Google To Drop Mobile Friendly Label But Not The Ranking Factor

Aug 24, 2016 - 8:03 am 4 by
Filed Under Google

Mobile3 Google 1900px

Google announced yesterday that they are dropping the mobile friendly label from the mobile search results. Let me be crystal clear, like I was yesterday, this does not mean they are dropping the mobile friendly ranking factor/signal - they are not. They are just removing the label in the mobile friendly search results to declutter the interface.

So you see the screen shots below where in the snippet it says "Mobile-friendly" - that is going away, even for mobile friendly web pages.

Google Mobile Friendly Label

Google Mobile Friendly Label Ser

Why?

(1) To declutter the search results interface and I guess make room for the AMP logo. :)

(2) Google said "85% of all pages in the mobile search results now meet this criteria and show the mobile-friendly label" so since the vast majority of mobile results are mobile friendly, there is not need to do so.

How will you know if you are mobile friendly according to Google and thus benefit from the ranking signal? Two ways:

(1) Check the mobile usability testing tool in the Google Search Console.

(2) Check the mobile testing tool on your pages.

I am perfectly happy it is going away, doesn't matter much to me either way.

Forum discussion at Google+.

 

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