Google Officially Debuts "Mobile-Friendly" Labels
After much testing, Google has finally introduced user notifications within search results for mobile-friendly websites.
After testing a number of “mobile-friendly” and “not mobile-friendly” icons in the past few months, Google has finally decided to officially release “mobile-friendly” labels within its search results that notify users if a website is well-designed for mobile devices.
These labels are the first step in helping mobile users have a better mobile Web experience, says Google. In order to be eligible for the “mobile-friendly” label, a page must meet the following criteria as detected by Googlebot:
- Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
- Uses text that is readable without zooming
- Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
- Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped
Google notes that it will gradually use these mobile-friendly criteria to decide a website’s ranking in Google’s search results.
To make sure your pages meet the above criteria, you can run the mobile-friendly test, read the Google Webmasters mobile guide, get your mobile usability report in Google Webmaster Tools, or check Google’s how-to guide for third-party software like WordPress to get a mobile-friendly template.
The “mobile-friendly” feature will be rolling out globally in the following few weeks.
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