The Latest On Google’s Mobile-Friendly Algorithm

It has now been more than a week since Google launched its mobile-friendly ranking algorithm, but what are the results? And has it fully rolled out yet?

According to Gary Illyes from Google, the algorithm has indeed been fully rolled out at this point. However, he points out that some webpages may not be experiencing the full impact yet. Illyes said, “but not all pages were reindexed yet so they don’t have the new scores,” as well as explaining that, “there were a load of sites that became MF (mobile-friendly) recently, so the actual number of sites affected decreased considerably.”

Therefore, even though the mobile algorithm is live, indexing and subsequently rescoring webpages based on that indexing will take some more time, so many people may not yet be seeing the ranking changes that are still to come.

Based on Illyes statement, it appears that many webpages have been recently altered to become mobile-friendly in advance of the algorithm rollout, which could end up meaning that the actual impact will be less than what was initially expected. Regardless, the indexing and rescoring will continue, and the entire impact of this update may not yet be apparent.

As we’ve explained in other recent articles, the mobile-friendly algorithm works on a real-time basis, meaning that whenever you alter your website, it will be able to benefit the next time that Google crawls your pages. Therefore, it’s not too late to optimize your website, and if you haven’t done so already, it’s highly advisable to make the necessary changes as soon as possible to ensure that you are not penalized any further by what many are calling “mobilegeddon.”

Although there are general guidelines that explain what makes a website eligible for a mobile-friendly label, the ranking algorithm is complex and uses over 200 different factors to make this determination. Therefore, it’s recommended that you use the tools that Google has provided to test whether or not your webpages are considered mobile-friendly.

Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test is a great resource, which allows you to enter your website’s URL to find out if it’s considered mobile-friendly. Another useful tool is Google’s Mobile Usability Report, which will provide you with a full list of the mobile usability issues across your website.

Unfortunately, it’s not entirely clear how long it will take for your pages to be rescored once you make changes. Google suggests that early tests show that it can take anywhere from a few hours to over 72 hours. However, the company explains that for large sites, it may take as long as a month, so it’s very important to make your webpages mobile-friendly as soon as possible.

As Google says, the full impact of its algorithm update cannot yet be seen. We’ll be watching closely as more information becomes available in the near future.

Have you seen the impact of Google’s algorithm update on your dealership’s webpages yet?