Google has announced new changes in Mobile search results which includes the following two.
Removed Mobile Friendly label from Google Mobile Search Results
Google has officially removed mobile friendly label from the search results. Before 2 years, Google added mobile friendly label next to the mobile friendly sites in their search results. Mobile friendly label helped the users to find pages where the text and content were readable without zooming the page and the tap targets were appropriately spaced. The removal of the mobile friendly label does not mean that mobile friendly ranking algorithm is not being used. Google says that it is simply removing the label because it has become unnecessary as 85% of the sites are mobile friendly now. This is an aesthetic change made by Google to keep the search results uncluttered. So, if you don’t see the mobile friendly label next to your site, don’t panic.
The mobile friendly test will remain active and you will still get the report for mobile usability in search console.
Pages with intrusive interstitials to rank low
Pages those are mobile friendly also show intrusive interstitials to users. Such interstitials obscure the content which is available on the page and which is being indexed by Google. This makes the users more frustrating as they are unable to access the content that they were expecting to see when they reach the page.
Pages that show intrusive interstitials offer a poor experience to the users than other pages where the content is immediately accessible to the users. So Google has announced that the pages where the content is not easily accessible to the users may not rank high in the search engines.
Given below are some of the examples of interstitials which might get your page ranking low
- Showing a pop up that covers the main content of the page
- Displaying a standalone interstitial which the user has to close before accessing the main content
- Using a layout with above the fold portion of the page similar to a standalone interstitial which cover the original content of the page
Here are few examples of interstitials which can be used properly and will not be affected by Google’s new algorithm
- Interstitials that appear with regard to a legal obligation such as cookie usage or for age verification
- Interstitials that use only a reasonable amount of space on the page and can be easily closed by the users
- Login Dialogs where content cannot be publicly indexable, which includes private content.
This move of Google towards interstitials is meant to keep the mobile web as an environment that is competitive to the world of Apps. So by avoiding poor quality interstitials, you will help your users and your Google traffic.
This change is one of the hundreds of ranking algorithm used by Google. The intent of the query still remains an important factor. If you have relevant content on your page, it will still rank high in the search engines.
