Google’s New Mobile Friendly Testing Tool
Google Reinforces Its Commitment To Mobile With its New Mobile Friendly Testing Tool
Google continues its commitment to serving mobile search customers by creating a new and improved version of its mobile friendly testing tool.
The latest news from the Google camp includes an updated version of their mobile-friendly testing tool. The test allows you to enter any website’s URL and find out how user-friendly it is for those who are visiting from mobile devices.
The original version of the mobile test launched in November 2014, which was in advance of Google expanding its use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal in April 2015.
Features Of The New Mobile Friendly Testing Tool
The updated tool allows you to see an image of the mobile page as it has been fetched by the Googlebot. Additionally, you will be made aware of any blocked resources such as JavaScript that may pose a potential problem.
There are also several links to resources that you might find useful within Search Console, such as information on mobile-friendly pages or a site-wide usability report, which is pertinent to the specific URL that you have searched for.
It is also possible to post comments or questions within the Google discussion groups if you could benefit from ongoing feedback and advice from peers about the topic of mobile search.
Google’s Commitment To Mobile
A year since Google updated its algorithm to enhance the importance of mobile, the search engine has reiterated its commitment to serving the rising population of mobile surfers.
The latest Google Webmaster Central Blog explains: “Mobile is close to our heart – we love seeing more and more sites make their content available in useful & accessible ways for mobile users.”
As Google mobile searches have now surpassed desktop usage, it has become clear that there is a strong dedication towards providing users with an excellent mobile experience.
It is widely considered that businesses who fail to optimise their websites for mobile visitors will receive a drop in organic ranking, a loss in mobile traffic and an increase in bounce rate.
Google is aware that mobile customers have no patience for sites that have a slow pageload speed or irritating on-page factors such as small text and links that are hard to click on.
Therefore, it prioritises responsive sites which provide a consistent and stable experience for mobile users by marking them as ‘mobile-friendly’ in the SERPs.
The algorithm will then use this as well as a combination of many other factors within its algorithm to potentially boost the position of these mobile-friendly sites.
Improve Your Mobile-Friendliness
There are both site-wide and page-specific ways of improving the usability of your site for mobile users.
On a general basis, ensuring that your site theme is optimised for mobile is incredibly important. If you use a content management system such as WordPress, then you should have no problem in finding a theme that is compatible for the latest innovations in mobile search.
Those who wish to improve elements on the single page must look to reduce slow-loading features such as Flash script and increase the size of small font. Once you have made any changes, you can then check Google’s opinion of them by trying out the mobile-friendly test for yourself.
Conclusion
As mobile SEO is separating somewhat from traditional search, it is essential that both aspects of your online presence are looked after. Invest in a mobile campaign led by expert SEO consultants who will ensure the visibility of your brand online.
About the Author
Danny Hall co-directs FSE Online, a leading SEO company in Essex. He specialises in technical SEO, backed by stylish design and quality content.
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