There is all this fear around today's release of the mobile friendly algorithm, so much so it is being called Mobilegeddon. I hate that name because this is NOT a web spam algorithm like Panda or Penguin, it is just a benefit for those that go mobile friendly.
It makes sense, the mobile results want mobile friendly web pages to lead to. It doesn't mean non mobile friendly web sites will completely disappear from the mobile results, it means they potentially won't rank as well as they did yesterday. I did a massive mobile SEO FAQ at Search Engine Land covering most of what I wrote over here over the past two months, so catch up there.
But the questions I am seeing upset me.
One person asked in a Google+ thread if there is negative history associated with not being mobile friendly and then going mobile friendly later. Like will Google remember and penalize you if you were not mobile friendly in the past, as a way to punish you even after you go mobile friendly. Of course not! Gary Illyes form Google responded, "No negative memory. Once you fixed it, you get credit for it." Again, this is not a web spam penalty and even if it was, algorithms forget.
Another person asked in the Google Webmaster Help forums if the mobile friendly algorithm will remove any Panda or Penguin penalties. No again, this is not related, this algorithm goes on top of others, there are over 200 of them and they mix and match to form the listing and ranking order of the search results. Hit by Panda or Penguin, going mobile friendly might make you rank slightly higher in the mobile results, but it won't remove the penalty you have with Panda or Penguin.
Again, the mobile friendly algorithm is not a web spam algorithm. It is meant to benefit mobile friendly sites in the mobile search results. It is not meant to downgrade or penalize sites for spam reasons.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help & Google+.
