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Google search to favour mobile-friendly

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 14 Apr 2015
Google search results will rank mobile-friendly sites higher from next week Tuesday.
Google search results will rank mobile-friendly sites higher from next week Tuesday.

South African Web sites only have a week to ensure they are mobile-friendly before Google changes its search algorithm.

The changes will result in Google ranking mobile-friendly Web sites higher, to the detriment of sites that are not mobile-friendly, which will lose out on page views. This will only affect search done on mobile devices.

In the recent Mobile Africa 2015 study, conducted by mobile surveying company GeoPoll and World Wide Worx, data showed that 40% of South Africans access the internet via their phones.

Google says, from next Tuesday, the search engine will be "expanding [the] use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal". The change will affect searches in all languages across the world, and as a result, "users will find it easier to get relevant, high-quality search results that are optimised for their devices".

Neil Vose, MD at the digital marketing agency, Quirk says as mobile penetration increases, so will the requirement for mobile digital experiences. "Digital assets should be built from a mobile first perspective. Indeed, for many Web sites, especially those aimed at youth audiences, it's almost mobile only, or nothing. "

"Given the significant growth in the use of tablets and smartphones, it makes sense that users want to see results in the format most suited to the device," says ICT expert Adrian Schofield. The onus is on Web masters to make sure their marketing tool is up to date, he notes.

Google has set up a test allowing Web masters to paste the hyperlink of sites into its system, and the Googlebot will say if the Web site is mobile-friendly or not. If it is not, Google will provide reasons, such as "text too small to read" and "mobile viewport not set".

ITWeb tested a range of top Web sites used by South Africans to see if they were mobile-friendly. Those sites that came up as not mobile-friendly included the official government Web site, news site Independent Online, Department of Home Affairs, the University of Cape Town's portal and the South African Broadcasting Corporation. This means after Tuesday, these Web sites will not rank highly in Google searches on mobile devices.

In November last year, Google started adding the "mobile-friendly" label to Web sites when providing search results on mobile phones, to give mobile searchers a less "frustrating experience". The four criteria needed for a Web site to qualify for the label are:

1. No use of software that is not common on mobile devices, such as Flash.
2. The use of text that is readable without zooming.
3. Content that is correctly sized to the screen so that users do not have to scroll horizontally or zoom.
4. Links that are placed far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped.

These guidelines can also be used to optimise Web sites to appear in higher search rankings from Tuesday.

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