value & relevant to the search may out-perform other sites that are mobile-friendly.

[HitProf]

I'm still seeing "A description for this result is not available because of this site's robots.txt – learn more." as top result in NL.

[toidi]

With less than 5% of sites making the change to mobile, i doubt there will be much change in the serps to notice.

[docbird]

"How could they be blended together? "

Till now, google has - as far as I know - applied rankings to sites, effectively combining both mobile and desktop versions.
I'd thought a site could already suffer some penalty if not good on mobile; and this would apply no matter what you searched from.
Now, penalty only if search from mobile device.
So effectively removes any penalty for mobile-unfriendliness that would occur searching from desktop. Hence, potential for slight increase. [even pifflingly, judging by other comments]

[Johan007]

I have a 30% increase! I presume from the US as I dont see any SERP changes in my UK results.

Is there any way I can see US results from here in the UK?

[Rlilly]

@johan007

> Is there any way I can see US results from here in the UK?

Use AOL. Or you might be able to go to browser settings "the wheel" > search preferences > location

[keyplyr]

With less than 5% of sites making the change to mobile, i doubt there will be much change in the serps to notice.

I don't know where you got that figure from but it is far from accurate. Using mobile search, most (but not all) pages I see listed now are mobile-friendly, at least in the first several SERP. Depending on the niche of course, and if I go back a few SERP then I start to see pages listed without the mobile-friendly tag. This is also true for Bing, so if you are not mobile-friendly now, you may be becoming irrelevant.

[keyplyr]

Till now, google has - as far as I know - applied rankings to sites, effectively combining both mobile and desktop versions.
I'd thought a site could already suffer some penalty if not good on mobile; and this would apply no matter what you searched from.
Now, penalty only if search from mobile device.
So effectively removes any penalty for mobile-unfriendliness that would occur searching from desktop. Hence, potential for slight increase. [even pifflingly, judging by other comments]

You're referring to web sites and I commented on search results. If you have a mobile site as well as a desktop site, I can see the confusion. The update is about mobile search, not web sites.

There is no penalty given for pages not mobile-friendly in the mobile search. There IS however a greater weight given to those pages that are mobile-friendly.

[MichaelP]

Those of you that had increase in mobile traffic - how are the sales? I don't see any difference. Could be that larger number Google analytics shows are bots or something.I measure clicks on my site and I don't even see any real increase in click despite mobile traffic almost doubling. So far, big meh. Not to mention that due to mobile redesign I might get a lot less adsense clicks because hard to position them on mobile.

[toidi]

I don't know where you got that figure from but it is far from accurate. 

[insidesearch.blogspot.com...]

i suspect that those sites with good serps made the change. The rest are having a hard time justifying the cost vs return.

[webcentric]

Google did say that the rollout could go on for a week, so watching the SERPs may be like watching grass grow.

More like watching a bad paint job dry. ;)