Google’s Mobile Update: What to Expect on April 21st

Usually, Google’s algorithm updates come with little or no warning. Its most impactful changes to ranking procedures, such as Penguin and Panda, came as a surprise to even the savviest SEOs. However, last month Google announced its next major change: The search giant will now take mobile usability factors into account to present the most relevant, high-quality mobile search results. Google said that this change will have a “significant impact” on mobile search results. Indeed, the fact that so m

Written by TheGenieLab

Sep 27, 2015

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Usually, Google's algorithm updates come with little or no warning. However, Google announced its next major change ahead of time: mobile usability factors will now affect mobile search rankings, with a "significant impact" expected across the web.

Boosting App Usage

The update also benefits websites with apps indexed through Google — users with relevant apps installed will see their search results affected, though this currently only works for Android devices.

Common Mobile Mistakes Google Penalizes

Blocked JavaScript, CSS and images: your robots.txt should always allow Google to see the site as mobile users would.
Unplayable videos: content requiring Flash won't play on most mobile devices.
Bad redirects: all mobile redirects from desktop URLs must take users to the correct mobile page.
Mobile-only 404s: if desktop URLs send mobile users to a special 404 page, Google penalizes the site.
App interstitials: large interstitials pushing app downloads are advised against.
Cross-platform links: mobile pages shouldn't link to desktop pages, and vice versa.
Slow pages: slow mobile loading speeds affect visibility just as they do on desktop.